calypso music
Calypso is a style of Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to the mid-19th century and spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles and Venezuela by the mid-20th century. Its rhythms can be traced back to We ...
ians. Bands and artists are listed by the first letter in their name (not including the words "a", "an", or "the").
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Ajamu
Edson Mitchell, also known as Ajamu, or King Ajamu. is a Grenada, Grenadian calypsonian. His music covers several Caribbean styles, including Calypso music, calypso, Soca music, soca and reggae. He has held the title of Grenada Calypso Monarch ...
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André Toussaint
André Toussaint was a Haitian singer and guitarist who emigrated to Nassau, Bahamas in 1953 and performed there until his death in 1981. He sang and recorded in several languages and in a variety of styles, most notably Calypso music, calypso.
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Anslem Douglas
Anslem Douglas (born 23 July 1964) is a Trinidadian musician and composer. He is best known for the hit single "Doggie", which was later covered by the Bahamian junkanoo band Baha Men as "Who Let the Dogs Out".
Biography
Douglas was born and ...
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Arrow
An arrow is a fin-stabilized projectile launched by a bow. A typical arrow usually consists of a long, stiff, straight shaft with a weighty (and usually sharp and pointed) arrowhead attached to the front end, multiple fin-like stabilizers c ...
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Atilla the Hun
Attila (, ; ), frequently called Attila the Hun, was the ruler of the Huns from 434 until his death in March 453. He was also the leader of a tribal empire consisting of Huns, Ostrogoths, Alans, and Bulgars, among others, in Central and Ea ...
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Black Stalin
Leroy Calliste (24 September 1941 – 28 December 2022), better known as Black Stalin, was a leading calypsonian from Trinidad and Tobago known for his lyrics against European colonial oppression. He won the Calypso Monarch competition on five ...
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Byron Lee & the Dragonaires
Byron Lee and the Dragonaires (known as Byron Lee's Dragonaires after Lee's death and now The Dragonaires) are a Jamaican ska, calypso and soca band. The band played a crucial pioneering role in bringing Caribbean music to the world. Byron ...
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Black Prince
Edward of Woodstock, known to history as the Black Prince (15 June 1330 – 8 June 1376), was the eldest son of King Edward III of England, and the heir apparent to the English throne. He died before his father and so his son, Richard II, suc ...
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Calypso Rose
Calypso Rose or Linda McCartha Monica Sandy-Lewis (born April 27, 1940 in Bethel Village, Tobago) is a Trinidadian calypsonian. She started writing songs at the age of 13; over the years, she has composed more than 1000 songs and recorded more tha ...
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Chalkdust
Hollis Urban Lester Liverpool, better known as Chalkdust (or Chalkie) (born 1940 in Chaguaramas, Trinidad), is a leading calypsonian from Trinidad and Tobago. He has been singing calypso since 1967 and has recorded more than 300 calypsos.
Awa ...
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Charles D. Lewis
Charles D. Lewis (born 1955) is a Barbadian songwriter, recording artist, bassist, engineer, and producer.
Career
Charles is best known for his writing and performance of " Soca Dance", released in Europe in 1990. It was number one for seven ...
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Crazy
Insanity, madness, lunacy, and craziness are behaviors performed by certain abnormal mental or behavioral patterns. Insanity can be manifest as violations of societal norms, including a person or persons becoming a danger to themselves or t ...
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Lord Creator
Lord Creator (born Kentrick Patrick, circa 1940, San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago)Walters, Basil (2012)A New Day – Songs heralding JA’s Independence, ''Jamaica Observer'', 3 June 2012. Retrieved 3 June 2012. is a calypso, R&B, ska and rock ...
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David Rudder
David Michael Rudder OCC (born 6 May 1953) is a Trinidadian calypsonian, known to be one of the most successful calypsonians of all time.
He performed as lead singer for the brass band Charlie's Roots. Nine years later, Rudder stepped outside t ...
