Not Sweet And Dandy For Toots Hibbert As He Fails To Make Rock & Roll Hall of Fame

Reggae great Toots Hibbert was not among those named on Wednesday when the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame announced its list of nominees for induction for 2021 on Wednesday.

Everything wasn’t Sweet and Dandy for the late ska and reggae great who passed away last year. A valiant effort spearheaded by reggae insiders Roger Steffens, Wayne Jobson, and Mikey Pawka of reggae website niceup.com came up short despite a petition garnering near 10,000 signatures which were submitted to the nominations committee of the US-based organization ahead of the January 2021 deadline.

On Wednesday, the committee announced 16 acts that have been nominated and Hibbert — who died on September 11 last year — was not among those selected. The nominees are Mary J Blige, Kate Bush, Devo, Foo Fighters, The Go-Go’s, Iron Maiden, Jay-Z, Chaka Khan, Carole King, Fela Kuti, LL Cool J, New York Dolls, Rage Against the Machine, Todd Rundgren, Tina Turner, and Dionne Warwick. To be eligible for nomination, an individual artiste or band must have released its first commercial recording at least 25 years prior to the year of nomination.

“It was a great attempt but there is always next year,” Cabel Stephenson, former manager of Toots and the Maytals told DancehallMag.

“A lot of factors go into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame such as an artiste’s musical influence on other artists, length and depth of career and the body of work, innovation and superiority in style and technique. Toots is a legend, his influence is unquestionable, he will have his day. We now turn our attention towards the Grammy awards,” Stephenson added.

Toots Hibbert, the ska and reggae legend, passed away last year as a result of complications from COVID-19. He is nominated for the Best Reggae Album for his popular set, Got to be Tough while Skip Marley, the fast-rising grandson of Bob Marley, is nominated for the Higher Place EP.

The other nominees are Buju Banton for Upside Down 2020, Maxi Priest for It All Comes Back To Love, and The Wailers for One World.