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Quick Facts
- NAME: Peter Tosh
- OCCUPATION: Musician
- BIRTH DATE: October 19, 1944
- DEATH DATE: September 11, 1987
- PLACE OF BIRTH: Westmoreland, Jamaica
- PLACE OF DEATH: St. Andrew, Jamaica
- Full Name: Winston Hubert McIntosh
- AKA: Peter Tosh
- AKA: Winston McIntosh
Best Known For
Peter Tosh was a renowned reggae artist and founding member of the band the Wailers, which gave reggae artist Bob Marley his start.
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Play NowPeter Tosh. (2013). The Biography Channel website. Retrieved 11:49, May 20, 2013, from http://www.biography.com/people/peter-tosh-20903669.
Peter Tosh. [Internet]. 2013. The Biography Channel website. Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/peter-tosh-20903669 [Accessed 20 May 2013].
"Peter Tosh." 2013. The Biography Channel website. May 20 2013, 11:49 http://www.biography.com/people/peter-tosh-20903669.
"Peter Tosh," The Biography Channel website, 2013, http://www.biography.com/people/peter-tosh-20903669 [accessed May 20, 2013].
"Peter Tosh," The Biography Channel website, http://www.biography.com/people/peter-tosh-20903669 (accessed May 20, 2013).
Peter Tosh [Internet]. The Biography Channel website; 2013 [cited 2013 May 20] Available from: http://www.biography.com/people/peter-tosh-20903669.
Peter Tosh, http://www.biography.com/people/peter-tosh-20903669 (last visited May 20, 2013).
Peter Tosh. The Biography Channel website. 2013. Available at: http://www.biography.com/people/peter-tosh-20903669. Accessed May 20, 2013.
Synopsis
Reggae artist Peter Tosh was born in rural Jamaica on October 19, 1944. There, he started the band the Wailers with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, and the three rose to fame as successful musicians. Tosh enjoyed musical success after leaving the Wailers and embarking on a solo career. Tosh was killed during an attempted robbery at his Jamaica home in 1987.
Quotes
"Everybody wants to go to heaven, but nobody wants to die."
"To have the truth in your possession you can be found guilty, sentenced to death."
Early Life
Internationally renowned reggae artist Peter Tosh was born Winston Hubert McIntosh on October 19, 1944, in Westmoreland, Jamaica, to a pair of parents too young to raise him. Instead, Tosh was raised by his aunt in Grange Hill. Early in his childhood, and inspired by American radio stations, Tosh exhibited a talent for singing and learned how to play guitar — one he stole from his mother's church, according to a review by the Los Angeles Review of Books of Colin Grant's The Natural Mystics: Marley, Tosh and Walker.
In the early 1960s, Tosh moved from the countryside to the Trench Town slum of Kingston and began selling sugarcane juice from a cart. In was then that he met Robert Nesta Marley (Bob Marley) and Neville O'Riley Livingston (Bunny Wailer). All three began visiting voice teacher Joe Higgs, and, as they developed their musical talents, decided to form a band called The Wailers in 1962.
Commercial Success
The trio started out playing covers of American pop hits. As they slowly rose to fame, The Wailers' sound changed and they became "masters of the slinky, driving rhythm known as reggae," according to the Review of Books. By the early 1970s, The Wailers, who had expanded by several new members, were, according to an article in The New York Times, "the most popular and admired of all reggae groups."
From its inception to the present, The Wailers band has sold more than 250 million albums worldwide and, in England alone, released more than 20 chart hits, including seven Top 10 entries. But Tosh, along with Bunny Wailer, left the group in 1973. Tosh began producing his own music. He released his solo debut, Legalize It, in 1976 with CBS Records company. The following year he released the album Equal Rights. Both albums were a testament to Tosh's belief in the Rastafari religion, to which he had converted in years prior, and his endorsement of marijuana legalization.
Tosh's solo work caught the attention of Rolling Stones members Mick Jagger and Keith Richards, who signed him to their own label in 1978. They also appeared with him on his Bush Doctor album; Jagger performed a duet with Tosh on the Temptations' hit "(You've Got to Walk and) Don't Look Back." The collaboration introduced Tosh to a larger audience.
Untimely Death
As his career took off, Tosh began traveling the world, but he returned to Jamaica often to see family and friends. He was killed there on September 11, 1987, at the age of 42.
According to the Associated Press, at around 8:30 p.m. that day, three armed men on motorcycles arrived at Tosh's home in the Kingston suburb of St. Andrew, entered the house and attempted to rob its occupants, Tosh and six others, including his common-law wife Andrea Marlene Brown and health-food maker Wilton "Doc" Brown; The gunmen shot all seven after they refused to give up their money, the AP said.
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Reggae Artists
View groupFrom Babylon to Zion, they are the international artists who have revolutionized reggae, a musical genre that originated in Jamaica in the 1960s. At that time, the genre took on a more pop-based sound. Over the past several decades, however, reggae music has transformed to include various sub-genres such as rocksteady, roots reggae and steppa. Our list of Reggae Artists includes musicians of various styles and experiences, from Rastafarians to raggamuffins to sapps, to everyday mon; read about world-renowned musicians like Toots Hibbert, Peter Tosh, Judge Dread, Alton Ellis and Bob Marley.
Reggae Artists 19 people in this group
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Musical Monikers
View groupWhen musicians land big fame, there typically comes a moment of reinvention in which the "rock star" identity is born. This new persona often requires a new name, a way to differentiate between the private and public versions of themselves. Musical monikers take different forms, from the simple, last-name changes aimed at boosting celebrity appeal—like Steven Tyler—to the glamorized version of a childhood nickname—like Jay-Z. Musicians' nicknames and aliases tend to take on an identity all their own over time, often becoming as full of personality as the artists they represent.
Musical Monikers 108 people in this group
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Famous Libras 533 people in this group
