Toots’s legacy lives on
Music industry veteran Wayne Jobson says he and reggae historian Roger Steffens will renew a campaign to get Toots Hibbert inducted into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame.
Today marks one year since the legendary singer/songwriter died from COVID-19 complications at the University Hospital of the West Indies in St Andrew. He was 77.
Shortly after his death, Steffens and Mike Pawka, founder of the niceup.com website, initiated a campaign for 6,000 signatures in a bid to make Hibbert only the third reggae act inducted into the august body. The others are Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff.
The initiative fell short of the required numbers at the time of the January 19 deadline this year.
“Roger Steffens and I tried very hard to get him into the Rock And Roll Hall of Fame and I was very disappointed when it did not happen. But we are pushing again this year to try and get the true respect that this humble gentle giant deserves,” Jobson told the Jamaica Observer.
Hibbert died one month after his album, Got to be Tough, was released by Trojan/Jamaica Records. It won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in March, giving him his second win in that category. His first was for True Love in 2005.
Jobson had worked with producer Zak Starkey on Got to be Tough’s sessions in Ocho Rios. Though he knew he was ill, Hibbert’s death still came as a shock.
“I was working in the studio in Ocho Rios when I heard that Toots had passed and I was completely devastated. Not only to lose a friend of 30 years but a musical brother in arms who changed the history of music,” he said.
Hibbert was titular head of The Maytals which he formed in the early 1960s with Jerry Matthias and Raleigh Gordon. They had a series of hit songs in ska, rock steady and reggae including Six And Seven Books of Moses, Peeping Tom, Monkey Man, Daddy, Bam Bam, 54-46, Pressure Drop, Funky Kingston and Sweet And Dandy.
Those tracks became standards and helped make Toots and The Maytals one of the best touring reggae acts of the past 20 years. His legend, according to Jobson, has grown even more since his death.
“One year later, his flame is still burning brightly as his immense body of work and legacy will live on forever worldwide,” he said.