Toots & The Maytals ADD
Toots and the Maytals sign to Trojan Jamaica
10/10/2019 by Press Release
Trojan Jamaica, the new record label co-founded by musician-producers Zak Starkey and Sharna “Sshh” Liguz, is proud to announce the signing of legendary Jamaican music act Toots & The Maytals.
Earlier this year, Trojan Jamaica released its triumphant debut offering, the acclaimed compilation album Red, Gold, Green & Blue, which features Toots & The Maytals on a spirited cover version of Fleetwood Mac's hit song Man Of The World. The label is planning to drop brand new music from Toots and the Maytals in early 2020. An album is already in the works, produced and created by lead vocalist and musical icon Toots Hibbert, along with Zak Starkey and Youth (whose credits include U2 and Paul McCartney) serving as co-producers.
Globally known as one of the true architects of reggae, ska and rocksteady, and named one of the 100 Greatest Singers of All Time by Rolling Stone, Toots Hibbert is credited for writing the very first song to use the term “Reggae” on 1968’s Do The Reggay. The word and song launched a genre and cultural movement. Having penned beloved classics like 'Bam Bam, Pressure Drop, Monkey Man, Funky Kingston, Sweet And Dandy, 54-46 Was My Number, and numerous others, Toots is often hailed as one of the greatest songwriters and performers of our time, continuing to tour the world to this day.
“In early 2014, we were so deeply into Toots & The Maytals that we traveled to Jamaica hoping to find Toots. Luckily, after asking around, we found him playing an acoustic show in Kingston as a warmup for his world tour. It was a great show and we got to meet afterwards. Our friendship and admiration for the creator of ‘reggae’ has continued to this day and it is an honor to be a part of this album of brand new Toots songs.” - Zak & Sshh
“It feels great to be recording my brand new songs for the latest Toots & The Maytals album with the new Trojan Jamaica label. We are very in sync and making a great record. I look forward to a long musical friendship with Zak and Sshh.” - Toots Hibbert
About Trojan Jamaica:
The story of Trojan Jamaica began in 2016 when Zak Starkey – known for his superlative work as drummer in The Who, Oasis, and Johnny Marr and the Healers, among countless other musical efforts – and Australian-born artist-musician Sharna “Sshh” Liguz, united as the band SSHH. They traveled to Kingston to reinvent such seminal songs as Bob Marley and the Wailers’ Get Up Stand Up, performing alongside rock legend Eddie Vedder and pioneering reggae musicians Carlton “Santa” Davis, George “Fully” Fullwood, and Tony Chin, all alumni of the elite Jamaican session band, Soul Syndicate. A video of that performance made its way to Jamaican entrepreneur Kingsley Cooper, who immediately invited Starkey and Liguz to perform at the November 2016 opening of the long-awaited Peter Tosh Museum in Kingston. Another invitation followed in 2017, inspiring the duo to begin work on what would soon become an incredible new venture. In February 2019, the new frontline label, Trojan Jamaica, was announced. Distributed globally by BMG, the company's mission is to bring newly-produced, Jamaican-made music to the world.
