Toots and the Maytals
Backstage at the Reggae Geel festival in Belgium Frederick “Toots’’ Hibbert removed his rock-star shades. He leaned forward intensely and said, in a husky Jamaican accent “I was the one who coined the word Reggae, I was the one who invented the word reggae”.
He took ‘Streggae’, a Jamaican slang word for someone “who dosn’t dress nicely” and repurposed it for the song titled ‘Do the Reggay’ in 1968. It is not often that you come across a musician so genuine and humble that has also named a genre of music and has accomplished so much in their career. He is a Grammy award winner, was voted by Rolling Stone Magazine as one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time, has had 31 number 1 hit songs in Jamaica, reputedly more than any recording artist and is still working as hard as ever. Continue reading