Toots Hibbert is arguably more loved now than he has been at any time in his long and distinguished career. A strong resurgence of interest in his music in the early 1990s, after 10 years of relative inactivity, led to his album, True Love - a CD of duets with other artists, including Willie Nelson, Jeff Beck and Ryan Adams - winning a Grammy award for Best Reggae Album in 2005.
"It was cool," replies Toots in his laid-back Jamaican accent, commenting on the success of the record. "A lot of stars decide to do my songs with me, like a duet. So they did it and it was the Grammys and it was fantastic."
Do the Reggay
Credited with inventing the word, "Reggae" on his 1968 hit, Do the Reggay , Toots, backed by his trusty Maytals, has been spreading the gospel of Jamaican reggae music around the world for nearly 50 years. How does he view the current reggae scene?
"Reggae music’s not really changed," he opines. "They tried to change it, but what they do is do negative words - negative words do not make songs be reggae. You have to have positive words in a song, and good lyric and good rhythm and that’s reggae.
That’s what goes in reggae but if you use negative words, it makes it full of itself and it’s not reggae. Reggae never change, reggae always be climbing on top. I’m the one who coined the word 'reggae,' so, how I know reggae - reggae always be positive. People try to call negative music reggae and try to kill the music."
Suite 101: How did you come up with the word? How does it feel knowing that you started a musical and cultural phenemenon?
"Well, the term was like a sleep. I was strumming my guitar one morning and the word just come up. We used to have a word called, 'Streggae' and I think the word come from that slang in Jamaica. If a girl go out looking good, they call her, 'Streggae,' so I said, 'Let’s do the reggae' and that’s where the word comes.
It feel alright, and I never get any pay to do that, so I think I should register it! That’s what I think. That’s one of the main things why I know the word, 'Reggae' - it carries a message. So, I didn’t get paid for doing that, but I know it’s a good thing I done, you know?"
Secret of Success
Although Toots & the Maytals split in 1981, they reunited in the early '90s and remain as popular as ever. What would Toots say has been the secret to his success and longevity?
"The secret is good lyrics and I try to stay strong in my physical life so I can perform my songs to the younger generation in Europe, America, all over Australia, Japan...Every year, people always turn out and sing my songs. I do love to have a harmony. The audience is my harmony – they know every word of my songs, so what more can I want?"
Suite 101: Of all your tunes, do you have a favourite?
"No, I don’t…I think all of the songs I’m proud of them and I don’t have a favourite, yet I know the songs that people like, like Monkey Man, 54-46, Bam Bam, Sweet & Dandy, Time Tough , Do the Reggay. People love those songs."
Suite 101: What are your proudest achievements in your career to date?
"I achieved quality of songs. I play instruments and I create things that I know people could never create! Everybody creates different things, but people generally relate to my words and get a blessing from God. The younger generation stands up for my songs and the elder generation stands up for my songs. That’s my great achievement, I think."
Reggae Survivor
There is no doubt that Toots is one of life's survivors.While so many great reggae singers have passed on, he continues to carry the torch for the music that he was so instrumental in founding and naming, but how does he feel when he thinks about all those less-fortunate friends and contempories who, in many cases, have met untimely deaths?
"Well, it’s okay, you know? I don’t have any problem with that. Bob Marley died and Jacob Miller died, one of my partners died, every day people die, and it set me back, but I have to keep on moving on to let the crowd see and to feel like they’re still around by me writing good songs. I think it fills a good space."
Suite 101: Do you have any regrets?
"Oh yes. I regret I was singing R&B music for a long time and I regret I lose a lot of good friends, like Bob Marley, my musicians (and former Maytals), Winston Wright and Winston Grennan - a lot of great people - Dennis Brown, Alton Ellis. I regret I lose them – they were great artists."
Current Projects and Plans for the Future
Never one to rest on his laurels, the highly-dedicated Toots Hibbert never seems to stop working.
"My project is a new CD that I just released and I’m in the studio doing more projects and getting ready for the road at all times," he reveals. "My new album that I just released is called Flip & Twist and I expect to perform it all over the world. My next album I’m getting it all to be released, so I’m not joking – I’m doing some serious work!"
Suite 101: After all these years, do you still very much enjoy what you do?
"Yeah, man. I’m enjoying it and making positive songs and my new album is really strange to talk about. You have R&B, gospel, rock ‘n’ roll, country style, blues, love songs, classic..."
Suite 101: What are your plans for the future?
"My future plan is to keep on releasing songs, releasing good songs for the people. I try not to use a lot of drum machines and these things ‘cause they don’t make you have good quality songs."
The Future of Reggae
Suite 101: How do you see the future of reggae music?
"The future? Oh, reggae have a great future. While I sing reggae, always have a great future. I’ll let the younger generation know that if they want to sing reggae, they have to make the words positive and message – have to carry a message. Reggae music is an uplifting music, so if they doing reggae music, make it positive."
Suite 101: So you don't like the more violent reggae songs that talk about killing homosexuals, for example?
"No, I don’t sing those kinds. I talk about a lot of crazy things. Don’t sing those things. I am totally different."
Toots & the Maytals: The First Fifty Years
As Toots & the Maytals approach 50 years in the music business (recording sessions for their first album, Never Grow Old, began in 1962) it would appear that Toots Hibbert is in a good place in his life at the moment, both personally and professionally.
Proud of all he has achieved and grateful for the opportunities that have come his way, Toots is still hungry, still out there playing every night, and still raring to go. Catch one of reggae's few remaining mavericks soon in a town near you.
Adrian Peel - Adrian is an English freelance writer and journalist currently living in Mexico. Over the past eight years, he has had articles, features ...
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