Kingston honors Joe Higgs on what would have been 86th birthday

Kingston marked what would have been Joe Higgs’ 86th birthday with “Joe Higgs: The Father of Reggae,” a public salute at St Andrew Park that put his role as both artiste and mentor back in the center of reggae memory. Born Joseph Benjamin Higgs on June 3, 1940, and dead since December 18, 1999, in Los Angeles at age 59, Higgs was honored not as a distant figure from the past, but as a foundation stone still visible in the music today.

The title of the tribute carried the weight of Higgs’ legacy. He was widely regarded as one of the artists who helped lay the groundwork for reggae, and earlier coverage has identified him as the first Trench Town artiste to score a hit song. He was also a mentor to The Wailers, shaping Bob Marley, Peter Tosh and Bunny Wailer in the discipline of harmony, breath control, songwriting and stagecraft. That reach extended beyond the original trio, with later acts such as the Wailing Souls and the Melody Makers also linked to his influence.

The setting mattered as much as the title. St Andrew Park placed the celebration in Kingston’s public music space, turning the birthday observance into a live reminder that reggae history is built through shared rehearsal rooms, mentorship and community memory, not just record sales and chart stories. For fans, the point was clear: Higgs’ contribution still lives through the singers and songs that followed him.

That same sense of living legacy drove a 2025 Joe Higgs Legacy Tribute at the Bob Marley Museum, 56 Hope Road, St Andrew, where the free concert began at 7:00 p.m. and was also streamed online. Organizers called it a full-circle moment because Higgs once lived at 56 Hope Road. The event featured live performances, new archival footage, and special tributes and reflections, with performers backed by the Binghistra Movement led by Earl ‘Chinna’ Smith.

Claudia Higgs, chair of the Joe Higgs Foundation and Higgs’ daughter, said the tribute was an intentional effort to ensure her father’s legacy is recognized and celebrated. The foundation has also built new alliances with the Bob and Rita Marley Foundations, the Bob Marley Museum and other supporters, while Jamaica Music Museum director and curator Herbie Miller described Higgs as an “unsung master of music.” On his birthday, that description fit the scene in Kingston: Joe Higgs was being honored not because reggae has moved on, but because it still runs through him.