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Denyse Plummer
Denyse Plummer, full name Denyse Burnadette Kirline Plummer is a Calypso and Gospel singer from Trinidad and Tobago. She is the first female singer in the Caribbean to be born to a white father and a black mother, with Barbados' Alison Hinds bein ...
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Denzil Botus
Denzil "Belt" Botus (born July 3, 1946) is a pannist from Trinidad. He is best known for holding the record for most winning steel band Panorama arrangements and his heavy jazz influence in calypso/soca music. Botus has been active since the ...
The Duke of Iron
The Duke of Iron (born Cecil Anderson, 22 November 1906 – 17 November 1968) was a calypsonian, nightclub and concert entertainer, and recording artist from the 1930s through the 1960s. Born in Trinidad and working mainly in the United States, ...
Growling Tiger
Neville Marcano (1916–13 May 1993), known as the Growling Tiger, was a Trinidadian calypsonian.
Biography
Born in Diego Martin, Trinidad, Tiger was originally a boxer who won the Trinidad flyweight championship in 1929.Thompson, Dave (2002), '' ...
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Grynner Grynner (born MacDonald Blenman on 10 February 1946), is a popular calypsonian from Barbados. Like his compatriot Mighty Gabby, his songs often feature political and social commentary. He has been named the Barbados Crop Over Road March "Tune of ...
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Gypsy
The Romani (also spelled Romany or Rromani , ), colloquially known as the Roma, are an Indo-Aryan ethnic group, traditionally nomadic itinerants. They live in Europe and Anatolia, and have diaspora populations located worldwide, with sign ...
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Gorilla
Gorillas are herbivorous, predominantly ground-dwelling great apes that inhabit the tropical forests of equatorial Africa. The genus ''Gorilla'' is divided into two species: the eastern gorilla and the western gorilla, and either four or fi ...
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Harry Belafonte
Harry Belafonte (born Harold George Bellanfanti Jr.; March 1, 1927) is an American singer, activist, and actor. As arguably the most successful Jamaican-American pop star, he popularized the Trinbagonian Caribbean musical style with an interna ...
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Jolly Boys
The Jolly Boys are a mento band from Port Antonio, Jamaica. It was formed in 1945 and had great commercial success in the late 1980s and 1990s among reggae and world music fans. They released a new album in 2010 ''Great Expectation'' and are cu ...
King Radio
Norman Span, known as King Radio, was a top Trinidadian calypsonian active in the 1930s and 1940s.
He was a waterfront worker in Port of Spain when he started performing in public in 1929. Six years later he started his short-lived recording car ...
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King Short Shirt
Sir MacLean Emanuel (born 28 February 1942), better known as King Short Shirt, is an Antiguan singer, best known as one of Antigua's longest standing and most successful calypsonians, but later producing gospel music.Thompson, Dave (2002), ''Regg ...
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Lord Beginner
Egbert Moore (1904–1981), known as Lord Beginner, was a popular calypsonian.
Biography
Moore was born in Port-of-Spain in Trinidad. According to AllMusic: "After attracting attention with his soulful singing in Trinidad and Tobago, Lord Beginne ...
Lord Intruder Lord Intruder (born Winston O'Conner) was a calypsonian from Tobago who was active in the 1950s.
He is known to have performed with the Trinidadian calypso tent group The Original Young Brigade (OYB), whose ranks included The Mighty Sparrow, Lord M ...
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Lord Invader
Lord Invader (Rupert Westmore Grant; 13 December 1914 – 15 October 1961) was a prominent calypsonian with a very distinctive, gravelly voice.
He was born in San Fernando, Trinidad. He became active in calypso in the mid-1930s, and was conside ...
Lord Melody
Lord Melody (1926 – 26 September 1988)Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', backbeat Books, , p.154-155 was a popular Trinidadian calypsonian, best known for singles such as " Boo Boo Man", "Creature From The Black Lagoon", "Sh ...
Lord Pretender
Lord Pretender (8 September 1917 – 22 January 2002) was the stage name of Aldric Farrell, M.O.M., H.B.M. a calypsonian vocalist born on the island of Tobago widely acknowledged to be a "master" of extempo, a lyrically improvised form of calyp ...
