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. 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,
Cedella (née Malcolm) Marley-Booker, 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. Tosh and Bunny were already Rastafarians when Marley returned from the US, and the three became very involved with the Rastafari faith. Soon afterwards, they renamed the musical group the Wailers. 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. Also according to Bunny Wailer, the early Wailers learned to play instruments from Tosh. During the mid-1960s Tosh, along with Bob Marley and Bunny Wailer, were introduced to Danny Sims and
Johnny Nash, who signed the three artists to an exclusive recording contract on Sims' and Nash's
JAD Records label as well as an exclusive publishing agreement through Sims' music publishing company, Cayman Music. 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 Nash before teaming with producer
Lee "Scratch" 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 in 1970 bassist
Aston "Family Man" Barrett and his brother, drummer
Carlton Barrett, joined the group. They recorded the album
The Best of The Wailers, which was produced by Leslie Kong and released in 1971. In 1972, Danny Sims assigned the balance of the JAD Records recording contract with the band to
Chris Blackwell and
Island Records company Tosh had written or co-written many of the Wailers' hit songs such as "
Get Up, Stand Up", "400 Years", and "No Sympathy". Tosh went on to a solo career, releasing albums with CBS Records and
Rolling Stones Records.
Solo career in 1978 Tosh's debut solo album,
Legalize It, was recorded in 1975–6 at
Treasure Isle. It was released in June 1976 on
CBS Records. The title track soon became popular among endorsers of
cannabis legalization, reggae music lovers and Rastafari all over the world, and was a favourite at Tosh's concerts. Also in 1976, Tosh organised a backing band,
Word, Sound and Power, who were to accompany him on tour for the next few years, and many of whom performed on his albums of this period. Tosh's second album,
Equal Rights, was released in 1977. It featured his recording of a song co-written with Marley, "
Get Up, Stand Up", and a
cover of "Stepping Razor" that would also appear on the soundtrack to the film
Rockers. In 1978, the
Rolling Stones' record label, Rolling Stones Records, contracted with Tosh, on which the album
Bush Doctor was released, introducing Tosh to a larger audience. The album featured Rolling Stones frontmen
Mick Jagger and
Keith Richards, and the lead single – a cover version of
the Temptations song "
Don't Look Back" – was performed as a duet with Jagger. In April, Tosh performed at the Jamaican
One Love Peace Concert of 1978. Tosh lit a marijuana
spliff and lectured about
legalising cannabis, lambasting attending dignitaries
Michael Manley and
Edward Seaga for their failure to enact such legislation. According to
The Gleaner, Tosh became regular target for the police after the concert.
Mystic Man (1979) and
Wanted Dread and Alive (1981) followed, both released on Rolling Stones Records. Tosh tried to gain some mainstream success while keeping his militant views, but was only moderately successful, especially when compared to Marley's achievements. In September 1979, a controversy sparked after his performance at the
No Nukes concerts at
Madison Square Garden, where he wore
Palestinian clothing (
thawb and
keffiyeh) and openly smoked marijuana. Tosh's appearance was considered a provocation towards the
Jewish community in New York City, as the concerts took place during the
Jewish New Year holiday. Despite his performance being advertised to appear in the accompanying film and on the triple live album, Tosh was removed from both releases. The Palestinian dress remained a trademark performance outfit in the following years. In 1984, after the release of 1983's album
Mama Africa, Tosh went into self-imposed exile, seeking the spiritual advice of traditional medicine men in Africa, and trying to free himself from recording agreements that distributed his records in South Africa. Tosh had been at odds for several years with his label,
EMI, over a perceived lack of promotion for his music. Tosh also participated in the international opposition to South African
apartheid by appearing at anti-apartheid concerts and by conveying his opinion in various songs like "Apartheid" (1977, re-recorded 1987), "Equal Rights" (1977), "Fight On" (1979), and "Not Gonna Give It Up" (1983). In 1987, Peter Tosh seemed to be having a career revival. He was awarded a
Grammy Award for Best Reggae Performance in 1987 for
No Nuclear War, his last record. ==Personal life==