Winston Hubert McIntosh (19 October 1944 – 11 September 1987), professionally known as Peter Tosh, was a Jamaican
reggae
Reggae () is a music genre that originated in Jamaica during the late 1960s. The term also denotes the modern popular music of Jamaica and its Jamaican diaspora, diaspora. A 1968 single by Toots and the Maytals, "Do the Reggay", was the first ...
musician. Along with
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...
and
Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band
the Wailers (1963–1976), after which he established himself as a successful solo artist and a promoter of
Rastafari
Rastafari is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion. There is no central authori ...
. He was murdered in 1987 during a
home invasion.
Early life
Tosh was born Winston Hubert McIntosh on 19 October 1944 in
Westmoreland, the westernmost parish of
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island country in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...
. He was abandoned by his parents and "shuffled among relatives". When McIntosh was fifteen, his aunt died and he moved to
Trenchtown in
Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...
. He was educated in
Bluefields up to age 17, then moved to Kingston to live with his aunt. He began an apprenticeship as a welder.
He first learned guitar after watching a man in the country play a song that captivated him. He watched the man play the same song for half a day, memorizing everything his fingers were doing. He then picked up the guitar and played the song back to the man. The man then asked McIntosh who had taught him to play; McIntosh told him that he had. During the early 1960s, as an aspiring musician, Tosh went to vocal teacher
Joe Higgs
Joseph Benjamin Higgs (3 June 1940 – 18 December 1999) was a reggae musician from Jamaica. In the late 1950s and 1960s he was part of the duo Higgs and Wilson together with Roy Wilson. He was a popular artist in Jamaica for four decades and i ...
, who gave free music lessons to young people. Through his contact with Higgs, Tosh met Robert Nesta Marley (
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...
) and Neville O'Reilly Livingston (
Bunny Wailer). He then changed his name to Peter Tosh and the trio started singing together in 1962. Higgs taught the trio to harmonise and while developing their music, they would often play on the street corners of Trenchtown.
Music career
By 1964, Tosh, Marley, and Bunny had formed
the Wailing Wailers, with falsetto singer
Junior Braithwaite, and backup singers
Beverley Kelso and
Cherry Smith. Initially, Tosh was the only one in the group who could play musical instruments. According to
Bunny Wailer, Tosh was critical to the band because he was a self-taught guitarist and keyboardist, and thus became an inspiration for the other band members to learn to play. The Wailing Wailers had a major
ska hit with their first single, "Simmer Down", and recorded several more successful singles before Braithwaite, Kelso and Smith left the band in late 1965. Marley spent much of 1966 in
Delaware
Delaware ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and South Atlantic states, South Atlantic regions of the United States. It borders Maryland to its south and west, Pennsylvania to its north, New Jersey ...
in the United States with his mother,
Cedella (née Malcolm) Marley-Booker, and for a brief time was working at a nearby
Chrysler
FCA US, LLC, Trade name, doing business as Stellantis North America and known historically as Chrysler ( ), is one of the "Big Three (automobile manufacturers), Big Three" automobile manufacturers in the United States, headquartered in Auburn H ...
factory. He returned to Jamaica in early 1967 with a renewed interest in music and a new spirituality. Tosh and Bunny were already Rastafarians when Marley returned from the US, and the three became very involved with the Rastafari faith. Soon afterwards, they renamed the musical group the Wailers. Tosh would explain later that they chose the name Wailers because to "wail" means to mourn or to, as he put it, "...express one's feelings vocally". He also claims that he was the beginning of the group, and that it was he who first taught Bob Marley the guitar. Also according to Bunny Wailer, the early Wailers learned to play instruments from Tosh.
During the mid-1960s Tosh, along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, were introduced to Danny Sims and
Johnny Nash, who signed the three artists to an exclusive recording contract on Sims' and Nash's
JAD Records label
as well as an exclusive publishing agreement through Sims' music publishing company, Cayman Music. Rejecting the up-tempo dance of ska, the band slowed their music to a
rocksteady pace, and infused their lyrics with political and social messages inspired by their new-found faith. The Wailers composed several songs for the American-born singer Nash before teaming with producer
Lee "Scratch" Perry to record some of the earliest well-known reggae songs, including "Soul Rebel", "Duppy Conqueror", and "Small Axe". The collaboration had given birth to reggae music and in 1970 bassist
Aston "Family Man" Barrett and his brother, drummer
Carlton Barrett, joined the group. They recorded the album ''
The Best of The Wailers'', which was produced by Leslie Kong and released in 1971.
In 1972, Danny Sims assigned the balance of the JAD Records recording contract with the band to
Chris Blackwell
Christopher Percy Gordon Blackwell OJ (born 22 June 1937) is a Jamaican-British former record producer and the founder of Island Records, which has been called "one of Britain's great independent labels". According to the Rock and Roll Hall ...
and
Island Records
Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in Jamaica by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in 1959, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, another ...
company
and released their debut, ''
Catch a Fire'', in 1973, following it with ''
Burnin''' the same year. The Wailers had moved from many producers after 1970 and there were instances where producers would record rehearsal sessions that Tosh did and release them in England under the name "Peter Touch".
In 1973, Tosh was driving home with his girlfriend Evonne when his car was hit by another car driving on the wrong side of the road. The accident killed Evonne and severely fractured Tosh's skull.
After Island Records president Chris Blackwell refused to issue his solo album in 1974, Tosh and Bunny Wailer left the Wailers, citing the unfair treatment they received from Blackwell, to whom Tosh often referred with a derogatory play on Blackwell's surname, 'Whiteworst'.
Tosh had written or co-written many of the Wailers' hit songs such as "
Get Up, Stand Up", "400 Years", and "No Sympathy". Tosh went on to start a solo career, releasing albums with CBS Records and
Rolling Stones Records.
Solo career

Tosh's debut solo album, ''
Legalize It'', was recorded in 1975–6 at
Treasure Isle. It was released in June 1976 on
CBS Records. The title track soon became popular among endorsers of cannabis legalization, reggae music lovers and Rastafari all over the world, and was a favourite at Tosh's concerts. Also in 1976, Tosh organised a backing band,
Word, Sound and Power, who were to accompany him on tour for the next few years, and many of whom performed on his albums of this period. Tosh's second album, ''
Equal Rights,'' released in 1977. It featured his recording of a song co-written with Marley, "
Get Up, Stand Up", and a cover of "Stepping Razor" that would also appear on the soundtrack to the film ''
Rockers''.
In 1978, the
Rolling Stones
The Rolling Stones are an English Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for over six decades, they are one of the most popular, influential, and enduring bands of the Album era, rock era. In the early 1960s, the band pione ...
' record label, Rolling Stones Records, contracted with Tosh, on which the album ''
Bush Doctor'' was released, introducing Tosh to a larger audience. The album featured Rolling Stones frontmen
Mick Jagger
Sir Michael Philip Jagger (born 26 July 1943) is an English musician. He is known as the lead singer and one of the founder members of The Rolling Stones. Jagger has co-written most of the band's songs with lead guitarist Keith Richards; Jagge ...
and
Keith Richards, and the lead single – a cover version of
the Temptations song "
Don't Look Back" – was performed as a duet with Jagger. In April, Tosh performed at the Jamaican
One Love Peace Concert of 1978. Tosh lit a marijuana
spliff and lectured about
legalising cannabis, lambasting attending dignitaries
Michael Manley and
Edward Seaga for their failure to enact such legislation. According to ''
The Gleaner
''The Gleaner'' is an English-language, morning daily newspaper founded by two brothers, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova on 13 September 1834 in Kingston, Jamaica.
It is the oldest continuously published newspaper in the Western Hemisphere. Original ...
'', Tosh became regular target for the police after the concert.
In September, he was arrested by police at
Half-Way Tree square; on grounds of smoking marijuana and attacking a police officer. He report being beaten severely while in police custody - resulting in a broken hand and head injuries requiring stitches.
''
Mystic Man'' (1979), and ''
Wanted Dread and Alive'' (1981) followed, both released on Rolling Stones Records. Tosh tried to gain some mainstream success while keeping his militant views, but was only moderately successful, especially when compared to Marley's achievements.
In 1984, after the release of 1983's album ''
Mama Africa'', Tosh went into self-imposed exile, seeking the spiritual advice of traditional medicine men in Africa, and trying to free himself from recording agreements that distributed his records in South Africa. Tosh had been at odds for several years with his label,
EMI, over a perceived lack of promotion for his music.
[Personal Interview with Doug Wendt]
17 August 1983.
Tosh also participated in the international opposition to South African
apartheid
Apartheid ( , especially South African English: , ; , ) was a system of institutionalised racial segregation that existed in South Africa and South West Africa (now Namibia) from 1948 to the early 1990s. It was characterised by an ...
by appearing at anti-apartheid concerts and by conveying his opinion in various songs like "Apartheid" (1977, re-recorded 1987), "Equal Rights" (1977), "Fight On" (1979), and "Not Gonna Give It Up" (1983). In 1987, Peter Tosh seemed to be having a career revival. He was awarded a Grammy Award for Best Reggae Performance in 1987 for ''
No Nuclear War'', his last record.
Personal life
Religion
Along with
Bob Marley
Robert Nesta Marley (6 February 1945 – 11 May 1981) was a Jamaican singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Considered one of the pioneers of reggae, he fused elements of reggae, ska and rocksteady and was renowned for his distinctive voca ...
and
Bunny Wailer during the late 1960s, Peter Tosh became a devotee of
Rastafari
Rastafari is an Abrahamic religions, Abrahamic religion that developed in Jamaica during the 1930s. It is classified as both a new religious movement and a social movement by Religious studies, scholars of religion. There is no central authori ...
. One of the beliefs of the Rastas is that
Haile Selassie
Haile Selassie I (born Tafari Makonnen or ''Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles#Lij, Lij'' Tafari; 23 July 189227 August 1975) was Emperor of Ethiopia from 1930 to 1974. He rose to power as the Ethiopian aristocratic and court titles, Rege ...
, the
Emperor of Ethiopia
The emperor of Ethiopia (, "King of Kings"), also known as the Atse (, "emperor"), was the hereditary monarchy, hereditary ruler of the Ethiopian Empire, from at least the 13th century until the abolition of the monarchy in 1975. The emperor w ...
, was either an
embodiment of God or a messenger of God, leading the three friends to be baptized in the
Ethiopian Orthodox Church
The Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church () is the largest of the Oriental Orthodox Churches. One of the few Christian churches in Africa originating before European colonization of the continent, the Ethiopian Orthodox Tewahedo Church dates bac ...
.
Unicycling
At some point after his departure from the Wailers, Tosh developed an interest in
unicycle
A unicycle is a vehicle that touches the ground with only one wheel. The most common variation has a frame with a saddle, and has a pedal-driven direct-drive. A two speed hub is commercially available for faster unicycling. Unicycling is prac ...
s and became a unicycle rider, being able to ride forwards and backwards and hop. He often amused his audiences by riding onto the stage on his unicycle for his shows.
Family
Tosh's girlfriend Evonne was killed in a car crash in 1973. Tosh was in a relationship with his wife Marlene Brown for about five years from 1982, she was 21 at the start of the relationship. Tosh had ten children including
Andrew
Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...
(1967), Jawara (mother Melody Cunningham), Aldrina and youngest Niambe.
Murder
On 11 September 1987, after Tosh returned to his home in Jamaica, a three-man gang came to his house on motorcycles demanding money.
[ Tosh replied that he did not have any with him, but the gang did not believe him. They remained at his residence for several hours and tortured Tosh in an attempt to extort money from him. Over the hours, as various associates of Tosh arrived to visit him, they were also taken hostage by the gunmen. The gunmen included chief thug Dennis "Leppo" Lobban, a man whom Tosh had previously befriended and tried to help find work after Lobban's release from a lengthy jail sentence.]
Tosh said he did not have any money in the house, after which Lobban and the fellow gunmen began opening fire in a reckless manner. Tosh was shot twice in the head and killed. Herbalist Wilton "Doc" Brown and disc jockey Jeff 'Free I' Dixon also died as a result of wounds sustained during the robbery. Several others in the house were wounded, including Tosh's common law wife Andrea Marlene Brown, Free I's wife Yvonne ("Joy"), Tosh's drummer Carlton "Santa" Davis, and musician Michael Robinson.
According to Police Commissioner Herman Ricketts, Lobban surrendered and two other men were interrogated but not publicly named. Lobban pled innocent during his trial, telling the court he had been drinking with friends. The trial was held in a closed court due to the involvement of illegal firearms. Lobban was ultimately found guilty by a jury of eight women and four men and sentenced to death by hanging.
