Fitzgerald Henry (13 January 1921 – 14 March 2007), better known as the Mighty Terror, was a

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...

calypsonian.

Early career in Trinidad

He was born Fitzgerald Cornelius Henry in Anguilla Village, Arouca, Trinidad.Paul Wadey, "The Mighty Terror - Calypso king"
''The Independent'', 19 March 2007.Peter Mason, "Obituary: Mighty Terror"
''The Guardian'', 4 April 2007. he studied trumpet as a child and also sang in church and school choirs."The Mighty Terror - About the artist"
Google play - Music. His career started in 1947, and following the success of his "Negroes Know Thyself" he debuted at the Calypso Palace Tent in 1948. He joined the Young Brigade Tent in 1949, where he continued playing until leaving Trinidad in 1953. In 1950 he his first 78 release was "Changing of the Indian Song". During his time in Trinidad he recorded first for Sa Gomes (1951), for Christopher (1952) and took part in the Dial sessions in 1953. He was one of the first major calypsonians to have records released on Emil Shallit's UK-based Melodisc Records, in 1950.Thompson, Dave (2002), ''Reggae & Caribbean Music'', Backbeat Books, p. 5. .

Move to England

In 1953, he took a job as a fireman on a ship and arrived in

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

later that year, going first to

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

. In his own words: :"I jump in a taxi and I say, Do you know of a gentleman called Lord Kitchener? I figure he popular and a taxi driver should know. He tell me he dead long time ago. Not that one (I said). This one is a calypsonian from the West Indies, Trinidad." Popular or not, the taxi driver had not heard of Lord Kitchener so took him to a West Indian club where he was given the phone number of guitarist Fitzroy Coleman. Terror moved in with the Colemans and within a month he was regularly singing in the clubs and had won a contract to sing a jingle for the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

. He continued recording for Melodisc in 1954 (scoring a hit with "Chinese Children", and following it up with other releases for the label, including "The Emperor of Africa," "Chopping Wood" and "Chinee Children Call Me Daddy") and took part in the Nixa sessions in 1958 (these tracks being released by Pye Records). With the significant commercial success of 1957's "Life in London" and "I'll Walk a Million Miles", he was named "Calypso King of Great Britain" at a charity concert organised by

Claudia Jones Claudia Vera Jones (; 21 February 1915 – 24 December 1964) was a Trinidad and Tobago-born journalist and activist. As a child, she migrated with her family to the US, where she became a Communist political activist, feminist and black national ...

after attacks on the West London black community, which was a prelude to the now famous

Notting Hill Carnival The Notting Hill Carnival is an annual Caribbean festival event that has taken place in London since 1966

. The time between 1958 and 1964 was spent touring, first with Lord Kitchener and later with the Bert McLean Trio.

Return to Trinidad

Terror returned to Trinidad in 1965 and won the

Calypso King The Calypso Monarch (originally Calypso King) contest is one of the two major annual calypso competitions held in Trinidad as part of the annual carnival celebrations. History While Trinidad's carnival has its origins in the 18th century, a sing ...

crown in 1966. In April 1966, he represented Trinidad at the Festival of Negro Arts in

Dakar Dakar ( ; ; wo, Ndakaaru) (from daqaar ''tamarind''), is the capital and largest city of Senegal. The city of Dakar proper has a population of 1,030,594, whereas the population of the Dakar metropolitan area is estimated at 3.94 million in 2 ...

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

. In 1985 his home country awarded him the Silver Hummingbird Medal for services to Calypso music. The Mighty Terror performed in Trinidad into his old age. In later life he became ill with cancer of the throat, and after an appeal by his wife Gloria, Pan Trinbago and the National Carnival Commission (NCC) agreed to foot the bill for Nursing Home care once he left hospital. Patrick Arnold of Pan Trinbago said, "We felt a responsibility to spare him the ignominy of an existence that would rob him of his dignity and decided to do something about it," while Kenny Da Silva of the NCC added, "You can’t leave somebody like Terror to chance and to the vagaries of a life in an infirm condition in the winter of his years." The Mighty Terror died aged 86 on 14 March 2007 as a result of throat cancer.

Music and lyrics

Like most Calypso, the Mighty Terror's songs tell a story. Many of them contain a lot of innuendo and some surprisingly explicit themes for the time they were released. Examples of a number of his themes follow:

Personal life

"TV Calypso" - about buying his very first TV after being continually nagged by his wife and daughter.
"Patricia Gone With Millicent" - about his wife leaving him for a violent lesbian relationship.

Other calypsonians

"Kitch Cavalcade" - a tribute to Lord Kitchener.
"Calypso War" A tirade against "fake" calypsonians from

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Social commentary

"Heading North" - about the racial discrimination in the Southern States of the

U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

at the time.
"Brownskin Gal" and "Jamaica Girl" - about the behaviour of American soldiers towards local girls in the Caribbean.

Pure humour

"Women Police in England""The Mighty Terror - Women police in England (audio)"
/ref> - about his efforts to get arrested by the "lovely blondy" policewoman he saw (inspired by Spoiler's "Women Police in Trinidad").

References

Sources

Mighty Terror
from bestoftrinidad.com * Sleevenotes from the CD release ''London In the Place For Me'', Honest Jon's Records, 2002, catno: HJRCD2 * Tracks from the CD ''Kings Of Calypso'', Pulse Records, 1997, catno: PLS CD 229.

External links

Discography
not totally complete, but pretty good.