雷鬼音乐代表人除了鲍伯马利（Bob Marley）之外，Peter Tosh却亦是另一位对雷鬼音乐发展有着极大贡献的伟大歌手。1976年他以翻唱一首着名的歌曲〈stepping razor〉引起众人的注目，接着他的首张经典代表作《Legalize It》更是借着亲和力极强的雷鬼歌曲来呼吁当地的南美百姓为生活努力奋战。1977年，他的第二张专辑《Equal Rights》甫推出便立刻被推崇为最重要的雷鬼作品，这使得他在许多人的心中是位非常强悍的雷鬼音乐领袖。只可惜，1987年，他却在家中遭暗杀而身亡，留下许多非常重要的录音作品。倘若对于雷鬼音乐非常感兴趣的话，这绝对是一张不容错过的入门开始。Peter Tosh彼得陶许于1944年出生于牙买加Grange Hill，15岁时到雷鬼之都－ Kingston追求音乐事业的发展，同时结识另一位雷鬼传奇－巴布马利（Bob Marley），两人与另两位团员共同组成影响雷鬼乐坛至钜的团体The Wailers。陶许在1976年离团单飞，之后在11年间推出过7张专辑，并曾与滚石合唱团（The Rolling Stones）共同巡回演出，成为影响西方乐坛最重要的雷鬼歌手之一。1987年9月11日，陶许在牙买加的家中遭到前友人枪击身亡，享年43岁。雷鬼传奇彼得陶许（Peter Tosh）的音乐不仅对雷鬼乐本身，也对各种音乐类型都产生了深远的影响。因此在即将展开录制工作的向彼得陶许致敬专辑“The Peter Tosh Tribute Album”里，不但有新生代的雷鬼/舞曲歌手尚保罗（Sean Paul）献唱，重金属乐团枪与玫瑰（Guns N’ Roses）的前任团员－ Slash、Duff McKagan、Matt Sorum 、嘻哈团体墓园三人组（Cypress Hill）以及民谣摇滚歌手班哈伯（Ben Harper）...等艺人都加入了对这位牙买加音乐巨擘的致敬行列......by Jo-Ann GreeneSinger, musician, composer, and rebel Peter Tosh cut a swathe through the Jamaican musical scene, both as a founding member of the Wailers and as a solo artist. He toured with the Rolling Stones and had an international hit with a duet with Mick Jagger, then toured again to equally rapturous world audiences as the headlining act. His words would cause an uproar at the One Peace concert, but then unlike fellow Wailer Bob Marley, Tosh always made his true feelings known. He was born Winston Hubert McIntosh on October 19, 1944, in the small rural village of Grange Hill, Jamaica. Like so many young island teens searching for a better life, he left home at 15 and headed for Kingston. Once there, he made his way to Joe Higgs tenement yard, joining other aspiring youths eager for the vocal coaching lessons the singing star provided to local teens. Amongst these youthful wannabes were Bunny, Bob Marley, and the much younger Junior Braithwaite; the four, buttressed by backing vocalists Cherry Green and Beverley Kelso, joined forces initially as the Teenagers before eventually settling on the moniker the Wailers. Success was immediate; the groups debut single, Simmer Down, was an instant hit, and the bands career was off and running. Toshs talent didnt end with his vocal skills as he was also an excellent guitarist; his playing was first showcased in 1963 on the Wailers single Im Going Home. He was also a gifted songwriter, as was Bunny Livingston, which helped the band survive Marleys hiatus from the group while he went to work in the U.S. in 1966. The Wailers, by then reduced to a trio with the departure of Braithwaite, Green, and Kelso, continued on without him. During this time, the remaining duo, with Constance Dream Walker filling in, continued releasing singles now credited to either the Wailers, Tosh, or Livingston alone. Thus, over the next year, Toshs dance-friendly Hoot Nanny Hoot, The Jerk, a cover of Sir Lancelots calypso hit Shame and Scandal in the Family, the R&B-fired Making Love, and Its Only Love, a duet with Rita Marley, all arrived from Studio One. Rasta Shook Them Up celebrated Haile Selassies Jamaican visit, while Tosh also offered up the rudie-fueled The Toughest. With Marleys return, the Wailers departed Studio One and launched their own short-lived WailnSoulM label. With its demise, they returned to the studio circuit. Sessions with producer Bunny Lee went nowhere, but Lee and Tosh had a rapport, and between 1969 and 1970, the Wailers cut a string of instrumentals for the producer and released them under the alias Peter Touch. Tosh was now attempting to learn to play the melodica, and the singles chart his progress on the instrument. Crimson Pirate, Sun Valley, the almost psychedelic Pepper Seed, The Return of Al Capone, Selassie Serenade (actually a rather frenetic version of Blue Moon) and more, were the end results. However, in 1971, Tosh made the momentous decision to pursue a true solo career in conjunction with his work with the Wailers. His debut single, Maga Dog, was cut with producer Joe Gibbs. The song had initially been recorded by the Wailers with Coxsone Dodd, and in its original rhythm arrangement was suspiciously similar to Simmer Down. Gibbs would totally re-create it, slowing the tempo down and creating a rhythm perfect for the latest dance rage, the John Crow skank. The single was a major hit and became a favorite of the DJs, with a flood of versions quickly following. The equally hard-hitting Dem Ha Fe Get a Beating arrived soon after. In the brief period Tosh spent with Gibbs, he recorded a clutch of seminal numbers, including Arise Blackman, Black Dignity, and Here Comes the Judge. The latter track was built around the haunting rhythm from the Abyssinians Satta Massa Gana, but lyrically hearkened back to Prince Busters Judge Dread, as Toshs magistrate tries and convicts Christopher Columbus, Sir Francis Drake, and Vasco da Gama for myriad of crimes against black people. Even on a cover of Nobodys Business, Toshs militancy shines through, with the line Leave my business and mind your own, carrying a definite hint of menace in the delivery. Jumping on the current bandwagon for