RIP — Peter Tosh (1944-1987)

Peter Tosh, whose guitar and singing style has yet to be duplicated, but is often imitated, was killed on this day 21 years ago. Armed men entered his home and attempted to rob him at gunpoint. Wiki has more:

on September 11, 1987, just after Tosh had returned to his home in Jamaica, a three-man gang came to his house demanding money. Tosh replied that he did not have any with him but the gang did not believe him. They stayed at his residence for several hours in an attempt to extort money from Peter. During this time many of Tosh’s friends came to his house to greet him following his return to Jamaica. As people began to arrive, the gunmen became more and more frustrated. Especially the leader of the gang, Dennis ‘Leppo’ Lobban, a man whom Peter had befriended and tried to help find work after a long jail sentence. Peter must have been disgusted by this turn of events and made it very clear that he would never give them what they came for. Upon realizing that they would not get anything from the robbery, the gangs leader put a gun to Peter’s head and fired twice killing him instantly. The other gunmen began shooting, wounding several others and killing disc jockey Jeff “Free I” Dixon. Leppo turned himself over to the authorities, and was tried and convicted in the shortest jury deliberation in Jamaican history: eleven minutes.

Here’s his “Equal Rights” demo.

And here he is performing “Steppin’ Razor” in 1979: