Lord Flea
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Lord Flea was the stage name of Norman Byfield Thomas (1931/32 or 1933/34Some sources, including contemporary sources, give his age at death as 27, and others as 25. His daughter, quoted in 2004, gave his age as 27, but in 2008 gave it as 25. – 18 May 1959), a Jamaican
mento Mento is a style of Music of Jamaica, Jamaican folk music that predates and has greatly influenced ska and reggae music. It is a fusion of African rhythmic elements and European elements, which reached peak popularity in the 1940s and 1950s. ...
musician credited with "helping start the calypso craze in U.S." With his band The Calypsonians, Flea toured America throughout the late 1950s, and released an album on the Capitol label. The band also performed in two calypso-related films.


Career

Thomas was born in Kingston, Jamaica, and began his career in entertainment at local dancehalls such as the "Adastra Gardens" and "Success". In 1949, he earned himself a year-long engagement after he had performed in the talent competitions held at the Sugar Hill Club. Flea recorded and released records with the assistance of local business men, Alec Durie and
Ken Khouri Kenneth Lloyd Khouri (1917 – 20 September 2003) was a pioneering Jamaican record producer and founder of Federal Records, the first recording studio in Jamaica, which was sold to Bob Marley's Tuff Gong record label in 1981. He is credited by re ...
.Unsung Heroes A Good Time To Reflect
, ''
Jamaica Gleaner ''The Gleaner'' is an English-language, morning daily newspaper founded by two brothers, Jacob and Joshua de Cordova on 13 September 1834 in Kingston, Jamaica. Originally called the ''Daily Gleaner'', the name was changed on 7 December 1992 to ' ...
'', 4 January 2015. Retrieved 4 January 2015
Early singles featuring Flea's vocal performances were attributed to "The Blue Mountain Caroleers" or "The Jamaican Calypsonians". Bill Saxon, owner of 'Club Calypso' on
Biscayne Boulevard U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) in Florida runs along the state's east coast from Key West to its crossing of the St. Marys River (Florida/Georgia), St. Marys River into Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia north of Boulogne, Florida, Boulogne and south of ...
in Miami, traveled to Jamaica in order to search out an 'authentic sound' for his Florida venue. Saxon offered a residency lasting from two to six months, with the proviso that those artists that wished to apply for the gig, must have previously recorded some music. Lord Flea & his Calypsonians soon received a contract and began to perform for six months in America. The music produced by Lord Flea and other artists from the Caribbean islands was marketed as 'calypso' but Flea's style was actually known as 'mento'. In a 1957 interview for the UK ''Calypso Star'' magazine, Lord Flea explained: "In Jamaica, we call our music 'mento' until very recently. Today, 'calypso' is beginning to be used for all kinds of West Indian music. This is because it's become so commercialized there. Some people like to think of West Indians as carefree natives who work and sing and play and laugh their lives away. But this isn't so. Most of the people there are hard working folks, and many of them are smart business men. If the tourists want "calypso", that's what we sell them." Members of the Calypsonians assumed colorful stage-names. Besides Lord Flea himself, the band adopted such memorable pseudonyms as Count Slick, Count Spoon, and Prince Charles. The Calypsonians' bassist was called Fish Ray — an early exponent of the "
walking bass Bassline (also known as a bass line or bass part) is the term used in many styles of music, such as blues, jazz, funk, Dub music, dub and electronic music, electronic, traditional music, traditional, or classical music for the low-pitched Part ( ...
" technique. Lord Flea and his Calypsonians appeared in the edition of 11 February 1957 of ''Life'' magazine, in an article entitled "U.S. Tourists Rush to the Caribbean". The piece contained a photograph of Lord Flea performing at the Jamaican Room. Fellow bandmate Pork Chops can be seen in the picture alongside Flea, with the Calypsonians' bongo-player sat high upon a large barrel. That year also saw the band featured in more musically-orientated US magazines such as ''Hep Cat's Review'' and ''Calypso'', as well as the UK's first issue of ''Calypso Star''. On 9 February 1957 Lord Flea & His Calypsonians appeared on ''
