Toussaint’s vocal versatility will captivate any unsuspecting listener and deliver his proud message straight to the heart. He spent his Indiana childhood singing gospel and performing in Midwestern churches with his family and laid a solid musical and spiritual foundation on which he continues to build. Toussaint is a dynamic, independent artist with a powerful voice, a serious message, and an undeniable talent. Toussaint is steady in his mission to build a community of music lovers who are ready for change whether he is performing on stage or working with youth groups.
Toussaint’s current projects draw on his commitment to activism and showcase not only his artistic and lyrical skills, but also his tireless drive. 2012 finds Toussaint bursting at the seams creatively with an onslaught of new material soon to be hitting the masses. “Where I Lead” is a throwback analog reggae album produced jointly by I Dwell and Gatorwood Productions and was recently released on April 20, 2012. It features cameos from reggae legends Mikey General and Kulcha Knox Dixon. With Berklee College of Music professor, Matt Jensen and timbalero Jose Clausell (Eddie Palmieri), Rebel Tumbao is an Afro-Cuban ensemble gearing up to move from the studio to the stage later on this year. And in a different vein “Dear Mama Earth”, a modernly smooth soul-reggae sound with an environmental message created with young powerhouse producer Brian McKenna from NYC is also slated for release later this year. Toussaint has joined forces with Amandla and has an album with them in the works called “Power Link”, which will appear this year as well. And yes, yet another project is near completion with a group called SOL out of Maryland. Let this be a warning, the funk is back! When Toussaint writes a song about a personal subject, his delivery will transform the personal into something that is universally human and easily accessible. However, the global African and the African-American experiences are the thematic underpinnings for all his lyrics. His 2011 mixtape produced by Relic Secure and Secure Dem Sound titled the African Soul Exchange coupled American soul classics made famous by Marvin Gaye, Donnie Hathaway, and Bill Withers with Jamaican roots rhythms to gel thousands of years of history into a single auditory treat, paying homage to a collective heritage while proving that it hasn’t all been done before. In 2010 he splashed onto the reggae scene with his first solo album “Black Gold” put out by St. Croix based I Grade Records. “Black Gold” stood out as unique, was called “soul-roots,” and quickly rose in the reggae charts catching the attention of reviewers and listeners worldwide.
“…Call it whatever the hell you want to, it’s very well done and while I have come across a few better albums in 2010, I haven’t come across many and I most certainly haven’t seen any more FASCINATING than the wonder which is “Black Gold”. Very well done.” Achis Reggae Blog August 2010
In 2006, after five years of making a name for himself and carving out his niche in the Boston, Massachusetts music scene, Toussaint joined forces with the band Soulive. As their lead singer Toussaint wrote and recorded the album “No Place Like Soul”. The album was released in 2007 on the Stax label and took Toussaint around the world to share the stage with the likes of Isaac Hayes, The Rolling Stones, The Dave Matthews Band, and John Mayer among others.
