Paul Douglas

Paul Douglas (born c. 1950) is a Jamaican Grammy Award-winning musician, best known for his work as the drummer, percussionist and bandleader of Toots and the Maytals.

His career spans more than five decades as one of reggae's most recorded drummers.

Music journalist and reggae historian David Katz wrote, “dependable drummer Paul Douglas played on countless reggae hits."

Douglas has worked with artists including Bob Marley and the Wailers, Bonnie Raitt, and Eric Gale.

Douglas has also toured with artists including The Rolling Stones, Willie Nelson, Dave Matthews Band, The Who, Eagles and Sheryl Crow.

Paul Douglas was born in St. Ann, Jamaica.

His career as a professional musician began in 1965 at the age of 15.

Douglas’ musical influences include Lloyd Knibb, Steve Gadd, Harvey Mason, Sonny Emory, Elvin Jones, William Kennedy, Carlos Santana, Bob Marley, John Coltrane, Sam Cooke, George Duke, Boris Gardiner, The Skatalites, Eric Gale, Leslie Butler, George Benson, Marvin Gaye, David Garibaldi, and David Sanborn.

While Douglas has maintained an active career as a studio musician for reggae, jazz, and funk artists since 1965, he has also been a member of several notable musical groups.

Excerpt from "The Rise of Reggae and the influence of Toots and the Maytals" by Matthew Sherman:"'...Reggae was born. Toots (Toots Hibbert) heralded the new sound with the seminal, complex groove monster 'Do the Reggay'...Toots could do no wrong recording for Leslie Kong. With the consistent nucleus of musicians, the Beverley's All-Stars (Jackie Jackson, Winston Wright, Hux Brown, Rad Bryan, Paul Douglas and Winston Grennan) and the Maytals’ brilliant harmonizing... '"Reggae is listed in the dictionary as: "reggae [reg-ey] (noun) - a style of Jamaican popular music blending blues, calypso, and rock-'n'-roll, characterized by a strong syncopated rhythm and lyrics of social protest. Origin of reggae: Jamaican English, respelling of reggay (introduced in the song “Do the Reggay” (1968) by Frederick “Toots” Hibbert)."Accompanied by Paul Douglas and Radcliffe "Dougie" Bryan in studio, Jackie Jackson explained the formation of the group in a radio interview for Kool 97 FM Jamaica: "“We’re all original members of Toots and the Maytals band.

First it was Toots and the Maytals, three guys: Toots, Raleigh, and Jerry.

…And then they were signed to Island Records, Chris Blackwell.

And we were their recording band.

One day we were summoned to Chris’ house.

And he says, “Alright gentleman, I think it’s time.

Toots and the Maytals looks like it’s going to be a big thing”.

By this time he had already signed Bob (Marley).

So in his camp, Island Records, there was Toots and the Maytals / Bob Marley; we were talking about reggae is going international now.

We kept on meeting and he (Blackwell) decided that the backing band that back all of the songs, the recording band, should be the Maytals band.

So everything came under Toots and the Maytals.

So we became Maytals also.

In 1969 Douglas joined Toots and the Maytals as a founding member of the band as it is known today, which up to that time had consisted of a vocal trio.

And then we hit the road in 1975...we were the opening act for the Eagles, Linda Ronstadt, and Jackson Browne.

We were the opening act for The Who for about two weeks.”"

Paul Douglas, Jackie Jackson and Radcliffe ‘Dougie’ Bryan are recognized as founding members who, along with frontman Toots Hibbert, continue to perform in the group to the present day.

The first Toots and the Maytals album released and distributed by Chris Blackwell's Island Records was Funky Kingston. Music critic Lester Bangs described the album in Stereo Review as “perfection, the most exciting and diversified set of reggae tunes by a single artist yet released.” As Chris Blackwell says, “The Maytals were unlike anything else...sensational, raw and dynamic.” Blackwell had a strong commitment to Toots and the Maytals, saying “I’ve known Toots longer than anybody – much longer than Bob (Marley).

Toots is one of the purest human beings I’ve met in my life, pure almost to a fault.”

"'It was said that the Maytals were the Beatles to the Wailers’ Rolling Stones.' – Christopher Blackwell"

On 1 October 1975, Toots and the Maytals were broadcast live on KMET-FM as they performed at The Roxy Theatre in Los Angeles.

This broadcast was re-mastered and released as an album entitled “Sailin’ On” via Klondike Records.

Douglas has been the group's drummer, percussionist and bandleader from 1985 to the present day.

President Donald Trump was quoted as appreciating the reggae music of Toots and the Maytals when he said, “I heard the guest band, Toots & The Maytals, practising out on the set [of Saturday Night Live; Trump co-hosted an episode in April 2004].

They sounded terrific, and I went out to listen to them for a while.

My daughter Ivanka had told me how great they were, and she was right.

The music relaxed me, and surprisingly, I was not nervous."

In 2015, Vogue magazine listed the song “54-46 Was My Number” by Toots and the Maytals as one of their “15 Roots Reggae Songs You Should Know”; and in an interview with Patricia Chin of VP Records, Vogue listed the group as part of an abbreviated list of early “reggae royalty” that recorded at Studio 17 in Kingston, which included Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, Gregory Isaacs, Dennis Brown, Burning Spear, Toots and the Maytals, The Heptones, and Bunny Wailer.

In 2017, Toots and the Maytals became the second reggae-based group to ever perform at the Coachella festival, after Chronixx in 2016.

Douglas contributed to several of Bob Marley's albums, including Small Axe and Soul Shakedown Party which were released on the Beverley's label, and performed live with Bob Marley and the Wailers in the early 70s.

The Wailers worked with reggae producer Leslie Kong, who used his studio musicians called Beverley's All-Stars (Jackie Jackson, Paul Douglas, Gladstone Anderson, Winston Wright, Rad Bryan, Hux Brown) to record the songs that would be released as an album entitled “The Best of The Wailers”.

The tracks included “Soul Shakedown Party,” “Stop That Train,” “Caution,” “Go Tell It on the Mountain,” “Soon Come,” “Can’t You See,” “Soul Captives,” “Cheer Up,” “Back Out,” and “Do It Twice”.