Spotlight on Toots and the Maytals

Toots & the Maytals were founded by Frederick "Toots" Hibbert, who was born in May Pen, Clarendon Parish, Jamaica in 1945. 

 In 1961, Hibbert set out for Kingston and struck up a friendship with Nathaniel "Jerry" Matthias and Henry "Raleigh" Gordon, a pair of singers with a smattering of recording experience.

In 1962 they were discovered by producer Clement "Coxsone" Dodd, who signed them to his Studio One label. After releasing a debut single, "Hallelujah," under the name the Vikings, the trio became known as the Maytals, and beginning with "Fever," they issued a number of singles

The Lee-produced material showed that the Maytals were developing a more mature and polished approach, but the group hit a serious roadblock in 1966 when Hibbert was arrested for possession of marijuana; he was convicted and would serve a year behind bars.

In 1967, Hibbert was a free man, and he reunited with Matthias and Gordon, renaming the group Toots & the Maytals. The new style suited Toots & the Maytals, and they signed with producer Leslie Kong, with whom the band would record some of their biggest hits, including "Pressure Drop," "Sweet and Dandy," "Monkey Man," and "Do the Reggay," the latter often cited as the song that gave the new style of music its name.

When "Monkey Man" became a British hit in 1970, Toots & the Maytals began enjoying success outside Jamaica for the first time, and in 1972, "Pressure Drop" and "Sweet and Dandy" were featured on the soundtrack of the film The Harder They Come, starring Jimmy Cliff.

In 1971, Leslie Kong died, and Warwick Lyn, Kong's primary recording engineer, took over as the group's producer. That same year, Toots & the Maytals made their American concert debut opening a tour for the Who, though their stateside audience gave Toots a cool reception.

In the next few years, The band focused on pleasing their Jamaican and British fans with their next two albums, 1979's Pass the Pipe and 1980's Just Like That.

Following the release of the 1981 album Knock Out!, the trio split up, and Matthias and Gordon retired from the music business, while Hibbert continued as a solo artist. Though Hibbert stayed busy as a live act, he didn't record again until 1988.

In the mid-'90s, Hibbert assembled a new version of Toots & the Maytals without Gordon and Matthias, and toured extensively while recording a handful of albums for various reggae specialist labels.

Hibbert's was hospitalized with COVID-19 symptoms shortly after the album's release. Toots Hibbert passed away in Kingston, Jamaica on September 11, 2020.