Toots & The Maytals

Gigs at Uppsala Reggae Festival:

Year	Speldag	Speltid	Scen	Gallery
2011	Friday	23:45 - 01:00	Main Stage	Inga bilder

Toots and The Maytals, originally The Maytals, has been involved in jamaican reggae since the beginning. With solid roots in gospel music, The Maytals has gone from ska and rocksteady, to reggae, and more. The down-to-Earth, dirty, sometimes religious extatic, voice of Frederick "Toots" Hibbert has been an enduring hallmark of the group and its music.

The Maytals experienced great success during the rocksteady-era with songs like "Pressure Drop", "Monkey Man", "Sweet and Dandy". Perhaps the groups biggest song ever is "54-46 That's My Number", which talks about Toots time in prison after having gone in for drug possession. The film "The Harder They Come" and its soundtrack gave the band's music an international audience and caused the United States and Europe to notice them.

They followed up the success with a number of albums that cemented their position on the reggae scene. Funky Kingston and Reggae Got Soul, both of which were released on Island Records was an international success. A good example of the group's influences can be found in "(Take Me Home) Country Roads" that is found on the Funky Kingston album. The song was written and recorded by country music star John Denver, and became a huge hit for him. However Toots and The Maytals interpretation is based on Ray Charles' unique version of the song. So we have John Denvers folk-influences with simple melodies and tight harmonies and Ray Charles soul and gospelinfluences with energetic vocals and a strong beat. Add these influences to the Jamaican feeling and rhythm and you have a good summary of Toots and The Maytals' music.

Toots is still recording, 2010 he released his latest album Flip and Twist. He also performs around the world and is still a remarkably alert 66-year-old who gives all of their live performances. Take the opportunity to see this legend, he has only been in Sweden a few times and the last time it was as the opening act for the Rolling Stones on Ullevi in 2007.

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