Toots Hibbert’s Granddaughter Cressida Rattigan Toasts His Grammy Win

Cressida Rattigan, the granddaughter of two-time Grammy winner Toots Hibbert, and one of the co-executors of his estate, is celebrating her grandfather’s recent Grammy success for his final album, Got To Be Tough.

Ms. Rattigan, 38, said that the Grammy statuette had not yet arrived in the mail from the Recording Academy.

“The Grammy statuette will eventually be kept by the estate. I think that the Recording Academy will mail it to the family, and to my grandmother, Toots’ wife,” Ms. Rattigan, who is also the vice president of the Toots Foundation, told DancehallMag.

Cressida had been groomed to take over Toots’ business correspondence and worked with him behind the scenes over the last three years as he had embarked on the musical project.

“I would like to thank Cabel (Stephenson) for his stellar work to promote the album but my role was directed towards the business affairs. Those last months, Toots was constantly in the studio with his engineer Nigel Burrell…and  I just knew it was going to be a major project. Toots was driven to let the world hear this album,” Ms. Rattigan said.

“I am really excited to see this success, 2020 was really rough and tough, so this album was a gift for all of us, to his fans and his family and everyone who loved the culture and reggae music. When the win was announced, it was really exciting, my phone just kept ringing the day, a lot of congratulations from all over the world. I know he would have been celebrating this success big time, that was the type of person he was, he knew how to put on a good party,” she reminisced.

This is Toots and the Maytals’ second Grammy Award for the Best Reggae Album. They won the award in 2005 with True Love.

Additionally, gospel singer Jenieve Hibbert posted a video on her Instagram last week toasting her father, Toots Hibbert’s second Grammy win.

“People are really keen and they are watching because they love daddy. There was a lot of feedback online and I feel great because I know my father was loved because he had a big heart and he loved the music, he loved Jamaicans and he loved music,” Jenieve Hibbert told DancehallMag.

She posted on her Instagram last week: “I want to use this platform to thank everyone who has supported my father throughout his years and helped to make this possible. He worked so hard for this and I am beyond proud that his music and legacy will forever be in our hearts.”

Speaking about the occasion itself, she said it was “a bitter-sweet moment for my family” as it reminded of his absence.

“We’re very grateful that he has won another Grammy Award. I just wish he were here to enjoy it with us,” she said.

In the meantime, Ms. Rattigan, one of two co-executors, is looking forward to initiating more philanthropic efforts as part of the Toots Foundation’s mandate to assist the less fortunate.

“As it stands, he was always passionate about giving back and the aim is to continue his work with the Toots Foundation, once the paperwork is done,” she said.

According to attorney-at-law Deborah Archer, Toots’ last will and testament has not yet been probated in the nation’s courts. He entrusted his estate to Archer Cummings and Co.

The probate process is a court-supervised proceeding in which the authenticity of the will left behind is proven to be valid and accepted as the true last testament of the deceased. The court officially appoints the executor named in the will, which gives the executor the legal power to act on behalf of the deceased.