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Monday November 27, 12:22 PM
Plans to sell Tosh guitar scrapped
Organisers of a film festival in Jamaica have shelved plans to auction a guitar shaped like a M-16 rifle that was once owned by reggae legend Peter Tosh, one of the founders of the Wailers, after his sons protested the sale.
Bidding for the guitar, which Tosh once said that he used to "scare all vampires", was scheduled to start on Sunday on eBay.
Allison Young, a publicist for the Flashpoint Film Festival, confirmed that the weeklong auction was postponed. She said two of Tosh's sons, who live in the United States, contacted the festival's organisers.
"The family is trying to resolve who really owns the guitar, the estate or his girlfriend," she said.
Tosh, who posthumously won a Grammy for best reggae recording for his album, No Nuclear War, was killed at the age of 42 by robbers who broke in to his home on September 11, 1987.
Marlene Brown, Tosh's former girlfriend, put the guitar up for auction in October. She told the Jamaica Gleaner that Tosh gave her the Fender Stratocaster as a gift. But the Rastafarian's sons objected to the sale, saying it belonged to the Peter Tosh Foundation.
Brown's family had the guitar for 19 years stored in the United States. A call placed on Sunday to Tosh's aunt went unanswered. No telephone numbers were available for his sons.
It's not clear when the matter will be resolved. Young said the proceeds from the guitar sale were to benefit a home for children suffering from HIV/AIDS. The festival is scheduled for December 1-3.
Copeland Forbes, Tosh's former manager, told the Gleaner that the guitar was given to Tosh by a fan in Los Angeles in 1983.
The instrument was as controversial as the lanky performer, who advocated legalising marijuana and encouraged blacks to return to Africa.
In 1978, before a Kingston crowd of 30,000 that included then-Prime Minister Michael Manley, Tosh smoked a big marijuana joint on stage and berated Manley for 30 minutes for not legalising ganja. He also had several run-ins with police.
Tosh was born Winston Herbert MacIntosh on October 9, 1944, on a farm in west Jamaica. His first concerts were in Kingston's teeming slums in the early 1960s.
In 1963, he helped found The Wailers - forming the three-man core of the group with Bob Marley and Neville Livingstone. The Wailers gained fame with hits including I Shot the Sheriff, Get Up, Stand Up and Stir it Up.
Tosh and Livingstone left the band in 1973 to pursue solo careers.
Outside of Jamaica, Tosh was perhaps best known for his collaboration with Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger in (You Got to) Walk and Don't Look Back, a song written by Smokey Robinson.
Plans to sell Tosh guitar scrapped
Organisers of a film festival in Jamaica have shelved plans to auction a guitar shaped like a M-16 rifle that was once owned by reggae legend Peter Tosh, one of the founders of the Wailers, after his sons protested the sale.
Bidding for the guitar, which Tosh once said that he used to "scare all vampires", was scheduled to start on Sunday on eBay.
Allison Young, a publicist for the Flashpoint Film Festival, confirmed that the weeklong auction was postponed. She said two of Tosh's sons, who live in the United States, contacted the festival's organisers.
"The family is trying to resolve who really owns the guitar, the estate or his girlfriend," she said.
Tosh, who posthumously won a Grammy for best reggae recording for his album, No Nuclear War, was killed at the age of 42 by robbers who broke in to his home on September 11, 1987.
Marlene Brown, Tosh's former girlfriend, put the guitar up for auction in October. She told the Jamaica Gleaner that Tosh gave her the Fender Stratocaster as a gift. But the Rastafarian's sons objected to the sale, saying it belonged to the Peter Tosh Foundation.
Brown's family had the guitar for 19 years stored in the United States. A call placed on Sunday to Tosh's aunt went unanswered. No telephone numbers were available for his sons.
It's not clear when the matter will be resolved. Young said the proceeds from the guitar sale were to benefit a home for children suffering from HIV/AIDS. The festival is scheduled for December 1-3.
Copeland Forbes, Tosh's former manager, told the Gleaner that the guitar was given to Tosh by a fan in Los Angeles in 1983.
The instrument was as controversial as the lanky performer, who advocated legalising marijuana and encouraged blacks to return to Africa.
In 1978, before a Kingston crowd of 30,000 that included then-Prime Minister Michael Manley, Tosh smoked a big marijuana joint on stage and berated Manley for 30 minutes for not legalising ganja. He also had several run-ins with police.
Tosh was born Winston Herbert MacIntosh on October 9, 1944, on a farm in west Jamaica. His first concerts were in Kingston's teeming slums in the early 1960s.
In 1963, he helped found The Wailers - forming the three-man core of the group with Bob Marley and Neville Livingstone. The Wailers gained fame with hits including I Shot the Sheriff, Get Up, Stand Up and Stir it Up.
Tosh and Livingstone left the band in 1973 to pursue solo careers.
Outside of Jamaica, Tosh was perhaps best known for his collaboration with Rolling Stones lead singer Mick Jagger in (You Got to) Walk and Don't Look Back, a song written by Smokey Robinson.