Peter Tosh

Singer, musician, composer, and rebel Peter Tosh carved a lasting path through Jamaican music both as an original Wailer and later as an independent force. During the late 1970s he helped reggae reach broader international listeners by joining the Rolling Stones on tour and scoring a global success through a duet with Mick Jagger. An outspoken Rastafarian, Tosh filled many of his most resonant recordings with Rasta philosophy and sharp anti-war commentary. His 1976 solo breakthrough Legalize It and its signature title track pressed for changes to marijuana statutes, while the sleeve showed the artist smoking amid a crop of ganja. Though killed in 1987, he left an extensive catalog—both with the Wailers and on his own—that secured his place among reggae’s foremost figures.

Born Winston Hubert McIntosh on October 19, 1944, in Grange Hill, Jamaica, Tosh relocated to Kingston at fifteen and quickly connected with like-minded musicians Bunny, Bob Marley, and Junior Braithwaite. Together with backing singers Cherry Green and Beverley Kelso, the group first performed as the Teenagers before adopting the name the Wailers. Their first single, “Simmer Down,” struck immediately, launching the band’s trajectory. Throughout the rest of the decade Tosh supplied nimble guitar, vocals, and occasional songwriting to successive lineups that progressed from ska through instrumentals into rocksteady territory.

In 1971 Tosh launched parallel solo work while still active with the Wailers. His opening single, “Maga Dog,” produced by Joe Gibbs, became a substantial hit and a favorite among DJs, prompting further Gibbs-produced releases. As the Wailers achieved wider recognition, Tosh found diminishing space for outside projects. After completing the 1973 tour and amid rising friction with Marley, he departed the group; scattered reunion shows followed, yet by 1975 the original lineup had effectively dissolved.

Tosh’s initial post-Wailers solo single, “Brand New Secondhand,” reworked a track the Wailers had first cut for Lee Perry. Greater impact arrived with the follow-up, “Legalize It,” which rapidly turned into a ganja anthem despite facing an immediate radio prohibition. Signing with Columbia in the United States in 1975, Tosh began recording his debut solo album at Kingston’s Treasure Isle studio, additional sessions in Miami, and further dates in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Legalize It surfaced in 1976 to praise both locally and overseas. Riding the momentum, Tosh toured with a unit anchored by the Sly & Robbie rhythm section, keyboardists Earl “Wire” Lindo and Errol “Tarzan” Nelson, and guitarists Donald Kinsey and American Al Anderson; Sony/Legacy later documented one fiery Boston performance from this period on Live & Dangerous. Like Marley, Tosh moved fluidly into a hybrid sound that honored American rock while retaining deep Jamaican roots, though his lyrical outlook proved markedly darker. Equal Rights, recorded only months after its predecessor and again featuring Sly & Robbie’s dread rhythms, Earl Lindo’s atmospheric keys, and Anderson’s rock guitar alongside additional Jamaican session players, adopted an even more resolute stance. Bunny Livingston contributed backing vocals, reciprocating the appearance Tosh had made on Livingston’s own 1976 solo release Blackheart Man. More tightly focused than Legalize It, Equal Rights addressed the struggles of Black communities worldwide, especially in South Africa and Rhodesia, marking Tosh’s final Columbia album.

He next joined the Rolling Stones’ label and spent that summer opening for the band across the States. Mick Jagger and Tosh collaborated on a version of the Temptations’ “(You Gotta Walk And) Don’t Look Back,” a number Tosh had previously recorded with the Wailers. Bush Doctor, co-produced with Robbie Shakespeare and featuring the Tamlins on harmonies plus top Jamaican session musicians, included Keith Richards on guitar for two tracks. Mystic Man followed in 1979, presenting a lighter overall tone yet still delivering tough material such as “Rumours of War” and “Jah Seh No.” Wanted Dread & Alive arrived in 1981, climbing into the lower reaches of the U.S. chart and supporting tours of both the United States and Europe. After a year away from the studio, Tosh resurfaced in 1983 with a cover of “Johnny B. Goode” that reached the U.S. Top 50 and served as the lead single for Mama Africa, released the same year. Three years passed before new music emerged; “In My Song” appeared in 1987 and was soon joined by the album No Nuclear War.

During this period an old Wailers acquaintance, Dennis Lobban, stayed at Tosh’s home. After a dispute with Tosh’s girlfriend Marlene Brown, Lobban departed angrily and returned on September 11 accompanied by several companions. He later stated his intention had been only to threaten the artist and possibly rob him, yet panic led to gunfire. Tosh and six friends present in the room were all shot in the head. Tosh and radio DJ Jeff “Free I” Dixon died along with one other friend; Marlene Brown, former Soul Syndicate drummer Carlton “Santa” Davis, and two additional guests survived. Lobban received a death sentence. Jamaica had lost one of its most gifted musicians and articulate advocates. Tosh’s legacy endured undiminished, sustained by numerous posthumous compilations. Heartbeat’s The Toughest gathered early recordings made with Dodd and Lee Perry, while Trojan’s Arise Black Man collected sides cut for Bunny Lee, Perry, and Gibbs. Columbia issued remastered editions of both Tosh solo albums in 1999; two years earlier the label assembled the three-CD Honorary Citizen box set, which included one disc of Jamaica-only singles, a second of live performances, and a third of favored hits. Scrolls of the Prophet, released in 1999, drew from Tosh’s major-label work between 1976 and 1987. His Wailers catalog received equally thorough treatment, and his influence continues to resonate.