|
Born in San Fernando in 1941,
Leroy Calliste began singing calypso in the late 1950s, writing his own
music and lyrics. He entered the Southern Brigade Calypso Tent in San
Fernando in 1959, singing a song called "Why I would like to be a
calypsonian". He joined the Original Young Brigade Tent in Port of
Spain in 1964. In 1967 he joined Lord Kitchener's Kaiso Revue. In 1979
he moved over to the Mighty Shadow's King of the Wizards Tent and recorded
his first album, "The Caribbean Man". That year he walked
away with his first Calypso Monarch crown for his two compositions,"Caribbean
Unity" and "Play One".
In 1985 he won the crown again
with "Ism Schism" and "Wait Dorothy",
and again in 1987 with a tribute to steelband entitled "Mr.Pan
Maker" and "Bun Dem" which can be seen as the
first in a long line of fire burn songs performed by Rastafarian singers
in the Caribbean.
In 1987 he was also awarded the
Hummingbird Silver Medal for his contribution to Trinidad and Tobago culture.
In 1991 the usually dread and
critical Stalin took a winning turn and walked away with the Calypso Monarch
crown again, with "Look on the Bright Side" and "Black
man Feeling to Party. In 1995 he went chutney, with a "Tribute
to Sundar Popo, in honour of his old friend and fellow singer.
In 1999 he won the title of Calypso
King of the World with the calypsoes "Black Man Feeling to Party"
and "Wine Boy", poking fun at everybody's favourite wining
politician, Dhanraj Singh.
|
