23/07/2026
THE STORY BEHIND THE M16 GUITAR
Peter Tosh and the infamous M-16 Guitar
The Story Behind the M16 Guitar
"Music Was His Weapon"
In 1983, at the Los Angeles stop on Tosh's Mama Africa tour, a local musician named Bruno C**n went to the hotel at which Tosh was staying, claiming to have a gift for him. The gift was a custom-built guitar in the shape of an M16 r***e. Tosh accepted the gift personally...The guitar was subsequently lost by the airlines when the tour went to Europe but was recovered when Tosh's public relations agent placed an article about its loss in Der Spiegel. Tosh went on to perform on stage with the guitar..
The following story was published nine years ago.........
THE HUNT FOR PETER TOSH`S M16 GUITAR
A silent custodian of Peter Tosh’s M16 gun-shaped guitar awaits the building of a museum in order to offload the instrument to the family and public, according to stakeholders.The guitar embodied the revolutionary lyrics of the reggae legend but ownership became disputed following his death.
In 2006, it was announced by the promoters of the Flashpoint Film Festival that the guitar would be auctioned on eBay by Tosh's common-law wife Andrea "Marlene" Brown...Tosh's sons, Andrew Tosh, and Jawara McIntosh, prevented the sale, claiming ownership of the guitar...In 2011, Andrew Tosh, said that the guitar was in the custody of a close friend, awaiting the opening of a museum dedicated to Peter Tosh..
“We wouldn’t want any person, whether a single beneficiary or otherwise, profiting from the guitar,” stated Cory Lashever, manager at Jampol, which manages Tosh’s estate in conversation with Splash. “We want the people of Jamaica and the family to come and bear witness.”
“A friend was able to reclaim it. So there is an objective person holding it that has the family’s best interest,” he stated.
Tosh’s son and artiste Andrew Tosh acknowledged that a “friend” held the instrument but denied that ownership was in dispute.“Yes, it is with a close friend. Nobody can claim ownership to my father’s things. It is our own. It belongs to all of his children and beneficiaries,” stated Tosh about his father which has some 10 children. Neither party, however, would reveal the name of the custodian.
The M16-gun guitar will be the focal point of a collection of memorabilia at the museum situated in Belmont, Westmoreland – the birthplace and final resting place of Tosh. The reggae legend rose to prominence as a part of The Wailers prior to a solo career.Andrew Tosh said that the museum would be opened by 2012
whilst Lashever declined to reveal a timeline..(finally the Museum opens in 2016)
Nowadays Peter Tosh Museum is Up & Running
The Peter Tosh Museum was opened on Peter Tosh's 72nd Birthday on 19 October 2016 in Kingston, Jamaica.
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