In 1995, Lobban's sentence was commuted and he remained in jail. Another suspect was acquitted due to insufficient evidence. The other two gunmen were never identified by name.
Instruments
In 1983, at the Los Angeles stop on Tosh's ''Mama Africa'' tour, a local musician named Bruno Coon went to the hotel at which Tosh was staying, claiming to have a gift for him. The gift was a custom-built guitar in the shape of an M16 rifle
The M16 (officially Rifle, Caliber 5.56 mm, M16) is a family of assault rifles adapted from the ArmaLite AR-15 rifle for the United States Armed Forces, United States military. The original M16 was a 5.56×45mm NATO, 5.56×45mm automatic ...
. Tosh accepted the gift personally. The guitar was subsequently lost by the airlines when the tour went to Europe but was recovered when Tosh's public relations
Public relations (PR) is the practice of managing and disseminating information from an individual or an organization (such as a business, government agency, or a nonprofit organization) to the public in order to influence their perception. Pu ...
agent placed an article about its loss in ''Der Spiegel
(, , stylized in all caps) is a German weekly news magazine published in Hamburg. With a weekly circulation of about 724,000 copies in 2022, it is one of the largest such publications in Europe. It was founded in 1947 by John Seymour Chaloner ...
''. Tosh went on to perform on stage with the guitar.
The promoters of the Flashpoint Film Festival announced in 2006 that Tosh's common-law wife Andrea "Marlene" Brown would auction it on eBay
eBay Inc. ( , often stylized as ebay) is an American multinational e-commerce company based in San Jose, California, that allows users to buy or view items via retail sales through online marketplaces and websites in 190 markets worldwide. ...
. Tosh's sons, Andrew Tosh, and Jawara McIntosh, prevented the sale, claiming ownership of the guitar. In 2011 Andrew Tosh said that the guitar was in the custody of a close friend, awaiting the opening of a museum dedicated to Peter Tosh.
Legacy
In 1979, a 1964 photograph of Tosh in sunglasses and a suit, also featuring Bob Marley and the Wailers
Bob Marley and the Wailers (previously known as the Wailers and prior to that the Wailing Rudeboys, the Wailing Wailers and the Teenagers) were a Jamaican ska, rocksteady and reggae band. The founding members, in 1963, were Bob Marley (Robert ...
, was the inspiration for the logo of 2 Tone Records
2 Tone Records was an English independent record label that mostly released ska and reggae-influenced music with a punk rock and pop music overtone. It was founded by Jerry Dammers of the Specials and backed by Chrysalis Records.
History
J ...
. The label released albums from ska bands such as The Specials
The Specials, also known as the Special AKA, were an English 2 tone and ska revival band formed in 1977 in Coventry. After some early changes, the first stable lineup of the group consisted of Terry Hall and Neville Staple on vocals, J ...
. The logo featured a stylized man in a suit based on the photo of Tosh, although the figure was called "Walt Jabsco". The logo in turn was the inspiration for a character in a Webdings font designed by Vincent Connare in 1997 (" Man in Business Suit Levitating emoji" in the Emoji
An emoji ( ; plural emoji or emojis; , ) is a pictogram, logogram, ideogram, or smiley embedded in text and used in electronic messages and web pages. The primary function of modern emoji is to fill in emotional cues otherwise missing from type ...
system). Connare changed the design to face forward and floating. Tosh's children Andrew Tosh and Niambe McIntosh both praised the emoji in a 2021 BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...
interview, with Andrew stating that " eter Toshwanted eopleto dance to their own (political) awakening".
In 1993, '' Stepping Razor: Red X'' was released, a documentary film chronicling Tosh's life, music and untimely death. It was directed by Canadian filmmaker Nicholas Campbell
Nicholas Campbell (born 24 March 1952) is a Canadian actor and filmmaker. He is a four-time Gemini Awards, Gemini Award winner, a three-time Genie Awards, Genie Award nominee, and a Canadian Screen Awards, Canadian Screen Award nominee. He is k ...
, produced by Wayne Jobson and based upon a series of spoken-word recordings made by Peter Tosh himself. The film was released on DVD in 2002.
A monument to Tosh is maintained by his family near Negril, Jamaica, which is open to the public. His birthday is celebrated there annually with live reggae music.
