Winston Hubert McIntosh, professionally known as Peter Tosh, was born on 19 October 1944 in Westmoreland, the westernmost parish of Jamaica. He was abandoned by his parents and shuffled among relatives, and when he was fifteen, his aunt died and he moved to Trenchtown in Kingston, Jamaica. During the early 1960's, as an aspiring musician, he went to vocal teacher Joe Higgs, who gave free music lessons to young people, and through his contact with Higgs, 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, with Higgs teaching the trio to harmonise and develop their music. By 1964, Tosh, Marley, and Bunny had formed the Wailing Wailers, with falsetto singer Junior Braithwaite, and backup singers Beverley Kelso and Cherry Smith. Initially, Tosh was the only one in the group who could play musical instruments, and according to Bunny Wailer, 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 Braithwaite, Kelso and Smith left the band in late 1965. Marley spent much of 1966 in Delaware in the United States with his mother, and for a brief time was working at a nearby Chrysler factory. He returned to Jamaica in early 1967 with a renewed interest in music and a new spirituality, and as Tosh and Bunny were already Rastafarians when Marley returned from the US, the three became very involved with the Rastafari faith. Soon afterwards, they renamed their group the Wailers, and rejecting the up-tempo dance of ska, the band slowed their music to a rocksteady 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 up with producer Lee "Scratch" Perry to record some of the earliest well-known reggae songs, including 'Soul Rebel', 'Duppy Conqueror', and 'Small Axe'. Although Tosh didn't record his debut solo album, 'Legalize It', until 1975/76, he'd been releasing solo singles in Jamaica since 1964, often with the Wailers as his backing band. For most of his records he was only allowed one song, with two different artists sharing each 7" disc, and so his solo discography is somewhat disjointed, but this album collects together all the songs that were either issued under his own name, or as b-sides of Wailers' singles, between 1964 and 1971, and includes a number of promo singles which were never officially released.
Track listing
01 Hoot Nanny Hoot (single 1964)
02 Shame And Scandal (single 1965)
03 Amen (b-side of 'Habits' by The Wailers 1965)
04 Maga Dog (b-side of 'Hoolighans' by The Wailers 1965)
05 The Toughest (single 1966)
06 Rasta Put It On (Promo single 1966)
07 Lemon Tree (Promo single 1966)
08 Treat Me Good (b-side of 'Dancing Time' by The Wailers 1967)
09 Funeral (b-side of 'Thank You Lord' by The Wailers 1967)
10 Pound Get A Blow (b-side of 'Fire Fire' by The Wailers' 1967)
11 Steppin' Razor (Promo single 1968)
12 Dem A Fi Get A Beaten (Promo single 1968)
13 Give Me A Ticket (Promo single 1969)
14 Once Bitten (single 1971)
15 Brand New Second Hand (single 1971)
16 Here Comes The Sun (Promo single 1971)
17 No Sympathy (single 1971)