Peter ToshText by Jeremy Collingwood |
As one third of the original Wailers, Peter was at there at the start with Bob Marley. He remained ruggedly independent though he failed to find Superstardom he sort, he did build an expressive career particularly in the USA, France & Africa. He had a Biblical like presence and many of his best work found Peter in Old Testament style.
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| Date Added: May 11, 2010 Copyright (C) 2024 Dub Store Sound Inc. |
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Peter was born Hubert Peter McIntosh in 1944, in the county of Westmorland. He met a young Bob Marley & Neville 'Bunny' Wailer (Bunny Wailer) in Kingston Trenchtown, where they were tutored by success artist Joe Higgs. As 'The Wailers' they signed to Coxsone Dodd(CS Dodd)'s Studio One set up in 1964. The Wailers were a vocal trio, with Peter as bass: often providing backing 'Doo-Wops' on early covers of US R'n'B.
He didn't get many leads at Studio One but he first shone on 'Rasta Shook Them Up', about the arrival of Emperor Haile Selassie at Kingston Airport: ironically Bob was working the car production line in the States at the time in 1966. The same period also gave Peter one of his defining songs 'The Toughest' – delivered with a swagger that reflected the tough & rough street life of Kingston ghettos.
Bob Marley & The Wailing Wailers own 'Wail N Soul M' imprint saw Peter's lead vocal on four first rate tracks: 'Fire Fire', 'Funeral' (aka Burial), 'Steppin' Razor' and 'Them Hafe Get A Beaten' which continued to give him a good share of the front mans' duties. Tosh later made 'Steppin' Razor' (Joe Higgs composed) his own and recut 'Them Hafe Get A Beaten' on Joe Gibbs.
Bob Marley, Wailers had signed with Johnny Nash's & Danny Sims JAD label back in 1967 & had continue to record with Kingston based producers like Lee Perry, Leslie Kong, Clive Chin and Bunny Lee. Peter continued as a key member of the group that were by now 'Bob Marley, Wailers'. Peter's took leads on such tracks as 'Go Tell It To The Mountain', 'Stop the Train', 'Second Hand' and 'Can't You See' but otherwise it was a lot of harmony work for him. When he did deliver the lead, his powerful, and at times almost Biblical, delivery creates minor dramas in which Tosh is usually berating someone for their behaviour.
Peter toured the Kingston producers himself and cut solo sides for Joe Gibbs and played session piano on various instrumentals for Bunny Lee. He also famously made a guest appearance on U Roy's Rightful Ruler, produced by Lee Perry – on which Peter talks in 'Amerhic' the ancient language of Ethiopia. His own 'Black Dignity' repeated this idea. During the Tuff Gong singles era (based at 127 King Street), in the early 1970's, Peter didn't get enjoy a single vocal lead. His Rasta faith was now a crucial part of him and this, allied with his interest in what was happening with Black Power in the states, added to his already powerful persona. Apparently in the late 1960's he carved and sold 'Black Panther' fists salutes necklaces.
During this period Tosh also played the melodica with great style and he cut the sublime 'Anti-Apartheid' for Bunny Wailer, on whose 'Amagideon' rhythm Peter blows over. Tosh was also responsible for the melodica line in the, Scratch produced, 'Sun Is Shining'. There's a great dub of the Trenchtown Rock DJ piece by U Roy with Peter's playing in the mix. After a beating from the Police, during an Anti-Apartheid protest march, his melodica playing career was ended after damage to his hand.
In 1972 when JAD assigned their contract to Chris Blackwell's Island records Peter began to enjoy a new period of being a lead vocalist. Their debut album saw Tosh re-cutting two older tracks in '400 years' and 'Stop the Train' but on their follow up album it was a co write & co-lead with Bob that gave Peter his biggest hit yet, the now anthemic 'Get Up, Stand Up'. Though Peter had been given more of the spotlight by Island he didn't like touring a cold & wet UK in a Comma Van – well who would? After some eight years performing together Peter struck out on his own and set up his Intel Diplo label.
He was quickly signed to CBS in the US and to Virgin in the UK and his 1976 album 'Legalize It' was essentially a Bob Marley, Wailers album, without Bob! The title track became a smokers anthem from the get go and Virgin's marketing of the album in a full gatefold sleeve, with pictures of weed fields worked well. The follow-up 'Equal Rights' kept interest growing and in 1978 he signed to the Rolling Stones label and released 'Mystic Man' that sold well and featured a duet with Mick Jagger on a very catchy 'Walk and Don't Look Back'. It seemed the full cross-over success was almost in grasp. Though over the next five albums much, but not all, of his music languished stuck between reggae / rock crossover. His fierce, and uncompromising nature, meant that he remained hugely popular in Africa and in pockets around the globe. His last achievement was winning the first ever Reggae Grammy for his last ever album: 'No Nuclear War'
He died in 1987 after a robbery at his JA home ended in bloodshed. It is rumoured that he knew his killers. He did know people from Uptown, to Downtown, to the ghettos and was proud of it.
Peter's legacy is of some fantastic singles and albums that caught the spirit of the time. He was always too ruggedly independent to completely cross-over and people love him for that. |
| May 11, 2010 Text by Jeremy Collingwood
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| Best selling 7"(s) |
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Peter Tosh was the first reggae artist to realise the limitless possibilities of the melodica (listen to the Wailers' first Tuff Gong release 'Sun Is Shining') and here he adds its haunting power to one of Bunny's best ever rhythms the prophetic 'Amagideon' from 'Black Heart Man'. The melodica phrases and the subtle, restrained mixing on both sides of this single bring out all the brooding introspection and mystery in the track. |
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