Toots & The Maytals-Funky Kingston (1973)

Toots & The Maytals were one of the first groups to popularize reggae internationally in the late 1960s and early 1970s. Formed in 1963, this group, led by Frederick "Toots" Hibbert, built a strong reputation in Jamaica throughout the rest of the decade, thanks to a long string of locally successful recordings. The rest of the lineup consisted of Jackie Jackson, Hux Brown, Paul Douglas, and Rad Bryan. Their style was steeped in multiple influences that somewhat deviated from the established norms of Jamaican music, fusing jazz, R&B, ska, and rock, resulting in what would later be called reggae. In 1966, the group triumphed at the Jamaica Song Festival with the song "Bam Bam", further boosting their already immense popularity. New songs like "Pressure Drop", "Monkey Man", "54-46 That's My Number", "Sweet and Dandy" and "Pomps and Pride" established them as one of the most influential reggae groups. Their appearance in the 1972 film "The Harder They" catapulted them to international stardom. During those years, they signed with Island Records, and under the production of Chris Blackwell, they released the successful albums "Funky Kingston" and "Reggae Got Soul". In the latter half of the 1970s, their popularity gradually declined, although they remained active and released albums fairly regularly, some of them highly significant, such as "True Love" (2004) and "Light Your Light" (2007). For many years, the band was a regular fixture at reggae festivals. On September 11, 2020, Toots Hibbert passed away at the age of 77, exactly one year after his death. Later, the group would win the Grammy Award for Best Reggae Album for "Got to Be Tough".