Toots and The Maytals Win Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album
The late and great, Toots Hibbert is regarded to be smiling from somewhere after his band “Toots and The Maytals” took home their second Best Reggae Album win at the 2021 Grammys kept at the Staples centre in Los Angeles.
The announcement was made a couple hours ago during the live show and Loop news has gotten some reactions from his former manager Cabel ‘Jeffrey’ Stephenson.
According to Stephenson “This Grammy is so well deserved and it is a great honour for a legend who gave so much to reggae music. I know that somewhere Toots is smiling down on all of us. He put everything into his music, and this is a fitting end, a brilliant climax to cap off a glorious career,” he told Loop News.
He went on to outline that Toots and the team believed that they would have won the coveted award because they made music for the world.
Check out the 2021 nominees for Best Reggae Album Below.
- Upside Down 2020 — Buju Banton
- Higher Place — Skip Marley
- It All Comes Back To Love — Maxi Priest
- Got To Be Tough — Toots & The Maytals
- One World — The Wailers
The winning album “Got to be Tough” by Toots and The Maytals was released in August by Trojan BMG Records.
Toots Hibbert will be remembered worldwide for his contributions to reggae music even after his sad passing on September 11 of last year.
The immaculate singer started his career in the ’60s by participating with his band The Maytals in the national festival competitions at the time.
The difference that Hibbert brought to the music industry resonated with the Jamaican population as according to a former competitor in the Jamaican festival song competition, Tommy Cowan, the legendary singer did music that “touched the soul”.
Songs like Sweet and Dandy, Pomps and Pride, and Bam Bam since recorded have been classics to the Jamaican culture.
These songs by Toots and the Maytals also won the Festival song competition back in the days.
Toots also toured internationally with his band and developed very loyal fans in Europe while singing hits like “Funky Kingston, Monkey man” and even very spiritual songs like “six and seven Books of Moses”.
Through his travels and performance, he even met the famous reggae production mogul David Rodigan. Rodigan was a very big fan of Toots and the Maytals.
“Do The Reggae” released in 1968 by Toots and The Maytals was integral in the shaping of the genre and also moving it forward as he was the face of the music telling everyone to “do the reggae”.
Toots Hibbert was born on December 8 back in 1942.
Toots was 77 when he passed.
Mick Jagger stated that Hibbert’s Death was ‘A Great Loss to the Whole Music World’.