In October 2012, Tosh was posthumously awarded Jamaica's fourth highest honour, the Order of Merit
The Order of Merit () is an order of merit for the Commonwealth realms, recognising distinguished service in the armed forces, science, art, literature, or the promotion of culture. Established in 1902 by Edward VII, admission into the order r ...
.[Bonitto, Brian (2012)]
Tosh gets OM
, ''Jamaica Observer
The ''Jamaica Observer'' is a daily newspaper published in Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by ...
'', 7 August 2012, retrieved 7 August 2012
In 2015, Tosh's daughter – the administrator of the Peter Tosh Estate – deemed that April 20
Events Pre-1600
* 1303 – The Sapienza University of Rome is instituted by a bull of Pope Boniface VIII.
1601–1900
* 1653 – Oliver Cromwell dissolves England's Rump Parliament.
* 1657 – English Admiral Robert Blake destroy ...
should be celebrated as International Peter Tosh Day, in honour of his "philosophy of responsible cannabis consumption for medicinal and spiritual health benefits".
A square on Trafalgar Road in Kingston, Jamaica
Kingston is the Capital (political), capital and largest city of Jamaica, located on the southeastern coast of the island. It faces a natural harbour protected by the Palisadoes, a long spit (landform), sand spit which connects the town of Por ...
, was renamed Peter Tosh Square. The square is home to the Peter Tosh Museum, opened on Peter Tosh's 72nd birthday on 19 October 2016. Among the artifacts on display is Tosh's M16 guitar. There was a benefit concert for the grand opening, on the 22nd, featuring Chronixx, Luciano and Andrew Tosh.
The annual Peter Tosh Gala Awards event was inaugurated in 2017.
In October 2019, a commemorative blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom, and certain other countries and territories, to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving a ...
dedicated by the Nubian Jak Community Trust honoring Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Bunny Wailer was placed at the former site of Basing Street Studios in London, where '' Catch a Fire'' and '' Burnin''' were completed.
In 2023, he was posthumously bestowed with the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo.
Discography
Studio albums
Live albums
* ''Captured Live'' (1984)
* ''Live at the One Love Peace Concert'' (JAD) (2000)
* ''Live & Dangerous: Boston 1976'' (2001)
* ''Live at the Jamaica World Music Festival 1982'' (JAD) (2002)
* ''Complete Captured Live'' (2002)
* ''Live at My Father's Place 1978'' (2014)
Compilations
Listed are compilations containing material previously unreleased outside of Jamaica.
* '' The Toughest'' (Capitol) (1988)
* ''Honorary Citizen'' (1997)
* ''Scrolls of the Prophet: The Best of Peter Tosh'' (1999)
* ''Arise Black Man'' (1999)
* ''Black Dignity (Early Works of the Stepping Razor)'' (2001)
* ''I Am That I Am'' (JAD) (2001)
* ''The Best of Peter Tosh 1977–1987'' (2003)
* '' Can't Blame the Youth'' (JAD) (2004)
* ''Black Dignity'' (2004)
* ''Talking Revolution'' (2005)
* ''The Ultimate Peter Tosh Experience'' (2009)
Appears on
* The Wailing Wailers (1965)
*'' Negril'' (Eric Gale
Eric Gale (September 20, 1938 – May 25, 1994) was an American jazz and jazz fusion guitarist.
Biography
Eric Gale was born in Bedford–Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, New York. His grandfather was English, and Gale had relatives in Venezuela and Bar ...
, 1975)
*''Rastafari Dub'' ( Ras Michael & The Sons of Negus, 1975)
*'' Blackheart Man'' ( Bunny Wailer, 1976)
*''Word Sound and Power'' (Chris Hinze, 1980)
See also
* List of Rastafarians
* List of reggae musicians
References
External links
Peter Tosh
on AllMusic
AllMusic (previously known as All-Music Guide and AMG) is an American online database, online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on Musical artist, musicians and Mus ...
Discography
Peter Tosh – Jamaicapage.com Feature
The Wailers News
Peter Tosh [Discography, Biography & Lyrics] @ www.MusicGonnaTeach.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Tosh, Peter
1944 births
1987 deaths
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Cannabis music
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Counterculture of the 1970s
Counterculture of the 1980s
Deaths by firearm in Jamaica
Grammy Award winners
Jamaican guitarists
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People from Westmoreland Parish
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Recipients of the Order of the Companions of O. R. Tambo
Roots Reggae Library
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