One of a handful of artists who brought reggae music into America's consciousness, Peter Tosh's effect on the music world is incalculable. Between his early music with the Wailers and his solo career, Tosh's career is one of the most storied in reggae history. Tosh's contributions to Jamaican music are honored on the forthcoming Ziggy Marley in Jamaica album, which features one of Tosh's most popular songs, "Legalize It."
Born Winston Hubert McIntosh in 1944, Tosh grew into a towering rudeboy with a songwriting knack and guitar chops that were matched only by his confrontational attitude. At age 15, Tosh left his home in Grange Hill for Kingston, where he teamed up with Bob Marley, Bunny Wailer and a few more musicians who would make up the first incarnation of the Wailers. Following the breakthrough hit "Simmer Down," recorded for Coxsone Dodd's Studio One label, Tosh composed, sang and played guitar and melodica on several Wailers singles, including "I'm Going Home," "Hoot Nanny Hoot" and the aptly-titled "The Toughest." During Marley's brief hiatus from the Wailers in 1966, Tosh was the band's perceived leader, and even when Marley was in the Wailers, Tosh's input was an essential part of the band.
However, Tosh was unsatisfied sharing leadership in the Wailers, and he started pursuing a solo career in 1971. He re-recorded the Wailers' "Maga Dog" with producer Joe Gibbs, and by the end of the year Tosh had founded his own label, Intel Diplo HIM (Intelligent Diplomat for His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie). With the surging popularity of the Wailers, Tosh was increasingly unable to work on his solo projects, so he quit the band in 1974 and recorded his debut solo album,Legalize It, at the Treasure Isle Studio. The result was one of the strongest albums of Tosh's career and one of the best albums in reggae history, featuring a title track that became one of his most memorable singles.
Never one to be subtle, Tosh released Legalize It with a marijuana scented sticker and a cover photo of the singer smoking in a hemp field. But Tosh's pro-smoking views were best expressed in the song's lyrics. "Legalize it," sang Tosh with some female backup singers harmonizing that thought, "and I will advertise it." The song's easy-going beat and Tosh's commanding vocals made it a club and radio favorite, as well as a staple of Tosh's infamous live shows. To the aggravation of Jamaica's law enforcement, Tosh would often light up and smoke a spliff while performing "Legalize It," and many of his performances ended up with the reggae star being sent to jail.
Unlike other pro-ganja anthems, "Legalize It" made articulate, intelligent arguments in favor of legalizing marijuana. In the verses, Tosh reminded listeners that singers, doctors, nurses, judges and "even the lawyers too" smoked the herb. "It's good for the flu/It's good for asthma/Good for tuberculosis/Even umara composis," stated Tosh. Music fans have been scratching their heads over the last ailment's existence for decades, but there is no arguing that it is one of the most memorable couplets in reggae history.
Tosh's success as a solo artist could not quell his fiery attitude. Controversy followed him for the rest of his life, including severe beatings at the hands of the Jamaican police, a car accident that fractured his skull and killed his girlfriend, and subversive remarks about Prime Minister candidates Michael Manley and Edward Seaga at the One Love Peace Concert in 1978. But Tosh's career was not derailed, and he continued to release hit albums, collaborating with Mick Jagger and Keith Richards on 1978's Bush Doctor and winning a Grammy for 1987's No Nuclear War. That year, three armed affiliates of Tosh's broke into his Jamaica home in an attempted robbery. After several hours of a standoff, Tosh and disk jockey Jeff "Free I" Dixon were shot and killed. The murders ended the life of one of the best-loved figures in reggae, but they could not end the legacy of Tosh and "Legalize It."
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