Toots Hibbert, a Jamaican musician and songwriter better known by his stage name Frederick Nathaniel Hibbert, OJ (8 December 1942 – 11 September 2020), was the lead vocalist for the reggae and ska group Toots and the Maytals. He was a reggae pioneer who performed for six decades and contributed to establishing some of the foundational elements of the genre. The term “reggae” is commonly regarded as having its origins in Hibbert’s 1968 song “Do the Reggay.” A Grammy Award was given to his band’s True Love CD in 2005.
Toots and the Maytals were founded in 1961 by multi-instrumentalist Hibbert. He could play every instrument in his band and cited Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, and James Brown as influences. Maytals is a Rastafari term that means “do the right thing,” according to Hibbert. There are also claims that the name came from Hibbert’s hometown of May Pen. The band began as a trio, with Gordon and Mathias, and later expanded to include Jackie Jackson and Paul Douglas.
Much of Hibbert’s early recorded work, including “Hallelujah” (1963), reflects his Christian upbringing. He was also known to write about Rastafarian religious themes, and in an early Maytals song, “Six And Seven Books of Moses” (1963), he addressed the folk magic of obeah and its use of Biblical grimoires’ occult literature, such as the Sixth and Seventh Books of Moses.
What did Toots Hibbert die from?
Hibbert was reported to be “fighting for his life” in a medically induced coma in August 2020. On September 12, 2020, the band’s Facebook page posted a statement announcing his death at the age of 77.
The Gleaner and Rolling Stone later confirmed the announcement, reporting that Hibbert died in a medically induced coma at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston. It was later determined that COVID-19, which was prevalent in Jamaica during the pandemic, was the underlying cause of his death.
