Artists Remember Toots Hibbert

He was the man who gave the genre its name with the 1968 single “Do The Reggay.”

And this weekend, notable artists, record labels, even the Prime Minister of Jamaica all paid tribute online to the man known as The Father of Reggae Music, Frederick “Toots” Hibbert, who passed away on September 11th from as-yet undisclosed causes. He was 77.

The frontman of Toots & the Maytals, whose nickname “Toots” came from childhood, had been placed in a medically-induced coma at a hospital in Kingston since early September, having been admitted to intensive care after breathing difficulties according to his publicist.

Hibbert has just released a new album, the excellent Got To Be Tough, on August 28, just four days before he went into the hospital.

As made so abundantly clear by the testimonials above, yo, nobody shy of Bob Marley and Jimmy Cliff comes close to the importance of Toots on both the sound and culture of reggae and its impact on the language of pop music.

Please listen to our exclusive mix of essential and deep Toots and the Maytals classics to remember him bye.

Thanks for everything, Toots.