R.I.P. Toots Hibbert, reggae pioneer

Frederick Nathaniel Hibbert—known to reggae fans the world over by his stage name, Toots—has died. One of the pioneers of reggae music, and one of the longest and hardest working performers in the world of music, period, Toots Hibbert won Grammys, inspired generations to embrace the reggae sound, and helped put Jamaican music on the map in the mid-20th century. He died this week at the age of 77, from complications of COVID-19.
Born in Jamaica—and orphaned at a young age—Hibbert joined with Ralphus “Raleigh” Gordon and Nathaniel “Jerry” Matthias to form The Maytals (later Toots And The Maytals) in 1962, launching a band that would one day be described by critic Robert Christgau as “The Beatles to The Wailers’ Rolling Stones.” Originally a vocal trio, the band steadily added instrumentalists to its lineup, winning the Jamaican Independence Festival Popular Song Contest in 1966 with “Bam Bam” (a feat they’d repeat two times in the future). The group spent the rest of the decade solidifying their place at the top of Jamaican music, with hits that included 1968's “Do The Reggay,” a track that took a name for a popular dance style at the time and wound up lending it to a whole genre of music.
That national stardom translated to international success in 1969, when the band’s “Monkey Man” crossed over to the U.K. and became a much-covered, widely beloved hit. Embraced by the ska and punk scenes, the band scored further hits with songs like “Funky Kingston”; they also picked up American recognition after contributing songs (and a performance) to the soundtrack of Jimmy Cliff’s The Harder They Come.