World of Jamaican Music

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An illustrated map of the creators of Jamaican music and how they are connected.

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Toots Hibbert

Artist. Ska, rocksteady, reggae

Active
1962-2020
Sunrise
December 8, 1942, May Pen, Clarendon, Jamaica
Sunset
September 11, 2020, Kingston, Jamaica (COVID-19)
Also known as
The Maytals, Toots & The Maytals, Toots and the Maytals, Frederick Hibbert, Frederick Nathaniel Hibbert

Frederick Nathaniel "Toots" Hibbert led the Maytals for close to sixty years. The group's 1968 single "Do the Reggay" is the first record to put the word in a title, and by the count most often cited the Maytals had thirty-one Jamaican number ones, more than any other act, the Wailers included.

He was born in May Pen, Clarendon, the youngest of eight children of preacher parents, and sang in church before moving to Kingston as a teenager and working in a barbershop in Trench Town. There he met Henry "Raleigh" Gordon and Nathaniel "Jerry" Mathias, and the three formed the Maytals in 1961. The voice, gospel-trained, hoarse and unguarded, invited comparison with Otis Redding for the whole of his career.

The group recorded first for Coxsone Dodd at Studio One, cutting "Hallelujah," "Fever" and "Six and Seven Books of Moses," then for Prince Buster, who produced "Broadway Jungle," and then for Byron Lee, with Ronnie Nasralla as their manager; for Lee they recorded the album Sensational Maytals. Those early sides show what the group brought to ska: the Maytals dug deep into the hymn and spiritual repertoire, with "He Will Provide," "Study War No More" and "I'll Never Grow Old," sung with an abandon only just held in check, and the Rough Guide singles out Hibbert's astonishing lead on "Six and Seven Books of Moses" and the excitement he could barely contain on "Broadway Jungle," his farewell to Dodd. His hoarse voice, it says, is wonderfully effective throughout. In 1966 they won the first Jamaica Independence Festival Popular Song Competition with "Bam Bam." Later that year Hibbert was sentenced to two years for possession of ganja, an arrest he later said a promoter had planned, and the group stopped.

He was released in 1968 and the Maytals went to Leslie Kong at Beverley's, where they made the run of records they are still known by. "54-46 That's My Number," named for his prison number, was cut that year, followed by "Do the Reggay," "Monkey Man," which reached the British chart, "Pressure Drop" and "Sweet and Dandy," which won them the Festival Song Competition a second time in 1969. The Jamaican releases were on Beverley's, the British ones on Pyramid. Kong's sunset in 1971 ended the association, and the group returned to Byron Lee at Dynamic Sounds, recording the album Slatyam Stoot and winning the Festival Song Competition a third time with "Pomp and Pride" in 1972.

"Pressure Drop" and "Sweet and Dandy" were both used in The Harder They Come (1972), and the film carried them to an audience that had not previously heard Jamaican records. Chris Blackwell signed them to Island, which issued Funky Kingston (1973), In the Dark (1974) and Reggae Got Soul (1976), and the group toured constantly through the decade, at a scale matched in Jamaican music only by the Wailers. The billing had changed to Toots and the Maytals in 1967, and after the original trio broke up in the early 1980s Hibbert worked as a solo artist, recording Toots in Memphis (1988) with American session players, before convening a new Maytals lineup in the 1990s.

True Love (2004), a set of his own songs recut as duets with Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Willie Nelson, Bonnie Raitt and the Roots, won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album. In 2013 he was struck on the head by a bottle thrown from the audience at a show in Richmond, Virginia, and did not perform again for years. Got to Be Tough, financed and co-produced by Zak Starkey for Trojan Jamaica, was released on August 28, 2020, and won the Grammy for Best Reggae Album the following year.

He was awarded the Order of Jamaica in 2012. He departed at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston on September 11, 2020, aged seventy-seven, weeks after his last performance, a livestream for Jamaica's Emancipation and Independence celebrations; the cause was complications from COVID-19.

