Toots Hibbert, the man behind the word reggae, is dead

Toots Hibbert was one of reggae music’s biggest stars.

Hibbert died on Friday in Jamaica’s capital Kingston, 77 years old, after a short illness.

Frederick Nathanial “Toots” Hibbert was not only among the biggest stars of Jamaican reggae music. He is awarded much of the credit for having made the word reagge itself known worldwide, as a genre designation. No one should use the word in a song until Hibbert did it with “Do the raggay” in 1968.