Kelvin Pope, better known as The Mighty Duke (1932 – 14 January 2009)
'' Trinidad Express'', 15 January 2009. was a
Trinidadian
calypsonian. He was born in
Point Fortin.
Career
Born in Point Fortin in 1932, Pope was a former school teacher who left a career working at
Shell Oil
Shell plc is a British multinational oil and gas company headquartered in London, England. Shell is a public limited company with a primary listing on the London Stock Exchange (LSE) and secondary listings on Euronext Amsterdam and the New Yor ...
to perform calypso music.
[Thompson, Dave (2002) ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, 0-87930-655-6, pp. 183–184] In the 1950s, he played locally in his hometown, then began playing in
San Fernando at the Southern Brigade Calypso Tent. In 1964 he relocated to
Port of Spain
Port of Spain (Spanish: ''Puerto España''), officially the City of Port of Spain (also stylized Port-of-Spain), is the capital of Trinidad and Tobago and the third largest municipality, after Chaguanas and San Fernando. The city has a municip ...
and performed at the Original Young Brigade.
He won the National
Calypso King title for four years straight (1968–71), the only person to achieve the feat: In 1968 with "What Is Calypso" and "Social Bacchanal", in 1969 with "Black Is Beautiful" and "One Foot Visina", then in 1970 singing "Brotherhood of Man" and "See Through" and finally, in 1971 he won the competition performing "Mathematical Formula" and "Melvine & Yvonne".
[The Mighty Duke]
, ncctt.org. Retrieved 20 May 2016 Furthermore he was noted for exploring ideas such as black consciousness,
apartheid, and global politics in his lyrics.
was one of many for whom he composed music.
In 1970, he was awarded the Silver
Hummingbird Medal for his contribution to calypso.
In 1987, his
soca
Soca or SOCA may refer to:
Places
* Soča, a river in Slovenia and Italy
* Soča, Bovec, Slovenia
* Cayenne – Félix Eboué Airport, by ICAO code
* Soca, a village in Banloc Commune, Timiș County, Romania
* SoCa, Southern California
Other u ...
song "Thunder" was awarded the
Road March prize.
[Scaramuzzo, Gene "]Mighty Duke Biography
Mighty may refer to:
* ''Mighty'' (The Planet Smashers album)
* ''Mighty'' (Kristene DiMarco album)
* ''The Mighty'' (1929 film), a 1929 American action film
*'' The Mighty'', a 1998 comedy-drama film
* ''The Mighty'' (comics), a DC Comics title
*T ...
, Allmusic. Retrieved 20 May 2016
Pope died on 14 January 2009, aged 76, in St. Clair (
Port-of-Spain),
Trinidad and Tobago of
myelofibrosis, which he had been battling for five years.
Discography
Singles
* "Woop Wap"/"Racial Segregation" (National Record Company 031) (Single) (1964) featuring the Bert Inniss National Recording Orchestra
* "Grenada Girl"/"Crime Wave" (Telco US) (Single) (1968)
* "Black Is Beautiful"/"Visina" (Tropico T-71098) (Single) (1969)
* "Macajuel Oil"/"Blackskin Whiteman" (Tropico T-7-1128) (Single) (196?)
* "Black Power"/"Mathematical Formula For Peace" (1971)
* "Steelband Panorama"/"Trouble in '72" (1972)
* "V Is For Peace"/"Child Of The Ghetto" (Camille Records C138) (Single) (1974)
* Cock of the Rock (Camille Records 9038) (12") (1975)
* "Ah Wish I Was"/"Swing With King" (Camille Records C152) (Single) (1975)
* "Poo Po Doo"/"Axe Handle Freda" (Camille Records C155) (Single) (1975)
* "Teach The Children"/"Don't Waist Yuh Waist" (Camille Records C161) (Single) (1976)
* "My Night To Party"/"Mr. Jarvis" (1977)
* "Carnival Fire"/"Uhuru" (Charlie's Records CR 535) (Single) (1977)
* "Do What You Doing"/"Bam Bam Oui" (Charlie's Records DDCR 239) (Single) (1979)
* "Ah Like It"/"Bam Bam Oye" (Romey's RS 015) (Single) (1979)
* "The Imitators"/"If" (197?)
* "Work It Up"/"Doh Horn Meh" (Duke Record D 01) (12") (1980)
* "Is Thunder"/"Love Vibrations" (Hot Vinyl HVT 43) (12") (1987)
Albums
* ''All Night Tonight'' (MCA Records 1890) (1969)
* ''A Message From The Man'' (Camille Records C 09027) (1973)
* ''Poetry & Music'' (Charlie's Records CR-136) (1977)
* ''Harps Of Gold'' (Sharc International SS-1079-1) (1980)
* ''Over And Over And Over Again'' (B's Records B'sR1009) (1982)
* ''Carnival Anniversary'' (Straker's Records GS 2245) (1983)
* ''Calypso Forever'' (Straker's Records GS 2253) (1984)
* ''Land Of Love'' (Straker's Records GS 2262) (1985)
* ''In These Times'' (Straker's Records GS 2266) (1986)
* ''Yesterday Today Tomorrow'' (Lem's Records LEM-DKE-0101) (1987)
* ''Poison'' (JW Productions JW-DKE-002) (1988)
* ''Party For Yuh Life!'' (JW Productions JW-DKE-018) (1989)
* ''Total Dis-Order'' (JW Productions JW-DKE-028) (1990)
* ''Hotel Time'' (Charlie's Records DCR 3559A) (1991)
* ''The Phung-Uh-Nung Sweet'' (Straker's Records GS 2355-B) (1992)
* ''Ah Duke Ah King Ah Pope'' (Spice Island Records SILP-0020) (1993)
* ''Mask'' (Ice Records 931401) (1994)
External links
Oral history with Kelvin Poperecorded in 1995
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Mighty Duke, The
1932 births
2009 deaths
20th-century Trinidad and Tobago male singers
Calypsonians
Recipients of the Hummingbird Medal