Alphonsus Celestine Edmund Cassell
MBE Mbe may refer to:
* Mbé, a town in the Republic of the Congo
* Mbe Mountains Community Forest, in Nigeria
* Mbe language, a language of Nigeria
* Mbe' language, language of Cameroon
* ''mbe'', ISO 639 code for the extinct Molala language
Molal ...
(16 November 1949 – 15 September 2010) was a
Montserrat
Montserrat ( ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory in the Caribbean. It is part of the Leeward Islands, the northern portion of the Lesser Antilles chain of the West Indies. Montserrat is about long and wide, with r ...
ian
calypso and
soca music
Soca music is a genre of music defined by Lord Shorty, its inventor, as the "Soul of Calypso", which has influences of African and East Indian rhythms. It was originally spelt "sokah" by its inventor but through an error in a local newspaper ...
ian, regarded as the first superstar of soca from Montserrat.
[Thompson, Dave (2002) "Reggae & Caribbean Music", Backbeat Books, , pp. 26–28] He performed under the stage name Arrow. Internationally, his biggest hit song was "
Hot Hot Hot" (1982), known from the original by Arrow and numerous later versions by other musicians.
Early years
Cassell first performed at the age of 10 in a concert at the
Montserrat Secondary School
The Montserrat Secondary School, often referred to for short as MSS, is the only pre-16 years of age secondary school on the island of Montserrat. The school's campus is currently located in Salem. Prior to 2004 it was responsible for Montserrat' ...
.
He began singing calypso in 1967 and took the ''Junior Monarch'' title that year.
Cassell took up singing professionally in 1969. That year he was runner up in the ''Montserrat Calypso King'' competition. He won the title the following year, following in the footsteps of his brothers Justin (known as Hero) and Lorenzo (known as Young Challenger).
He took the title a total of four times.
Career
He released his first album ''Arrow on Target'' in the summer of 1971, two singles in mid 1972, "Dance with me woman", and "Jean under the bed." In 1972 November he released his second album.. ''Arrow strikes again''... His third album was released in 1975. Ed Watson served as arranger for these first three albums. Arrow recorded five more albums with Watson before he started working with Leston Paul.
Cassell began to fuse calypso with other genres such as
Zouk
Zouk is a musical movement pioneered by the French Antillean band Kassav' in the early 1980s. It was originally characterized by a fast tempo (120–145 bpm), a percussion-driven rhythm and a loud horn section. The fast zouk béton of Martini ...
,
R&B, and
salsa
Salsa most often refers to:
* Salsa (Mexican cuisine), a variety of sauces used as condiments
* Salsa music, a popular style of Latin American music
* Salsa (dance), a Latin dance associated with Salsa music
Salsa or SALSA may also refer to:
A ...
. This resulted in some criticism and accusations that he was destroying Montserrat's calypso traditions. Others argued that his updating of the genre brought it to a new audience.
In 1982, Cassell began collaborating with arranger Leston Paul and recorded "Hot Hot Hot". This was his biggest hit and it became the biggest selling soca hit of all time. "Hot Hot Hot" was composed by Arrow's brother, Justin 'Hero' Cassell. The song was adopted as the theme song of the
1986 FIFA World Cup
The 1986 FIFA World Cup was the 13th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams. It was played in Mexico from 31 May to 29 June 1986. The tournament was the second to feature a 24-team format. Colombia ha ...
in Mexico, and was later covered by
Buster Poindexter
David Roger Johansen (sometimes spelled ''David Jo Hansen''; born January 9, 1950) is an American singer, songwriter and actor. He is best known as a member of the seminal proto-punk band the New York Dolls. He is also known for his work under ...
,
Menudo, and
Babla & Kanchan
Laxmichand "Babla" Virji Shah and Kumari Kanchan Dinkarrao Mali-Shah were an Indian husband-wife musical group best known for work in the chutney music and Desi Folk music genres. They performed together for forty years until Kanchan died in 200 ...
.
Arrow capitalised on this success with 1983's ''Heat'' album, and the "Rub Up" single, and 1984's ''Soca Savage'' album, from which the international hit "Long Time" was taken, a top 30 hit in the United Kingdom.
He enjoyed further chart success in the UK with a remixed version of "Hot Hot Hot", which reached number 38 (the original had stalled at number 58). By this time, Arrow was also incorporating Latin brass into his music. Subsequent albums also saw the incorporation of
merengue (1986's ''Heavy Energy''), and rock (1988's ''Knock Dem Dead''). ''Heavy Energy'' was his first album for
Island Records
Island Records is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It was founded in 1959 by Chris Blackwell, Graeme Goodall, and Leslie Kong in Jamaica, and was eventually sold to PolyGram in 1989. Island and A&M Records, anoth ...
' Mango label, with two further albums released on the label.
Cassell established himself as a businessman in Montserrat in 1973, owning the Arrow's Manshop store in
Plymouth
Plymouth () is a port city and unitary authority in South West England. It is located on the south coast of Devon, approximately south-west of Exeter and south-west of London. It is bordered by Cornwall to the west and south-west.
Plymouth ...