The Perry Como Show Pierino Ronald "Perry" Como (; May 18, 1912 – May 12, 2001) was an Italian-American singer, actor and television personality. During a career spanning more than half a century, he recorded exclusively for RCA Victor for 44 years, after signing ...
'' where they performed "Shake Shake Sonora" and "Where Did The Naughty Little Flea Go?" Little Flea's version of "Shake Shake Sonora" (later to be covered by
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 ...
) was reviewed in February 1957 by ''
Billboard A billboard (also called a hoarding in the UK and many other parts of the world) is a large outdoor advertising structure (a billing board), typically found in high-traffic areas such as alongside busy roads. Billboards present large advertise ...
'', which stated that: "Flea has a dynamic drive.." and that the single "could put many to shame." The review also added that Lord Flea & His Calypsonians produced "attention-grabbing sides
hich Ij ( fa, ايج, also Romanized as Īj; also known as Hich and Īch) is a village in Golabar Rural District, in the Central District of Ijrud County, Zanjan Province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran, and also ...
can stir action at all levels." The late 1950s calypso craze extended to the film world. Rising star Lord Flea and his band appeared in two films released in 1957. The Calypsonians feature in ''Calypso Joe'', and they perform several numbers in ''
Bop Girl Goes Calypso ''Bop Girl Goes Calypso'' is a 1957 American United Artists film directed by Howard W. Koch and starring Judy Tyler. It features calypso music by the Bobby Troup Trio and bassist Jim Aton. Plot Working on a thesis, college student Bob Hilton ...
'', a film that has been pronounced "dead on arrival" and criticized as a "painful
United Artists United Artists Corporation (UA), currently doing business as United Artists Digital Studios, is an American digital production company. Founded in 1919 by D. W. Griffith, Charlie Chaplin, Mary Pickford, and Douglas Fairbanks, the studi ...
mistake", in which a psychologist studying "Mass Hysteria and the Popular Singer" persuades the "Bop Girl" of the title to embrace the "calypso" style, and to abandon her previous rock'n'roll singing technique. The band played ceaselessly in America throughout the calypso craze. The band performed at
Eden Roc Hotel Eden may refer to: *Garden of Eden, the "garden of God" described in the Book of Genesis Places and jurisdictions Canada * Eden, Ontario * Eden High School Middle East * Eden, Lebanon, a city and former bishopric * Camp Eden, Iraq Oce ...
for six months, and in
Las Vegas Las Vegas (; Spanish for "The Meadows"), often known simply as Vegas, is the 25th-most populous city in the United States, the most populous city in the state of Nevada, and the county seat of Clark County. The city anchors the Las Vegas ...
at the
Dunes A dune is a landform composed of wind- or water-driven sand. It typically takes the form of a mound, ridge, or hill. An area with dunes is called a dune system or a dune complex. A large dune complex is called a dune field, while broad, fl ...
, "Flea chalked up new house records, as he adbeen doing the past few months in New York's Jamaica Room." Unfortunately for the Caribbean mento/calypso artists, as ''
Time Time is the continued sequence of existence and events that occurs in an apparently irreversible succession from the past, through the present, into the future. It is a component quantity of various measurements used to sequence events, to ...
'' magazine had already noted in March 1957: "Financially, American imitators are doing better than such authentic calypso singers as
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, ...
, or Lord Flea and His Calypsonians (Lord Fish Ray, Count Spoon, ''et al''), whose cleaned-up version of the nocturnal wanderings of a flea is also a nightclub favorite."


