WOMAD

Toots and the Maytals

From Jamaica

It must be quite satisfying to be credited with naming an entire musical genre. Frederick Hibbert – best known to record-buyers across the globe as Toots – therefore has reason to be mightily satisfied. The first published use of the word ‘reggae’ came from Toots & The Maytals’ 1968 hit Do The Reggay, coined just as rocksteady was slowing itself down and mutating into something new. A string of monster hits for The Maytals would follow, including those perennial peaches Pressure Drop and Funky Kingston, as Toots established himself not only as one of Jamaica’s more energetic performers, but also as the owner of one of the island’s most soulful voices. (To prove his soul music credentials, the album Toots In Memphis found him taking on, with supreme aplomb, the Stax songbook.) He’s also a dynamite live performer, as shown on the 1980 album Toots Live which, astonishingly, was pressed and on sale within 24 hours of the show at Hammersmith Palais. More than quarter of a century on, a Toots live show remains a fabulously joyful event. Do The Reggay!