Last updated October 31, 2026

Connections

Notes

  1. The Rough Guide: "There's no question which record was the first to use the term 'reggae' in any of its various spellings - it was the Maytals' 'Do the Reggay', released by Leslie Kong on his Beverley's label in 1968." Steve Barrow and Peter Dalton, The Rough Guide to Reggae, 3rd ed. (London: Rough Guides, 2004), 87. Bradley: the tune "is taken to be the first to use the word in its title." Lloyd Bradley, This Is Reggae Music: The Story of Jamaica's Music (New York: Grove Press, 2001), 204.
  2. Wikipedia says the group "hold the current record of number one hits in Jamaica, with a total of 31." "Toots and the Maytals," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toots_and_the_Maytals. The Rough Guide calls them "the most successful Jamaican vocal group of the 1960s." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 5.
  3. The Rough Guide says he sang "with his four brothers and three sisters in Baptist services." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 35. Wikipedia says he was "the youngest of his siblings" and that his parents were Seventh-day Adventist preachers. "Toots Hibbert," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toots_Hibbert.
  4. The Rough Guide says that "in the late 1950s he came to town to work in a barber shop," where he met Gordon and Mathias. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 35. Trench Town is from Wikipedia. "Toots Hibbert."
  5. The Rough Guide says that after Derrick Morgan turned him down at a Kong audition in 1961, Toots made a dubplate for King Edwards "before linking up later in 1961 with Nathaniel 'Jerry' Mathias and Henry 'Raleigh' Gordon, as the Maytals." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 34-35. Wikipedia also gives 1961. "Toots Hibbert."
  6. Wikipedia quotes Robert Christgau: "he's the nearest thing to Otis Redding left on the planet." "Toots Hibbert." Bradley writes of "Toots Hibbert's gospel-based hollering." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 96.
  7. The Rough Guide lists "Hallelujah" and "Fever" as their first two releases for Dodd, and says Lee Perry produced "6 & 7 Books Of Moses." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 35-36. Augustyn says the group, as the Cherrypies, sang behind Desmond Dekker on "King of Ska" in 1964. Heather Augustyn, "Lost Chapter of Ska: An Oral History," SkaBook (blog), November 30, 2015, https://skabook.com/2015/11/30/lost-chapter-of-ska-an-oral-history/.
  8. The Rough Guide says that in 1964 they made records "for Prince Buster," and that on "Broadway Jungle" Toots "sang a farewell to Coxsone." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 36. It dates the record to 1964. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 89.
  9. The Rough Guide mentions the Sensational Maytals album for Byron Lee, made "after their stays with Dodd and Buster." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 36. Nasralla told Augustyn that, encouraged by Edward Seaga, he took over the management of Byron Lee, the Blues Busters and the Maytals and "paid them twelve times more per record" than the downtown producers. Heather Augustyn, "Ronnie Nasralla Still Celebrating Ska!," SkaBook (blog), July 26, 2015, https://skabook.com/2015/07/26/ronnie-nasralla-still-celebrating-ska/.
  10. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 36.
  11. The Rough Guide says "Bam Bam," "recorded for Byron Lee," won "the 1966 Festival Song competition." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 58. Augustyn adds that Byron Lee and the Dragonaires backed it. Heather Augustyn, "Ska Supporter Seaga Dies," SkaBook (blog), May 29, 2019, https://skabook.com/2019/05/29/ska-supporter-seaga-dies/.
  12. The Rough Guide: "The exuberant trio missed the rocksteady era because of a two-year jail sentence for ganja possession given to their leader." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 107. Wikipedia gives eighteen months. "Toots Hibbert." Hibbert told Chang and Chen: "The arrest was a thing that was planned, but I didn't know about it until a policeman told me afterwards. A promoter planned it." Quoted in "5446 Was Toots' Prison Number," Jamaica Gleaner, October 14, 2018, https://www.pressreader.com/jamaica/jamaica-gleaner/20181014/282394105412984.
  13. The Rough Guide: "'54-46 That's My Number' (the title referred to Toots's prison number) was one of the biggest hits of their career." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 107.
