Peter Tosh

Musician and activist

• Born: October 19, 1944
• Birthplace: Westmoreland, Jamaica
• Died: September 11, 1987
• Place of death: Kingston, Jamaica

Also known as: Winston Hubert McIntosh

Significance: Peter Tosh was a founding member of The Wailers, a pioneering reggae band that brought the distinctly Jamaican style of music to a worldwide audience. From the start, Tosh infused The Wailers music with political activism, a practice he continued when he embarked on a solo career in the 1970s. Tosh was murdered during a robbery in 1987.

Background

Peter Tosh was born Winston Hubert McIntosh on October 19, 1944, in Westmoreland, Jamaica. He was named Winston after then-British Prime Minister Winston Churchill. At the time, Jamaica was a Crown Colony of Great Britain. His parents, James McIntosh and Alvera Coke, abandoned him as a child, and he was raised by an aunt in Grange Hill, Jamaica. By age sixteen, Tosh’s aunt had died, and he moved to Kingston, Jamaica’s capital.

Tosh lived in the city’s poverty-stricken Trench Town section. He was active in the local Christian church and sang in its choir, learning to play the organ and the guitar. He loved listening to radio stations from the United States that played American rhythm and blues and doo-wop music. While in Trench Town, he met Bob Marley, Neville “Bunny” Livingstone, and Junior Braithwaite. The four teens bonded over their shared love of American music and their growing interest in Rastafarianism, a religious movement that merged Christianity with the belief that Black Africans are God’s chosen people.

Life’s Work

In 1963, the teens formed the musical group The Wailers, which merged Caribbean rhythms such as ska and calypso with American jazz and R&B. Because Tosh was the only one with a background playing instruments, he taught Livingstone and Marlet how to play. Their first hit, 1964’s “Simmer Down” went to the top of Jamaica’s music charts.

The group was heavily influenced by the civil rights and social movements of the 1960s and their music began to get more political as the decade moved on. Their musical style also evolved to fuse Jamaica sounds with American rock and soul elements, helping create the new style of reggae. Tosh was the most accomplished musician in the group and its most outspoken politically. His lyrics often took a more militant tone than his bandmates’ more upbeat style.

By the early 1970s, the focus on the band had shifted more toward Bob Marley, causing tension within the group. Tosh was part of the band when they released their signature songs, “I Shot the Sheriff” and “Get Up, Stand Up” on the 1973 album Burnin’. Tosh had begun a solo career in the early 1970s, and after Burnin’, he left the group. The Wailers reunited several times before breaking up for good in 1975.

Tosh’s first solo album was reflective of his outspoken political style. Legalize It! was released in 1976 and received as much criticism as praise. The album’s call for the legalization of marijuana got it banned in Jamaica, but it cracked the Top 200 albums charts in the United States. In 1977, he released the album Equal Rights, a call for racial equality and Black pride. In 1978, Tosh and his band, Word, Sound and Power, signed a deal with the Rolling Stones record label. The resulting album, Bush Doctor, featured the Stones’ Mick Jagger and Keith Richards and included a duet with Tosh and Jagger on the song “Don’t Look Back.”

Tosh released Mystic Man in 1979 and Wanted Dread and Alive in 1981. That same year, Tosh appeared in the Rolling Stones’ video for their song “Waiting on a Friend.” In 1983, Tosh released his highest-charting album, Mama Africa, which reached number 59 on the Top 200 album list. He continued to be politically active and was especially outspoken against the oppressive racist system of apartheid in place in South Africa at the time. He was also active in the fight to outlaw nuclear power and nuclear weapons and performed in many of the “No Nukes” concerts of the 1980s. His 1984 album, Captured Lives, earned Tosh his first Grammy nomination. In 1987, Tosh released the album No Nuclear War, which won him a Best Reggae Album Grammy at the 1988 Grammy Awards.

Impact

On September 11, 1987, Tosh was at home in Kingston, Jamaica, after returning from a trip to the United States. Three gunmen, one of whom was known to Tosh, entered the house and demanded a large amount of cash that they believed was inside. Reports differ on what happened next, but Tosh either refused to give them the money or said he did not have any. The gunmen shot all seven people in the house. Tosh was taken to the University of the West Indies Hospital in Kingston where he was pronounced dead. Two other men present also died, while the remaining four were wounded.

Tosh’s death stunned his fans, many of whom showed up at the hospital after hearing news of the shooting. Both Jamaica’s prime minister at the time and its former prime minister offered public condolences for his death. In 2012, Tosh was posthumously awarded the Jamaican Order of Merit. He remains popular among fans of reggae into the twenty-first century for his outspoken calls for equality and as a symbol for the legalization of marijuana.

Personal Life

Tosh had a long-term relationship with Andrea Marlene Brown, who became his common-law wife. Brown was shot the night that Tosh was killed but survived. Tosh was a father to ten children.

Bibliography

Alexander, Otis. “Peter Tosh (1944–1987).” Black Past, 6 Feb. 2022, www.blackpast.org/global-african-history/people-global-african-history/peter-tosh-1944-1987/. Accessed 26 June 2023.

Greene, Jo-Ann. “Peter Tosh Biography.” All Music, 2023, www.allmusic.com/artist/peter-tosh-mn0000328014/biography. Accessed 26 June 2023.

“Gunmen Kill Peter Tosh, Reggae Star, in Jamaica.” New York Times, 13 Sept. 1987, www.nytimes.com/1987/09/13/world/gunmen-kill-peter-tosh-reggae-star-in-jamaica.html. Accessed 26 June 2023.

“History.” Peter Tosh, 2023, petertosh.com/history/. Accessed 26 June 2023.

Masouri, John. Steppin’ Razor: The Life of Peter Tosh. Omnibus, 2013.