Angry People Smiling's video: Peter Tosh SALUTE - Honouring a Jamaican Musical Genius

Peter M. Tosh, OM (born Winston Hubert McIntosh; 19 October  1944 – 11 September 1987) was a Jamaican reggae musician. Along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, he was one of the core members of the band the Wailers (1963–1976), after which he established himself as a successful solo artist and a promoter of Rastafari. He was murdered in 1987 during a home invasion. Peter Tosh was born in Westmoreland, the westernmost parish of Jamaica. He was abandoned by his parents and "shuffled among relatives". When he was fifteen, his Aunt died and he moved to Trench Town in Kingston, Jamaica. He first learned guitar after watching a man in the country play a song that captivated him. He watched the man play the same song for half a day, memorizing everything his fingers were doing. He then picked up the guitar and played the song back to the man. The man then asked Peter Tosh who had taught him to play; he told him that he had. During the early 1960s, as an aspiring musician, Peter Tosh went to vocal teacher Joe Higgs, who gave free music lessons to young people. Through his contact with Joe Higgs, Peter Tosh met Robert Nesta Marley (Bob Marley) and Neville O'Reilly Livingston (Bunny Wailer). He then changed his name to Peter Tosh and the trio started singing together in 1962. Joe Higgs taught the trio to harmonize and while developing their music, they would often play on the street corners of Trench Town. In 1964 Peter Tosh helped organize the band the Wailing Wailers, with Junior Braithwaite, a falsetto singer, and backup singers Beverley Kelso and Cherry Smith. Initially, Peter Tosh was the only one in the group who could play musical instruments. According to Bunny Wailer, Peter Tosh was critical to the band because he was a self-taught guitarist and keyboardist, and thus became an inspiration for the other band members to learn to play. The Wailing Wailers had a major ska hit with their first single, "Simmer Down", and recorded several more successful singles before Junior Braithwaite, Beverley Kelso and Cherry Smith left the band in late 1965. Bob Marley spent much of 1966 in Delaware in the United States with his mother, Cedella (Malcolm) Marley-Booker, and for a brief time was working at a nearby Chrysler factory. He then returned to Jamaica in early 1967 with a renewed interest in music and a new spirituality. Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer were already Rastafarians when Bob Marley returned from the US, and the three became very involved with the Rastafarian faith. Soon afterwards, they renamed the musical group the Wailers. Peter Tosh would explain later that they chose the name Wailers because to "wail" means to mourn or to, as he put it, "...express one's feelings vocally". He also claims that he was the beginning of the group, and that it was he who first taught Bob Marley the guitar. The latter claim may very well be true, for according to Bunny Wailer, the early Wailers learned to play instruments from Peter Tosh. Rejecting the up-tempo dance of ska, the band slowed their music to a Rock Steady pace, and infused their lyrics with political and social messages inspired by their new-found faith. The Wailers composed several songs for the American-born singer Johnny Nash before teaming with producer Lee Perry to record some of the earliest well-known reggae songs, including "Soul Rebel", "Duppy Conqueror", and "Small Axe". The collaboration had given birth to reggae music and later, bassist Aston "Family Man" Barrett and his brother, drummer Carlton Barrett would join the group in 1970. They recorded The Best of the Wailers album, which was produced by Leslie Kong and released in 1971. In 1972, the band signed a recording contract with Chris Blackwell and Island Records company and released their debut, Catch a Fire album, in 1973, following it with Burnin' and Natty Dread the same year. The Wailers had moved from many producers after 1970 and there were instances where producers would record rehearsal sessions that Tosh did and release them in England under the name "Peter Touch". Peter Tosh was murdered in 1987 during a home invasion.