(Pressure Drop by) Toots and the Maytals, originally called simply The Maytals, are considered legends of
ska and
reggae music.[
citation needed] Their sound is a unique, original combination of
gospel,
ska,
soul,
reggae and
rock.
Frederick "Toots" Hibbert, the leader of the group, was born in
May Pen in the
Parish of Clarendon,
Jamaica. He was the youngest of seven children. He grew up singing
gospel music in a church choir, but moved to
Kingston in 1961 at the tender age of sixteen.
In Kingston, Hibbert met
Henry "Raleigh" Gordon and
Nathaniel "Jerry" McCarthy, forming a group whose early recordings were attributed to "The Flames" and, possibly, "The Vikings". Having renamed the group the Maytals, the vocal trio recorded their first album, "Never Grow Old - presenting the Maytals", for producer
Clement "Coxsone" Dodd at
Studio One in 1962-63. With musical backing from Dodd's house band, the legendary
Skatalites, the Maytals' close-harmony gospel singing ensured instant success for the 1964 release, overshadowing Dodd's other up-and-coming gospel trio,
The Wailers. The original album augmented by studio out-takes from the Studio One sessions was re-released by Heartbeat/Rounder Records in 1997, and is essential listening for Maytals and Skatalites fans.
After staying at Studio One for about two years, the group moved on to do sessions for Prince Buster (released in
1974) before recording their second album produced by Byron Lee in 1965 . However, the band's musical career was rudely interrupted in late 1966 when Hibbert was arrested and imprisoned on drugs possession charges.
Following Hibbert's release from jail towards the end of
1967, the band officially changed their name to Toots and the Maytals and began working with Chinese-Jamaican producer
Leslie Kong, a collaboration which produced three classic albums and a string of hits throughout the late sixties and early seventies - "
Do the Reggay", a 1968 single widely credited with coining the word reggae, "
Pressure Drop", "
54-46 was my number" and "
Monkey Man", the group's first international hit in 1970 . The group was featured in one of reggae's greatest breakthrough events -
The Harder They Come, the 1972 film and soundtrack starring
Jimmy Cliff, named as one of Vanity Fair's Top 10 Best Soundtracks of all time.
Following Kong's death in 1971, the group continued to record with Kong's former sound engineer, Warwick Lyn; produced by Lyn and
Chris Blackwell of
Island Records, the group released three best-selling albums, and enjoyed international hits with
Funky Kingston in 1973 and Reggae Got Soul in
1976.
Toots and the Maytals' compositions would be given a second airing in 1978-80 during the reggae-punk and ska revival period in the UK, when
The Specials included "Monkey Man" on their 1979 debut album and
The Clash produced their version of "Pressure Drop". Having toured throughout the world for many years, Toots and the Maytals disbanded in the early
1980s, but reformed in the early
90s to continue touring and recording successfully.
Sublime recorded cover versions of some Maytals songs in the 1990s as well.
The band recently won the
2005 Grammy award for best reggae album
True Love, an album consisting of re-recorded versions of their classics alongside popular and legendary musicians such as
Bonnie Raitt,
Willie Nelson,
Eric Clapton, and
Keith Richards, as well as popular artists today such as
No Doubt,
Ben Harper,
The Roots, and
Shaggy.
In 2006, they recorded a reggae/ska version of
Radiohead's
Let Down for the tribute album,
Radiodread, by the
Easy Star All-Stars. The album is a complete song for song makeover of the English rock band's album
OK Computer into reggae, dub and ska. Let Down has been frequently cited by reviewers as one of the successes of the album.
According to the official Toots MySpace, the band are recording a new album. Blog entries on the Myspace page
[2] report that Toots has been working on a follow up to the 2004 album
True Love. The album, apparently originally due for 2006 release, was still being worked on as of December 2006.
New album "Light Your Light" released August 27 2007