Death

Suffering from
Hodgkin's Disease Hodgkin lymphoma (HL) is a type of lymphoma, in which cancer originates from a specific type of white blood cell called lymphocytes, where multinucleated Reed–Sternberg cells (RS cells) are present in the patient's lymph nodes. The condition wa ...
, Lord Flea was admitted to
Jackson Memorial Hospital Jackson Memorial Hospital (also known as "Jackson" or abbreviated "MJMH") is a non-profit, tertiary care hospital, the primary teaching hospital of the University of Miami's School of Medicine, and the largest hospital in the United States with 1,5 ...
in Miami in 1959. According to daughter Kathie Way-Giddarie: "Each evening during his hospital stay, he would play music for the doctors, nurses and the patients on the isolation ward." On 18 May 1959 (at the age of either 24 or 28), Lord Flea died. Thomas's subsequent funeral procession was, at the time, the longest ever seen in
Miami-Dade County Miami-Dade County is a county located in the southeastern part of the U.S. state of Florida. The county had a population of 2,701,767 as of the 2020 census, making it the most populous county in Florida and the seventh-most populous county in ...
.


Subject matter

In "Mister Give Me Ma Rent", the Lord tells of a problem landlady who is "..too rude – in my affairs she likes to intrude.." The song goes on to depict financial woes and poor accommodation common to many Jamaicans of the time: In his "Calypso Be Bop", Flea name-checks his
Bebop Bebop or bop is a style of jazz developed in the early-to-mid-1940s in the United States. The style features compositions characterized by a fast tempo, complex chord progressions with rapid chord changes and numerous changes of key, instrumen ...
heroes.
Dizzy Gillespie John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie (; October 21, 1917 – January 6, 1993) was an American jazz trumpeter, bandleader, composer, educator and singer. He was a trumpet virtuoso and improviser, building on the virtuosic style of Roy Eldridge but addi ...
's "
Anthropology Anthropology is the scientific study of humanity, concerned with human behavior, human biology, cultures, societies, and linguistics, in both the present and past, including past human species. Social anthropology studies patterns of behavi ...
" apparently sent Flea 'crazy'.
Charlie Parker Charles Parker Jr. (August 29, 1920 – March 12, 1955), nicknamed "Bird" or "Yardbird", was an American jazz saxophonist, band leader and composer. Parker was a highly influential soloist and leading figure in the development of bebop, a form ...
receives a mention, the song refers to
Miles Davis Miles Dewey Davis III (May 26, 1926September 28, 1991) was an American trumpeter, bandleader, and composer. He is among the most influential and acclaimed figures in the history of jazz and 20th-century music. Davis adopted a variety of music ...
as a 'smasher', and
Jazz Jazz is a music genre that originated in the African-American communities of New Orleans, Louisiana in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, with its roots in blues and ragtime. Since the 1920s Jazz Age, it has been recognized as a major ...
legend
Lionel Hampton Lionel Leo Hampton (April 20, 1908 – August 31, 2002) was an American jazz vibraphonist, pianist, percussionist, and bandleader. Hampton worked with jazz musicians from Teddy Wilson, Benny Goodman, and Buddy Rich, to Charlie Parker, Charles M ...
is also recommended to the listener: In an interview Lord Flea revealed his thoughts about the
West Indian A West Indian is a native or inhabitant of the West Indies (the Antilles and the Lucayan Archipelago). For more than 100 years the words ''West Indian'' specifically described natives of the West Indies, but by 1661 Europeans had begun to use it ...
outlook on life, stating that: "The islanders know how to get more out of life. They don't worry as much as Americans do about unimportant things, I mean. You can say they just sing and dance their troubles away — and it beats
psychoanalysis PsychoanalysisFrom Greek: + . is a set of theories and therapeutic techniques"What is psychoanalysis? Of course, one is supposed to answer that it is many things — a theory, a research method, a therapy, a body of knowledge. In what might b ...
, you can bet." He went on to say that: "West Indians have the best sense of humor in the world. Even the most solemn song, like "Las Kean Fine" ("Lost and Can Not Be Found"), which tells of a boiler explosion on a sugar plantation that killed several of the workers, their natural wit and humor shine though." "Monkey" has unusual subject matter. Awaking one morning to find a monkey at his garden gate, Lord Flea sings of how the monkey proceeds to follow him about wherever he goes, even going so far as to start copying Flea's actions: "When I put on shoes — monkey wears shoes too.. I don't what to say, the monkey won't do!" Other humorous moments abound in Flea's work. "Donkey Bray" features Lord Flea
braying The domestic donkey is a hoofed mammal in the family Equidae, the same family as the horse. It derives from the African wild ass, ''Equus africanus'', and may be classified either as a subspecies thereof, ''Equus africanus asinus'', or as a ...
the chorus with gusto, and in the Calypsonians' "Pretty Woman", Flea advises that "Love is the common enemy", and begs that you should "Run, run, run! When you see a pretty woman".