  14. The Rough Guide: "Their 'Monkey Man' even reached the lower regions of the UK pop charts." Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 107.
  15. Wikipedia says they won the competition three times, with "Bam Bam" (1966), "Sweet and Dandy" (1969) and "Pomps & Pride" (1972). "Toots Hibbert."
  16. Bradley lists "54-46 That's My Number," "Pressure Drop" and "Monkey Man" among Kong's Beverley's releases. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 225. Wikipedia says "Do the Reggay" was "released on Beverley's in Jamaica and Pyramid Records in the UK in 1968." "Do the Reggay," Wikipedia, accessed October 21, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_the_Reggay. Discogs lists the British single on Pyramid (PYR 6057). "The Maytals: Do The Reggay," Discogs, accessed October 21, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/3467392.
  17. Bradley says "the Maytals went to Byron Lee at Dynamic after Leslie Kong died." Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 399. On the Festival, "Toots Hibbert." Wikipedia lists Slatyam Stoot as a 1972 Dynamic Sounds LP. "Toots and the Maytals Discography," Wikipedia, accessed October 21, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Toots_and_the_Maytals_discography. Discogs lists the Dynamic Sounds LP (DY 3331) as a 1972 release. "Toots & The Maytals: Slatyam Stoot," Discogs, accessed October 21, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/2225030. Masouri says they returned to Lee in 1972, "leaving aside their previous grievances," and won that year's Festival with "Pomp & Pride." John Masouri, liner notes to Toots and the Maytals, Sweet and Dandy (Charly Records BLP005), excerpt posted as "Toots & The Maytals - Sweet And Dandy (Charly Records BLP005)," John Masouri, December 6, 2025, https://www.johnmasouri.com/single-post/toots-the-maytals-sweet-and-dandy-charly-records-blp005.
  18. The Rough Guide lists "the Maytals' gospel-hot 'Pressure Drop' and 'Sweet & Dandy'" among the revelations of the soundtrack. Barrow and Dalton, Rough Guide to Reggae, 88. See also Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 284. Masouri credits their scene in the film, "singing 'Sweet And Dandy' in a Beverley's session," and the two songs on the soundtrack with putting them "on the road to international stardom." Masouri, liner notes to Sweet and Dandy.
  19. The UK Funky Kingston appeared on Island's Dragon label in 1973, and the US Island album of that name in 1975. "Toots & The Maytals - Funky Kingston," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/1078894; "Toots & The Maytals - Funky Kingston," Discogs, accessed October 5, 2026, https://www.discogs.com/release/5840526. Bradley dates Funky Kingston to 1974. Bradley, This Is Reggae Music, 486. Wikipedia dates Reggae Got Soul to 1975. "Toots and the Maytals."
  20. Wikipedia says they opened for the Who on the 1975-76 North American tour. "Toots and the Maytals."
  21. Wikipedia says Byron Lee "renamed them Toots & the Maytals" after Kong's death in 1971. "Toots and the Maytals."
  22. Wikipedia says the original trio broke up after Knock Out! (1981) and that Toots in Memphis (1988) earned his first Grammy nomination. "Toots Hibbert."
  23. Wikipedia lists the guests, among them Willie Nelson, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Bonnie Raitt and the Roots, and says the album won at the 47th Annual Grammy Awards (2005). "True Love (Toots & the Maytals album)," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/True_Love_(Toots_%26_the_Maytals_album).
  24. Wikipedia dates the incident to May 2013, at the River Rock Festival, and the band's return to touring to 2016. "Toots Hibbert."
  25. Wikipedia says the album was released on August 28, 2020, "financed by Trojan Jamaica owner Zak Starkey," who co-produced it, and won at the 63rd Annual Grammy Awards. "Got to Be Tough (Toots and the Maytals album)," Wikipedia, accessed October 5, 2026, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Got_to_Be_Tough_(Toots_and_the_Maytals_album).
  26. Wikipedia says the award was announced in August 2012. "Toots Hibbert."
  27. Wikipedia says he died at the University Hospital of the West Indies after a medically induced coma, of complications from COVID-19. "Toots Hibbert." The Associated Press report calls it "his last known performance, on a national live-stream during Jamaica's Emancipation and Independence celebrations in August." "Toots Hibbert, Beloved Reggae Star, Dead at 77," TheGrio, September 12, 2020, https://thegrio.com/2020/09/12/reggage-star-toots-hibbert-dead-at-77/.

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