Lord Shorty
Ras Shorty I (6 October 1941 – 12 July 2000), born Garfield Blackman and also known as Lord Shorty, was a Trinidadian calypsonian and soca musician, known as the Father of Soca and The Love Man.
Biography
He was born Garfield Blackman in L ...
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Lord Woodbine
Harold Adolphus Phillips (15 January 1929 – 5 July 2000), known as Lord Woodbine, was a Trinidadian calypsonian and music promoter. He is regarded by some as the musical mentor of The Beatles, and has been called the "sixth Beatle".Alan Clayso ...
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The Merrymen
The Merrymen, sometimes written as The MerryMen, are a popular calypso band from Barbados.
The Merrymen's career spans five decades, from the early-1960s to the 2000s. The Merrymen are still performing as of 2011.
At their height they were popu ...
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Mighty Bomber
Clifton Ryan (30 January 1928 – 1 January 2022), better known as the Mighty Bomber, was a Grenadian-born calypsonian from Trinidad and Tobago.
The name "The Mighty Bomber" was also used in the 1940s by Trinidadian Calypsonian Kenny Cooper.
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Mighty Cypher
Mighty Cypher aka Lord Cypher was a Trinidadian calypsonian who won the Calypso King title at the 1967 carnival.
Known as the 'Clown Prince of Calypso', Cypher was an established calypsonian since the 1940s and appeared on the Cook Records compila ...
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Mighty Destroyer
Clifford Morris (died November 1944), better known as Mighty Destroyer, was a Trinidadian calypsonian who won the Calypso King contest in 1941.
Hailing from Chaguanas, Mighty Destroyer won the Calypso King title in 1941 with the song "Adolf Hitler ...
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Mighty Dougla
Cletus Ali, better known as Mighty Dougla, was a Trinidadian calypsonian who won the island's Calypso King title in 1961.
Career
From the Hell Yard area of Port of Spain, Ali was a popular calypsonian in the late 1950s and early 1960s. He was bor ...
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The Mighty Duke
Kelvin Pope, better known as The Mighty Duke (1932 – 14 January 2009) ''
Mighty Gabby
Anthony Carter (born 30 March 1948), better known as Mighty Gabby or simply Gabby, is a Barbadian calypsonian and folk singer, and a Cultural Ambassador for the island of Barbados.
Career
Born in Emmerton, Carter was given the nickname "Gabby ...
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Mighty Panther
Vernon Joseph Roberts (24 November 1921 – 29 July 2002),Mighty Shadow
Winston McGarland Bailey OBE, HBM, DLitt (4 October 1941 – 23 October 2018), better known by his stage name The Mighty Shadow or Shadow, was a calypsonian from Tobago.
Career
Bailey was born in Belmont, a suburb of Port of Spain in Trinidad ...
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Mighty Sparrow
Slinger Francisco ORTT CM OBE (born July 9, 1935), better known as Mighty Sparrow, is a Trinidadian calypso vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist. Known as the "Calypso King of the World", he is one of the best-known and most successful calyp ...
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Mighty Spoiler
Theophilus Philip (23 March 1926 – 24 December 1960), better known as Mighty Spoiler, was a Trinidadian calypsonian.
Spoiler's career began in 1946 (see 1946 in music) at the House of Lords Tent, and he soon became one of the most popular ...
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Mighty Striker
Percival Oblington (April 1930 – 5 February 2011), better known as Mighty Striker, or simply Striker, was a Trinidadian calypsonian who twice won the Calypso King title.
Career
Percival Oblington was born in 1930 in D'Abadie, Trinidad, the son ...
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Mighty Terror
Fitzgerald Henry (13 January 1921 – 14 March 2007), better known as the Mighty Terror, was a Trinidadian calypsonian.
Early career in Trinidad
He was born Fitzgerald Cornelius Henry in Anguilla Village, Arouca, Trinidad.