. When this was destroyed by the
Soufriere Hills volcanic eruption, he relocated to
St. John's, Antigua. He organised a fund-raising calypso festival on the island in 1996, in response to the devastation caused by the volcano.
Cassell co-headlined
Bermuda
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, anthem = "God Save the King"
, song_type = National song
, song = " Hail to Bermuda"
, image_map =
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's Soca '96 festival, and continued to regularly release albums. In 1988, he was given the Living Legends award by the organizers of the Caribbean Song Festival and the Bahamas Tourist Board.
Cassell continued to be much in demand in the
Caribbean
The Caribbean (, ) ( es, El Caribe; french: la Caraïbe; ht, Karayib; nl, De Caraïben) is a region of the Americas that consists of the Caribbean Sea, its islands (some surrounded by the Caribbean Sea and some bordering both the Caribbean Se ...
. He performed at the
Cricket World Cup 2007
The 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup was the ninth Cricket World Cup, a One Day International (ODI) cricket tournament that took place in the West Indies from 13 March to 28 April 2007. There were a total of 51 matches played, three fewer than at the ...
opening ceremonies with
Shaggy
Shaggy may refer to:
People
*Shaggy (musician) (born 1968), Jamaican American reggae rapper and singer
*Shaggy 2 Dope, half of the hip hop, horrorcore band Insane Clown Posse
*Shaggy Flores (born 1973), Nuyorican poet, writer and African diaspora ...
,
Byron Lee
Byron Lee ,
''Jamaica Gleaner'', 27 October 2008. born Byron Aloysius St. Elmo Lee ...
and
Kevin Lyttle
Lescott Kevin Lyttle Coombs (born 14 September 1976) is a Vincentian soca artist, who had a worldwide hit with " Turn Me On" in 2003, recorded with the dancehall artist Spragga Benz.
Career
Lyttle was encouraged by his family to pursue music ...
. His last performance was at a fund-raising concert for Haiti at the Montserrat Cultural Center in January 2010.
Death
Cassell died peacefully at home in Montserrat with his family at his side, on 15 September 2010, after battling cerebral cancer for two years.
Wayne Bowman, "Arrow flies no more", ''Trinidad Express'', 15 September 2010.
/ref>
Discography
Albums
*''The Mighty Arrow on Target'' (1972)
*''Arrow Strikes Again'' (1973)
*''Keep on Jamming'' (1975)
*''Sweet Beat'' (1978)
*''Instant Knockout'' (1980)
*''Man From Africa'' (1980)
*''Double Trouble'' (1981)
*''Hot Hot Hot'' (1982)
*''Heat'' (1983)
*''Soca Savage'' (1984)
*''Deadly'' (1985)
*''Heavy Energy'' (1986)
*''Soca Explosion'' (1987)
*''Knock Dem Dead
''Knock Dem Dead'' is an album by the Montserratian soca musician Arrow, released in 1988. It was Arrow's first album to be widely distributed in the United States. The song "Groove Master" appears on the soundtracks to '' Casual Sex?'' and '' T ...
'' (1988)
*''Massive'' (1988)
*''O'La Soca'' (1989)
*''Soca Dance Party'' (1990)
*''Hot Soca Hot'' (1990)
*''Zombie Soca'' (1991)
*''Zombie Remixes'' (1991)
*''The Best of Arrow Volume 2'' (1992)
*''Model De Bam Bam'' (1992)
*''Outrageous'' (1993)
*''Classics'' (1994)
*''Phat'' (1995)
*''Ride De Riddim'' (1996)
*''Turbulence'' (1998)
*''Beat De Drum'' (2000)
*''Arrow – Vintage Volume 1'' (2002)
*''No Rules'' (2002)
Singles
*1973: "Dance with Me, Woman"
*1981: "Soca Rhumba" / B-side "Bills"
*1982: "Curacao" / B-side "Bills"
*1983: "Rub Up"
*1983: " Hot Hot Hot" No. 59 UK / B-side "Money"
*1984: "Long Time" No. 30 UK / B-side "Colombia Rock"
*1987: "Hurray Hurray" / B-side "Wanna Dance"
*1988: "Groove Master" No. 23 US Dance
Dance is a performing art form consisting of sequences of movement, either improvised or purposefully selected. This movement has aesthetic and often symbolic value. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoir ...
*1989: "O' La Soca" No. 38 US Dance
*1994: "Hot Hot Hot (World Carnival Mix '94)" No. 38 UK, No.9 Australia
References
Further reading
*De Ledesma, Charles and Georgia Popplewell. "Put Water in the Brandy?"". 2000. In Broughton, Simon and Ellingham, Mark with McConnachie, James and Duane, Orla (Ed.), ''World Music, Vol. 2: Latin & North America, Caribbean, India, Asia and Pacific'', pp 507–526. Rough Guides Ltd, Penguin Books.
External links
Alphonsus Cassell bio
*Norman 'Gus' Thomas (6 August 2004
*Obituaries fro
The Guardian
an
newspapers.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Arrow
1949 births
2010 deaths
Members of the Order of the British Empire
Calypsonians
Island Records artists
Chrysalis Records artists
Montserratian musicians
Deaths from brain tumor
Soca musicians