[6] Hibbert's parents were both strict Seventh-day Adventist preachers so he grew up singing gospel music in a church choir.
Both parents died young and, by the age of 11, Hibbert was an orphan who went to live with his brother John in the Trenchtown neighborhood of Kingston.
[6] He could play every instrument used in his band[9] and would later cite Otis Redding, Ray Charles, Wilson Pickett, and James Brown as key influences.
[12] The Maytals became one of the more popular vocal groups in Jamaica in the mid-1960s, recording with producers Coxsone Dodd, Prince Buster, Byron Lee, Ronnie Nasralla, and Leslie Kong.
Well, he's the nearest thing to Otis Redding left on the planet: he transforms 'do re mi fa sol la ti do' into joyful noise.
In his 2016 "The Rise of Reggae and the influence of Toots and the Maytals", Matthew Sherman wrote: "In the winter of 1968, the cool rocksteady beat gave way to a faster, brighter, more danceable sound.
Music critic Lester Bangs described the album in Stereo Review as "perfection, the most exciting and diversified set of reggae tunes by a single artist yet released.
[20] The Harder They Come features fellow musician and actor Jimmy Cliff in the leading role as Ivan, a character whose story resembles Hibbert's.
[4] On 1 October 1975, Toots and the Maytals were broadcast live on KMET-FM as they performed at the Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles.
[24] Hibbert carried on touring the world, and his band's True Love won the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album in 2005.
[26] In 2006, Toots and the Maytals covered Radiohead's "Let Down" for the Easy Star All-Stars album Radiodread, a reggae version of the English rock band's OK Computer.
In 2009, Hibbert collaborated with MCPR Music and Steel Pulse's Sidney Mills, who produced Jamaican percussionist Larry McDonald's album Drumquestra.
[32] Described as "The untold story of one of the most influential artists ever to come out of Jamaica", it features appearances by Marcia Griffiths, Jimmy Cliff, Bonnie Raitt, Eric Clapton, Keith Richards, Willie Nelson, Anthony DeCurtis, Ziggy Marley, Chris Blackwell, Paolo Nutini, Paul Douglas, Sly Dunbar, and Robbie Shakespeare.
[33][34] In May 2013, Hibbert received a head injury after being hit by a thrown bottle during a performance at the River Rock Festival in Richmond, Virginia, U.S. forcing him to cancel several months of live shows.
My own pain and suffering would be increased substantially knowing that this young man would face that prospect," the judge gave Lewis a six-month sentence.
[36] After a three-year hiatus following the incident at the River Rock Festival, in 2016 Toots and the Maytals returned to the stage and began touring again.
[46] The Gleaner and Rolling Stone later confirmed the announcement, reporting that Hibbert had died at the University Hospital of the West Indies in Kingston, in a medically induced coma.