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Ras Shorty I
Ras Shorty I (6 October 1941 – 12 July 2000), born Garfield Blackman and also known as Lord Shorty, was a Trinidadian calypsonian and soca musician, known as the Father of Soca and The Love Man.
Biography
He was born Garfield Blackman in ...
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Red Plastic Bag
Stedson Wiltshire, better known by the sobriquet of Red Plastic Bag, RPB, or merely Bag, is a calypsonian from Barbados. He has won the Barbadian calypso monarch competition a record ten times. Hailing from the eastern, rural Barbadian parish of ...
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Roaring Lion
Roaring Lion (22 February 190811 July 1999) was a Trinidadian calypsonian (calypso singer/composer). His 65-year career began in the early 1930s and he is best known for his compositions "Ugly Woman" (1933), " Mary Ann" and "Netty, Netty", whic ...
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Robert Mitchum
Robert Charles Durman Mitchum (August 6, 1917 – July 1, 1997) was an American actor. He rose to prominence with an Academy Award nomination for the Best Supporting Actor for ''The Story of G.I. Joe'' (1945), followed by his starring in ...
Serenata Guayanesa
Serenata Guayanesa is a vocal and instrumental quartet that plays typical Venezuelan folk music. It is one of the two best known groups that play this style of music (the other being Un Solo Pueblo).Mark Dinneen, ''Culture and customs of Venezuel ...
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Singing Sandra
Sandra DesVignes-Millington (10 December 1957 – 28 January 2021), better known as Singing Sandra, was a Trinidadian calypsonian who won the Calypso Monarch title at the 1999 and 2003 carnivals.
Biography
DesVignes-Millington was born in 1957 ...
Sir Lancelot
Lancelot du Lac (French for Lancelot of the Lake), also written as Launcelot and other variants (such as early German ''Lanzelet'', early French ''Lanselos'', early Welsh ''Lanslod Lak'', Italian ''Lancillotto'', Spanish ''Lanzarote del Lago' ...
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Sugar Aloes Sugar Aloes, (born Michael Anthony Osouna ) is a calypsonian from Trinidad and Tobago whose songs include "Party Time" and " Juanita", "I Love Being Me" and "Signs of the end of Time". In February 2008, Sugar Aloes was the winner of the Calypso Mon ...
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Superblue
Austin Lyons (born 25 May 1956), better known as Superblue, Super Blue and Blueboy, is a Trinidadian calypsonian, soca musician, and lyricist.
Early life
Lyons was born on 25 May 1956 in Point Fortin. His mother is a Grenadian and his fathe ...
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The Talbot Brothers of Bermuda
The Talbot Brothers were a musical group based in Bermuda that were among the most popular Calypso music, calypso performers of the 1950s. The band was composed of brothers Archie (lead singer, acoustic guitar, harmonica), Austin (acoustic guita ...
Wilmoth Houdini
Frederick Wilmoth Hendricks (November 25, 1895 in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago – August 6, 1973 in New York, New York), best known as Wilmoth Houdini,
was a prominent calypsonian.
Life
In 1916 he started his career in earnest when h ...
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Young Pretender
Charles Edward Louis John Sylvester Maria Casimir Stuart (20 December 1720 – 30 January 1788) was the elder son of James Francis Edward Stuart, grandson of James II and VII, and the Stuart claimant to the thrones of England, Scotland and ...
Carnival Road March
The Carnival Road March is the musical composition played most often at the "judging points" along the parade route during a Caribbean Carnival. Originating as part of the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival, the term has been applied to other Caribbean ...
List of calypsos with sociopolitical influences This is a list of calypsos categorised by main topics.
"Calypso music has been used by Calypsonians to provide sociopolitical commentary. Prior to the independence of Trinidad and Tobago, calypsonians would use their music to express the daily st ...
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Lists of musicians
This is a list of lists of musicians.
Genre
The following are lists of musicians by style or music genre.
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*List of 1970s Christian pop artists
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*List of acid rock artists
*List of adult alternative artists
* List of alternative count ...