Toots and the Maytals Win Best Reggae Album at Grammy Awards 2021 for Got To Be Tough

Toots and the Maytals won Best Reggae album at the Grammy Awards 2021 last Sunday for the brilliant album Got To Be Tough. Beating out strong competition from the likes of Buju Banton, Skip Marley, Maxi Priest, and The Wailers; the incredible feat marks the second Grammy win for the band, having previously won the same award at the 2004 Grammys for the album True Love.

The win is even more poignant considering Got To Be Tough was released just two weeks before the tragic death of Frederick 'Toots' Hibbert at the age of 77 last year. Toots' daughter Leba Hibbert-Thomas accepted the award on her father's behalf, thanking his band members and fans, and paying tribute to the legend himself.

Released last August, Got To Be Tough was Toots' first album of brand new songs in over a decade, with it going on to receive worldwide recognition, including a 6 page spread in Rolling Stone. Toots, who is credited with naming the reggae genre said of the album, it "is speaking out about injustices while pointing to a better time, teaching a path to recovery and step to better days on the journey ahead".

In February, Trojan Jamaica/BMG officially released the powerful Until The Ribbon Breaks' re-imagination of the title track 'Got To Be Tough', with all proceeds of the single donated to Black Lives Matter. The video, which was also edited by UTRB, features a host of civil rights icons speaking out against a montage backdrop of brutality and injustice throughout the decades.

Continuing their tribute to the late reggae legend, last Friday saw the release of Samantha Ronson and Pete Nappi's remix of 'Freedom Train' alongside a Henry Stein directed music video. Ronson said of the track "Toots was a giant and his music will live on, longer than all of us, and we are honored to have been asked to contribute to this project".

Got To Be Tough Track List and video links:

Drop Off Head

Just Brutal

Got To Be Tough

Freedom Train

Warning Warning

Good Thing That You Call

I Stand Accused

Having A Party

Struggle

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