golden oldie medleys, the singer also delivered up a trio of rude boy hits, Desmond Dekkers Rude Boy Train and 007 Shanty Town, and his own, Im the Toughest. Tosh split with Gibbs before the end of the year, allegedly over the lack of money hed received from Maga Dog. The artists retaliation was swift and the self-produced Once Bitten was allegedly aimed directly at the producer. That single utilized the Maga Dog rhythm, as did its follow-up, Dog Teeth. Initially, Tosh was releasing his latest self-produced solo singles via the Wailers own Tuff Gong label, but soon the artist set up his own label, Intel Diplo HIM (Intelligent Diplomat for His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie). The label was inaugurated with Dog Teeth, with Ketchy Shrub following before the end of 1971.As the Wailers international breakthrough began, Tosh had less and less time to devote to his solo career. However, a few singles did arrive during 1972, including No Mercy and Cant Blame the Youth. More followed in 1973, among them Mark of the Beast, Foundation, What You Gonna Do, and a re-recording of Pound Get a Blow, originally a single released by the Wailers back in 1968. At the end of the Wailers 1973 U.K. tour, Livingston announced he would no longer tour outside of Jamaica with the band. The group initially carried on without him, completing a tour of the States, then a second tour of Britain. Tensions were already high between Tosh and Marley, and the situation finally came to a head on November 30, in Northampton. It ended with a punch up and Tosh quitting the band. Although the Wailers reunited six months later for a benefit show, and again in late 1975 for another benefit concert, the group itself was now defunct, and the Wailers went their separate ways. Toshs first post-Wailers solo single, Brand New Secondhand, was a new version of a song initially recorded by the Wailers for Lee Perry. However, it was Toshs follow-up, Legalize It, that packed the greatest punch and swiftly becoming a ganja anthem even though the single was slapped with a radio ban. In 1975, Tosh signed to the Columbia label in the U.S., and began work on his first solo album. Sessions were held in Kingston at Treasure Isle studio, Miami, and even in Tulsa, OK. A number of the tracks were new versions of old songs, including Burial and Ketchy Shuby. The resulting album, Legalize It, arrived in 1976 to acclaim both at home and abroad. With interest running high, Tosh set off on tour, accompanied by a band comprised of the Sly & Robbie rhythm section, keyboardists Earl Wire Lindo and Errol Tarzan Nelson, and guitarists Donald Kinsey and American Al Anderson. Sony/Legacys Live & Dangerous album captured one of the bands steaming shows in Boston during this tour. Like Marley, Tosh was moving effortlessly into a hybrid style that paid homage to American rock, but was still shot through with strong Jamaican roots. However, Toshs lyrical vision was much darker than his former bandmates. Love always ended in tears, as on Why Must I Cry and the country & western-tinged Til Your Well Runs Dry, both updated Wailers numbers; while Burial, ostensibly about a gangster but with pointed political overtones, was never going to endear him to the mass market. Toshs follow-up album, Equal Rights, was even more uncompromising. Recording began just a few months after its predecessor was completed and again featured the deep dread rhythms of Sly & Robbie, Earl Lindos atmospheric keyboards, and Andersons funky rock guitar, amongst a host of other guest Jamaican session men. Bunny Livingston also joined his former bandmate on backing vocals; Tosh himself had guest starred on Livingstons own solo album, 1976s Black Man Heart. More focused than Legalize It, Equal Rights revolved around the themes of the plight of blacks around the world, and particularly in South Africa and Rhodesia. A new version of Downpressor Man, the original cut coming with Lee Perry earlier in the decade, was turned into a dread classic. However, the most seminal tracks were the new songs — the anthemic Get Up, Stand Up, the menacing rocker Stepping Razor, and the artists personal manifesto, Equal Rights. This was to be Toshs final album for Columbia. In Jamaica, events were spinning out of control, politically inspired violence was rampant, and gang warfare had reached a level so extreme that a rogue army unit decided to put a permanent end to the combatants. In late 1977, they gunned down ten members of the Skull gang, whose members were mostly Rastafarians, killing five. This event, known as the Green Bay Massacre, so shocked the island that, for a brief moment, the gangs put aside their differences and called a truce. The One Love Peace Concert was organized to help cement this cessation of violence with a billing headed by Marley, who returned to the island for the show. The concert was held on April 22, 1978, and Tosh was slated to appear right before his former bandmate. His performance was captured for