Covers

In 1961
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 ...
recorded a version of Lord Flea's "Shake Shake Sonora" which was renamed "
Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora) "Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)" is a calypso song composed by Lord Kitchener and best known from a version recorded by vocalist Harry Belafonte in 1961. Later renditions Woody Herman and his Third Herd recorded Kitchener's song in 1952 for Ma ...
" and later appeared in the 1988 film ''
Beetlejuice ''Beetlejuice'' is a 1988 American fantasy horror comedy film directed by Tim Burton, written by Michael McDowell, Larry Wilson, and Warren Skaaren, produced by The Geffen Company, distributed by Warner Bros., and starring Alec Baldwin, ...
''. Flea had used
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 ...
's earlier 1955 recording "Labor Day (Jump in the Line)" for inspiration, which itself was a cover of Lord Kitchener's original "Jump in the Line and Wag Your Body in Time" of 1946. "Where Did The Naughty Little Flea Go?" has been also been covered by Belafonte (who stated that Lord Flea was the song's composer), as well as
Miriam Makeba Zenzile Miriam Makeba (4 March 1932 – 9 November 2008), nicknamed Mama Africa, was a South African singer, songwriter, actress, and civil rights activist. Associated with musical genres including African popular music, Afropop, jazz, a ...
, and
Toots and the Maytals The Maytals, known from 1972 to 2020 as Toots and the Maytals, are a Jamaican musical group, one of the best known ska and rocksteady vocal groups. The Maytals were formed in the early 1960s and were key figures in popularizing reggae music. ...
amongst others. Thomas' daughter recalled asking her father about the meaning behind "The Naughty Little Flea": "His answer to me was that 'when he was gone that there would be another, then another and then another.'"


Discography


Singles

"Ol Fowl" b/w "Irene & Yo' Fr'en" – with the Blue Blue Mountain Caroleers (1953 Calypsodisc label CT.100) (Savoy Record Shop) "Man Forty Leg" b/w "The Number One" – with the Blue Mountain Caroleers (1953 CT 101 AT/3 AT/4 Calypsotime label, and also Calypsodisc) "Wheel and Turn Me" b/w "Matty Rag" / "Brown Skin Gal" – with the Jamaican Calypsonians (Times Record label UD 1003 D JAM 103/D JAM 104) ("Wheel and Turn Me" appears on the 2006 CD compilation ''Take Me To Jamaica'') "Donkey City" b/w "Run Mongoose" / "Linstead Market" – with the Jamaican Calypsonians (Times Record label UD 1003 D JAM 105/D JAM 106) "Time So Hard" / "Old Lady" b/w "Solas Market" / "Water Come From Me Eye" – with the Jamaican Calypsonians (Times Record label UD 1003 D JAM 101/D JAM 102) Six of Lord Flea's Ken Khouri Times Record sides appear on the compilation LP ''Calypsos From Jamaica'': 1. "Time so Hard" / "Old Lady" b/w "Solas Market" / "Water Comes From My Eye". 2. "Wheel and Turn Me" b/w "Mattie Rag" / "Brown Skin Gal". 3. ''Run Mongoose" / "Linstead Market" b/w "Donkey City". The original version of "Naughty Little Flea" recorded for the Times Record label, was probably the first record produced
Ken Khouri Kenneth Lloyd Khouri (1917 – 20 September 2003) was a pioneering Jamaican record producer and founder of Federal Records, the first recording studio in Jamaica, which was sold to Bob Marley's Tuff Gong record label in 1981. He is credited by re ...
. It can be found on the 2002 ''Rookumbine: Authentic Calypsos and Mentos'' CD compilation.


Albums

''Swingin' Calypsos'', Lord Flea & his Calypsonians (
Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...
, 1957). Track listing: *"Shake Shake Sonora" *"Shi-Du-Bi-Du-Bab" *"Bachelor's Life" *"I Can't Cross Over" *"Out De Fire" *"Mister Give Me De Rent" *"Monkey" *"Love" *"Calypso Be Bop" *"Pretty Woman" *"Magic Composer" *"Naughty Little Flea"


See also

*
Calypsonian A calypsonian,Definition of CALYPSO
Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora) "Jump in the Line (Shake, Senora)" is a calypso song composed by Lord Kitchener and best known from a version recorded by vocalist Harry Belafonte in 1961. Later renditions Woody Herman and his Third Herd recorded Kitchener's song in 1952 for Ma ...


Notes


References


External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Flea, Lord Mento 1959 deaths Musicians from Kingston, Jamaica Jamaican male singers Jamaican songwriters Year of birth uncertain Capitol Records artists