PETER TOSH’S LEGACY Wanted, dread and alive 23 years after

YESTERDAY (Saturday) marked 23 years since Peter Tosh was shot and killed at his St Andrew home early one Friday evening back in 1987. The rebel singer, songwriter, and guitarist, born October 19, 1944, in Grange Hill, Westmoreland, is still wanted dread and alive.

Reggae, has not been the same since the brutal slaying of Winston Hubert McIntosh. The music today would do well with more of the Toughest, Steppin Razor, Bush Doctor, Mystic Man's works.

One of the pioneers of Reggae, Peter Tosh cut a path for Jamaican music that helped to give it its international brand. As his records have attested to, for Tosh, as for many Reggae artistes, music was far more than mere entertainment. It was an expression of political and religious "overstanding", as he would say, an outlet for venting frustration over social conditions in the Third World, and a call to black people everywhere to get up, stand up and demand that their rights be respected.

His tragic passing was an act of betrayal. An old friend, Dennis Lobban, one day left Tosh's house after an argument it is said, with Tosh's girlfriend, Marlene Brown. Lobban returned a few days later (on September 11), with a gang of friends.

At the end of a hail of gunfire, 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 Tosh's friends miraculously survived. Lobban was arrested and sentenced to death.

The Rastafari and Reggae communities, had lost one of its most gifted artistes and forceful voices.

However, Peter Tosh's legacy remains undiminished, and since his death a number of compilations have appeared to safeguard his memory.

The latest effort comes from Tosh's own seed, his son Andrew who is set to release Legacy, his seventh studio album on September 28. He describes the 10-track set as 'something different and fresh'. The album is the follow up to his most recent effort, Focus.

Legacy, an acoustic 10-track opus will feature covers of the elder Tosh's more popular recordings. Ky-Mani Marley is featured on Lessons in Life, while Bunny Wailer makes a guest appearance on I Am.

In a release to the media, Andrew Tosh outlined the reasons behind the creation of Legacy.

"While I was in the middle of working on my album I To I, my manager Dawn Simpson came up with the idea of doing a tribute to my father and submit it in time for the Grammys. Over a period of time she would write down in her diary my favourite Peter Tosh songs as I would just start singing songs at random. When the idea came around to do the album she had six songs and I came up with three more. The track Creation was a request from a family friend," he explained.

Tosh felt it was important to cover his father's material at this time, as the time was more appropriate for the message of his late father to be heard. Said Tosh in a press release, "We are in a time of dire need for musical messages with a purpose. Now is the time for Peter Tosh's message to be heard."

A high-profile list of names worked on Legacy. They include Mikey Chung, Winston 'Bo Pee' Bowen, Daniel 'Danny Axeman' Thompson and Ranoy Gordon. The album was produced by Handel Tucker in collaboration with Simpson and Tosh.

Added Andrew Tosh, "The album took us 13 days to complete. We were on a mission and we pulled through even when we were told we couldn't do it..."

Legacy will be released by Box Ten Entertainment Group in association with Tuff Gong. Andrew's previous sets include Original Man, Message From Jah, Andrew Tosh: Dressed to Kill, Andrew Sings Tosh: He Never Died, and the Grammy-nominated Make Place For The Youth.