Higgs had great influence on the birth of ska, rocksteady and reggae formats of Jamaican folk music, and was enormously respected as a composer, arranger and interpreter, and above all as a teacher.
Among many others he taught Bob Marley, Derrick Harriott, Peter Tosh, Bob Andy, The Wailing Souls and Bunny Wailer, being one of the first local artists to record in Jamaica. His first single in partnership with Roy Wilson, "Many Oh", sold more than 50,000 copies in Jamaica in 1960, which led him to sign a contract with Edward Seaga, who later became Prime Minister of Jamaica during the 80s.
"He was my first manager", Higgs recalls shortly before his death with a mischievous smile, "We always got paid". Seaga managed to place Higgs in local shows alongside Sam Cooke, Jackie Wilson and other foreign stars. In 1964 he recorded "There's A Reward For Me" for producer Coxsone Dodd. The song became an instant classic of suffering and hope. Although he complained that he never received anything from the sales, he was very angry about this fact, saying "I realize that the only person who can give me my reward and everything I am entitled to is the Almighty".
It was at Higgs' house that the young Bob Marley received years of private lessons in vocal techniques and interpretation, years before starting to record with his group The Wailers. Marley later admitted that "Joe Higgs is a genius", giving credit for his international success. In 1972, Higgs won the Tourist Song festival with the song "Invitation to Jamaica", whose prizes included a trip to New York, where he performed for the first time.
The cadenced groove was not characteristic of his roots sound, which mixed a rhythmic Jazzy Scat style. The lyrics were super sensitive, and expressed political consciousness with great sense in history and classical literature. Songs like "So It Go" and "Freedom" placed him at the top of the music charts.
In 1973, when founding member "Bunny Wailer" left the Wailers, Higgs was called to accompany his former students, Tosh and Marley, on an American tour as opening act for Sly & Family Stone. They gave critically acclaimed shows from New York and Boston to San Francisco, where they were at the forefront of the first wave of reggae musicians who brought this type of music to American reality.
In 1974, another group of students, the Wailing Souls, briefly joined Higgs to form a group called "Atarra". Jamaican singer Joe Higgs, known as "The father of Reggae music", died at 59 in a Los Angeles hospital after several months of cancer treatment.