Tweet
Toots Hibbert is one of the great voices of Jamaica; a legend whose career spans every development in Jamaican music, from ska through rock-steady to reggae. Toots and the Maytals have helped to chart the course of Jamaican music with unrivaled delivery and dynamism, setting new standards of excellence, and becoming the most enduring of all Jamaica's groups.
Born in Maypen in the parish of Clarendon, Jamaica - the youngest of seven children - Toots began singing in the church choir at the age of seven. He left home in his teens to go to Kingston where he met Raleigh Gordon and Jerry Matthias and formed the original Maytals in 1962. They were known as the Vikings until 1966.
Toots and the Maytals began their career at Studio One, the headquarters of Clement 'Coxsone' Dodd, in Kingston, Jamaica. The group's debut release, HALLELUJAH, was an immediate hit throughout the island, and featured a mix of Jamaican rhythms and gospel vocal influence that would mark much of the Maytals music. Further successes followed, including I'LL NEVER GROW OLD and JUST GOT TO BE ME, each one building a reputation for the Maytals and their energetic straight-from-church style of singing and their "spiritual" ska beat.
Despite the initial successes, the group soon left Coxsone and linked up with another legendary figure in the Jamaican music business, Prince Buster, the number one sound system operator on the island. The Buster-produced Maytals singles were popular successes in Jamaica and England, where this new type of "ska" music became a sensation in dancehalls. The relationship between Buster and The Maytals produced some of the best records from the original ska era, including DOG WAR, aka BROADWAY JUNGLE. In 1966, the Maytals began to work with Byron Lee and the Dragonaires and won the first Jamaican Festival Song Competition with the song BAM BAM. The Maytals were poised for stardom, but just as their fortune seemed set, Toots was arrested for possession of marijuana and was incarcerated for 18 months, despite his plea of innocence.
The Maytals returned with a vengeance in 1968, recording with famed producer Leslie Kong. The era of ska was ending, giving way to the more complex sounds of Reggae evolving from Kong's Beverleys Label. Although these years of post-independence marked a more violent era of Jamaica's history, Toots and the Maytals were far closer to soul and gospel influences than many of the "revolutionary" young artistes of the late 60's. Nevertheless, the Maytals first single in two years, 54-46 (THAT'S MY NUMBER), combined the story of Toots' arrest with a powerful downbeat to create one of the greatest rock steady/reggae singles of all time.
As rock steady became reggae (and the Maytals single DO THE REGGAY was the first published use of the word), the Maytals consolidated their position as leaders in Jamaican music. They recorded the hit MONKEY MAN and the classic SWEET AND DANDY which won the 1969 Festival Song Competition and was featured, along with their dance-floor smash, PRESSURE DROP, on the soundtrack to THE HARDER THEY COME, one of the great reggae albums of all time.
The Beverley's label folded, however, with the passing of Leslie Kong in 1971. The Maytals turned again to Byron Lee and his Dynamic Sounds, and again won the Festival Song prize in 1972 for POMP AND PRIDE. They released their first album for Dynamic, FUNKY KINGSTON in 1973-- a masterful album in every respect and one that helped bolster the group's international audience- now considered a classic staple for any reggae collection.
In 1975 Toots and the Maytals signed a worldwide recording contract with Island Records. The following year the group hit the British singles charts with REGGAE GOT SOUL, the title track to their new album. They also toured America, Europe and Britain. The REGGAE GOT SOUL album was a superb showcase for Toots' soulful vocals embellished by fine musicianship from a cosmopolitan studio band that included such talents as Steve Winwood, Eddie Quansah, Dudu Pukwana, Rico Rodriguez and Tommy McCook.
cont'd...
Comment