posterity on the Live at the One Love Peace Concert released in 2001. Toshs set comprised his most militant numbers — 400 Years, Stepping Razor, Burial, Equal Rights,Legalize It, and Get Up, Stand Up, and if that was not enough, between songs he spoke at length in a series of uncompromising speeches that scathingly attacked the government, the opposition, and the concept of peace itself. Although the audience appreciated his words, the government and the press did not, and the Jamaican papers the next day were filled with rabid condemnations. The singer, however, remained unrepentant. Toshs performance had also impressed visiting British rock star Mick Jagger, whod been backstage that night. The Jamaican now signed to the Rolling Stones own label, and that summer toured the States opening for the band. The two singers joined forces on a cover of the Temptations (You Gotta Walk And) Dont Look Back, a song Tosh had previously recorded with the Wailers. Tosh would also briefly unite with Marley during the latters Burbank, CA, concert for a show-stopping Get Up Stand Up. Back in Jamaica that autumn, Tosh was arrested for drug possession, taken to jail, and beaten so badly he required 30 stitches to close the gaping wounds in his cracked skull. Even with these severe injuries, the artist began work on his next album, Bush Doctor, co-produced with Robbie Shakespeare. A much more Jamaican album than its predecessors, the record featured the exquisite Tamlins on backing vocals, and some of the islands top session men, led of course by Sly & Robbie, but boasting Keith Richards seminal guitar on two tracks. Musically, the album may have sounded less dread, but new versions of Im the Toughest and Dem Ha Fe Get a Beaten suggested that Tosh wasnt going soft. However, thematically Bush Doctor was less a cultural album than a religious one. Mystic Man arrived in 1979, and again featured a lighter touch, although songs like Rumours of War and Jah Seh No were as tough as anything Tosh had offered up in the past. The year also saw the release of the wittily titled Buk-In-Hamm Palace single and a re-recorded Stepping Razor for the soundtrack for the legendary film Rockers. The highlight of 1980 was a spectacular appearance at Reggae Sunsplash, and the year also brought the excellent Bombo Klaat single, a Jamaican-only single released on Toshs revived Intel Diplo HIM label. A duet with Gwen Guthrie, Nothing but Love, was offered up to the rest of the world. The slowing output was deliberate as Tosh needed the time off to continue his recovery from the beating hed received at the hands of the police. However, he returned with a vengeance in 1981, releasing the Wanted Dread & Alive album, which shot into the lower reaches of the U.S. chart, and toured both the U.S. and Europe. After all that activity, the artist took the next year off, returning in 1983, with a phenomenal cover of Johnny B. Goode which landed in the lower reaches of the U.S. Top 50. The single was a taster for his new album, Mama Africa, which also arrived that year. Another tour followed, including a concert in Swaziland and headlining appearances at the Reggae Superjam festival in Kingston. Captured Live, released the following year, was recorded during these tours. Tosh then disappeared off the musical map for the next three years, and it wasnt until 1987 that a new single, In My Song, arrived. In September, it was joined by the album No Nuclear War. Staying at Toshs home during this time was an old friend of the Wailers, Dennis Lobban. However, he left in a fury after an argument with Toshs girlfriend, Marlene Brown, returning a few days later on September 11, with a gang of friends. Lobban later claimed he had merely intended to threaten the artist, and perhaps rob him, but panicked. The end result was that Tosh and all six of his friends who were hanging out in the room were shot in the head. Tosh lay dead, as did the radio DJ Jeff Free I Dixon and a third friend. Marlene Brown, ex-Soul Syndicate drummer Carlton Santa Davis, and two other of Toshs friends miraculously survived. Lobban was arrested and sentenced to death. Jamaica had forever lost one of its most talented artists and eloquent spokesmen. However, Toshs legacy remains undiminished, and since his death a number of compilations have appeared to safeguard his memory. Heartbeats The Toughest focuses exclusively on early recordings with Dodd and Lee Perry, while Trojans Arise Black Man picks up the story with cuts for Bunny Lee, Perry, and Gibbs. Columbia remastered both Toshs albums for release in 1999, and two years earlier compiled the Honorary Citizen three-CD box set. This boasts a disc devoted to singles released only in Jamaica, a second disc of songs recorded live, and a third of hits and favorites. Scrolls of the Prophets, released in 1999, is a compilation drawn from Toshs major-label recordings of 1976-1987. Toshs back catalog with the Wailers is equally well-served and his influence, even in death, remains strong.