The late Reggae legend Toots Hibbert and his band, Toots and the Maytals have emerged as the winners of the 2021 Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album.
The Minister of Culture, Gender, Entertainment and Sport, the Honourable Olivia Grange, has hailed the posthumous victory of Toots, who passed away on September 11, 2020 at the age of 77 from COVID-19 related complications. The band copped the coveted award for their 2020 album, Got To Be Tough, which was released just days before Toot’s death.
Minister Grange, in a release, said “Toots put his all into this album and I’m very glad to see him recognised for his creative excellence and musical genius. This is a great moment of celebration, not only for Toots’ family, his team or his record label, but for all Jamaicans, especially those of us in the Reggae industry.”
It was the second Grammy Award for Toots and the Maytals who won the Best Reggae Album in 2004 with their album True Love.
The Minister also congratulated all the nominees in this year’s Reggae Album category: The Wailers, Buju Banton, Skip Marley, and Maxi Priest.
24-year-old Skip Marley, who was nominated in the category for his EP Higher Place, was in a celebratory mood when he tweeted congratulations to Toots, using his words featured in a recent Boomshots documentary, Let’s Take It Higher.
“Bless up @tootsmaytals on di Grammy win,” he wrote. “Di whole foundation of wah wi ah do now is thanks to dem man deh, dem pinnacles of reggae music…Nuh only reggae; blues, funk, soul, energy him bring, everything. Nobody nuh do di stage like Uncle Toots.”
Bless up @tootsmaytals on di Grammy win
Di whole foundation of wah wi ah do now is thanks to dem man deh, dem pinnacles of reggae music…Nuh only reggae; blues, funk, soul, energy him bring, everything. Nobody nuh do di stage like Uncle Toots pic.twitter.com/BYv2MtGmxo — Skip Marley (@SkipMarley) March 14, 2021
Buju Banton, who was nominated for Upside Down 2020, shared his congratulations to Toots via an Instagram post. He wrote, “Congratulations my brother @tootsmaytalsofficial, today Reggae won.”
Drummer Aston Barrett Jr. of The Wailers, who were nominated for their album One World, posted a video on Instagram with the caption, “it was an honor to be nominated with [Toots], blessings to your family and all the nominees”.
Maxi Priest, who was nominated for his album It All Comes Back To Love, said “A special and warm congratulations to @tootsmaytalsofficial on your Grammy for best Reggae Album! Well deserved! You won this for all of us!”
Shaggy, who executive-produced and collaborated with Maxi Priest for four songs on the One World album, also shared his congratulations to Toots.
“Congratulations goes out to the legend’ @tootsmaytalsofficial on the grammy win in the Best Reggae Category. The only thing better would’ve been him being here to collect and celebrate his win. Well deserved,” he wrote.
BMG’s Trojan Jamaica, the label which released Got To Be Tough, wrote on Twitter, “Give the greatest thanks to the @RecordingAcad for bestowing this honor upon the memory and legacy of #TootsHibbert!”
#GotToBeTough: the new #GRAMMYWinning #BestReggaeAlbum from @tootsmaytals
Give the greatest thanks to the @RecordingAcad for bestowing this honor upon the memory and legacy of #TootsHibbert! Big to #ZakStarkey @SSHH_MUSIC @cyrilneville13 #BurrellNigel and @BMG pic.twitter.com/Sv7Hpctbpy — TROJAN JAMAICA (@TrojanJamaica) March 14, 2021
President of the PNP, and Leader of the Opposition in Jamaica, Mark Golding, wrote on Twitter, “Congrats to Toots and The Maytals on this posthumous Grammy win and a big congrats to the other nominees: Buju Banton, Skip Marley, The Wailers and Maxi Priest…They are amazing albums and we thank these musical ambassadors for carrying our flag and culture across the globe.”
