His 1973 album was a milestone - but long before that he helped create a whole musical style.
Now he has died in Jamaica's capital.
Music legend
Toots Hibbert
has died at the age of 77.
His 1973 album
"Funky Kingston"
was a
milestone
.
In his genre, he could hold a candle to superstar
Bob Marley
.
Munich - Reggae music has lost one of its most important voices: musician
Toots Hibbert died
Friday evening US local time at the age of
77
.
According to his manager Eric Baker, the singer died in the "University Hospital of the West Indies" in Kingston, the capital of Jamaica.
It is with the heaviest of hearts to announce that Frederick Nathaniel "Toots" Hibbert passed away peacefully tonight, surrounded by his family at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston, Jamaica ... pic.twitter.com/zOb6yRpJ7n
- Toots & The Maytals (@tootsmaytals) September 12, 2020
Hibbert had a
decisive influence on
reggae
with songs like "Funky Kingston", "Pressure Drop" and "Monkey Man".
His title
“Do the Reggay”
,
published in 1968
, first mentioned the term in a hit and thus contributed significantly to the fact that the entire
style
got its name.
According to media reports, Hibbert was taken to the hospital and put into a
coma
on
Monday last week
.
It was said that he had been waiting for the result of a
corona test
.
Toots Hibbert dead: Reggae pioneer was on par with Bob Marley
Especially in Hibbert's homeland,
Jamaica
, he was one of the most famous musicians of the genre, comparable in importance to the global superstar
Bob Marley
.
But the two were never rivals, Hibbert
said
in an interview with the British
Independent
in August
.
"He was a father figure to me," wrote
Marley's son Ziggy
on Twitter on Saturday.
“His spirit is with us, his music fills us with his energy and I will never forget him.” “Jamaica has lost a great cultural icon.
The soul of an age has died, ”the
Jamaica Observer
newspaper quoted
Hibbert spokesman Claude Mills as saying.
The Legendary Toots Hibbert has passed i spoke w / him a few wks ago told him how much i loved him we laughed & shared our mutual respect.
He was a father figure to me his spirit is w / us his music fills us w / his energy i will never forget him RIP MIGHTY & POWERFUL NYAH FYAH BALL 😢 pic.twitter.com/zIofrbYZU0
- Ziggy Marley (@ziggymarley) September 12, 2020
Toots Hibbert dead: Reggae pioneer dies at the age of 77
As
"Toots & the Maytals"
, Hibbert's most important band was successful for decades, with which he has recorded more than 30 Jamaican
number one singles
in changing line-ups since the 1960s
.
The 1973 album
"Funky Kingston"
was a
milestone
for critics
and is considered one of the best reggae albums of all time.
The band
only released
a new album
in
August
with “Got To Be Tough”, the first since “Flip And Twist” in 2010. In the new pieces, the musicians had brought together styles such as reggae, ska, Stax-Soul and Afrobeat.
For the 2005 album “True Love”, “Toots & the Maytals” won a
Grammy Award
for best reggae recording.
Hibbert leaves behind a
wife
and
seven children
.
(dpa / frs)
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