Singer/songwriter Frederick “Toots” Hibbert, lead vocalist for Toots and The Maytals, would have celebrated his 78th birthday today. A pioneer of ska and rocksteady, he is credited with giving reggae its name with the 1968 song Do the Reggay .

A three-time Jamaica Festival Song Competition winner, Toots and The Maytals won the Best Reggae Award Grammy in 2005 for True Love. In 2012, he received the Order of Jamaica, the country’s fifth highest honour.

Got to Be Tough, the most recent album by Toots and The Maytals, peaked at number nine on the Billboard Reggae Albums chart and topped the sales-driven US Current Reggae Albums chart for several weeks. It has been nominated in the category Best Reggae Album for next year’s 63rd Grammy Awards.

Hibbert passed away on September 11 from complications attributed to COVID-19. Today, members of corporate Jamaica share their favourite songs from his massive catalogue with the Jamaica Observer.

Christopher Tufton

Minister of Health & Wellness

Favourite song: Toots’s cover of Country Road (taken from the album Funky Town)

“ Country Road, Take Me Home is my all-time favourite Toots and The Maytals song. It brings back my childhood days of old-time Jamaica — a time of innocence, pure happiness and good health,” said Minister Tufton.

Norman Reid

Chairman — First Rock Capital Holdings

Favourite song: Alidina from the 1969 album Sweet and Dandy

“ Alidina encourages people not to be indolent. The very beat reflects the content of the song. It is lively, high energy and drives one to action. The rhythm of the song pulls you to the dance floor and forces you to avoid inactivity,” said Reid.

Jenni Headlam

First Vice-President— Netball Jamaica/CEO, JACE Management Consultants Ltd

Favourite song: Time Tough (from the album Funky Town)

“At the time of the song’s release in 1972, it was a very good social commentary piece. It was very telling of the times that a lot of Jamaicans were living in. Incidentally, ‘time tough’ again with COVID-19,” said Miss Headlam.

Ethnie Miller-Simpson

President — Women Entrepreneurs Network of the Caribbean/CEO Zinergy International.

Favourite song: Pomps and Pride (1972 festival song winner)

“Toots reminds us that we are simply people. At our core, after all is said and done, after all the degrees, letters, and ‘social achievement’, without the ‘pomps and pride’ we are just people. Every time, I’m about to get wrapped up in my own self-importance, he just levels it for me,” said Miller-Simpson.

*** pic: Nayana Williams ****

Nayana Williams

CEO — Lifespan

Favourite song: Toots’s cover of Love and Happiness (from the 1988 album Toots in Memphis)

“This song reminds us that we can find happiness through love. For me, love can be expressed through selfless servitude to others, and this brings us happiness,” said Williams.

Gail Abrahams

Vice-President — Marketing and Corporate Communications, Supreme Ventures Limited

Favourite song: Never Grow Old

“I love so many of Toots Hibbert songs, their beat and the lyrics. The song Never Grow Old reminds me of the days of real good fun of rocksteady and ska. This is a feel good song that gets your heart pumping and your feet dancing. The song speaks to youthful exuberance and being as young as you want to be and to live life to the fullest,” said Abrahams.

Kadeen Mairs

CEO — Dolla Financial Services

Favourite Song: Bam Bam (1966 Festival Song winner)

“This song really paved the way for an entire generation. Not only through it’s lyrics and the way it seamlessly transitioned Toots from a ska sound to reggae, but it has also been sampled, the world over, countless times and in my opinion that is the true marker of a hit,” Mairs explained.