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The best of Trini pop
Published:
Friday, October 26, 2012
Carol Addison leading diva from the 70s and 80s.
Back in the ’80s, one much-listened-too disc jockey had an aversion to playing local music, especially calypso. In his defence, he said locally produced music was of an inferior quality when compared to the foreign fare he relished and fed his listening public with.
Composers and artistes continue to lobby for the introduction of quota laws which mandate local radio stations to play a proportionate quota of local music, not unlike the law which exists in Canada. Prior to the mid ’70s, before the advent of soca music, local composers and musicians produced a plethora of excellent local pop and R&B music. Back then, as calypso music was wrapped in mothballs at the start of the Lenten season, breaking for St Joseph Day, and being pushed into the background for the rest of the year, local pop and R&B was the music that swung showplaces, like De Luxe Cinema.
It was the era of the combo and the big guns then included Cassanovas, Rockerfellas, Group Solo, Bert Bailey & The Jets and Kalyan. Then, there were the singing groups, like Strollers, Blue Veils, Sparks, Venus plus X, and Dave Flaverny & The Lunatics, and singers galore like Junior Byron, Rolf Marcial, Jackie Wonder, Oliver “Stumpy” Chapman, Tony Wilson, Bert Clarke, Ellsworth & Jerry James, Carol Addison, Mavis John, Ann Marie Inniss, Denyse Plummer,
Pat Baptiste and Jenny Pakeera.
A major phenomenon of this period was Pop Gear competition. The Kisskidee Karavan of the 60s, Pop Gear unearthed tremendous young talent from across the nation, many of them succeeding in securing recording contracts with the major studios of the day, like KH and Coral Sounds.
It’s a monumental challenge to try, from memory, to compile a list of the most popular 50 local pop and R&B singles, circa 1962-2012. So, I sourced a number of knowledgable music gurus, including Phil “D Thrill” Simmonds, Sookram “Ultimate Selector” Ali and Gerald Agostini and picked their grey matter to come up with following list. The listing is of compositions dated between the 60s to the early 90s, and does not include hits from beyond that, including those from the Kiskidee Karavan era.
Top 50 Trini/Tropical R&B, pop songs:
circa 1960s - early 1990s
(compiled by Peter Ray Blood)
1 Wanna Make Love To You - Nadie La Fond
2 You Are What Love Is - Mave & Dave (Mavis John & Dave Elcock)
3 Cryin's Easy - Junior Byron
4 Dream Of Me - Mac & Katie Kissoon
5 Can You Love Me - Kalyan
6 Born To Shine - Carol Addison
7 Just When I Needed You Most - Tony Wilson
8 Try Making Love - Wildfire
9 White Horse - Fireflight
10 Sweet Soca Song - Robin Imamshah & Trinidad
11 Ebony Girl - Richard “Nappy” Mayers
12 Say A Little Prayer (For The Children) - Wildfire
13 What You Won't Do For Love - Charmaine Forde
14 How Can I Love Again - Mavis John
15 Imagine - Carol Addison
16 The Right One - Conrad Walrond
17 Black Man Pray - Bert Lynch
18 Ole Man River - Wildfire
19 Basement Party - Andre Tanker
20 I Will Be Your Friend - Mavis John
21 Come By Here – Mavis John
22 Fool In Love - Fire Flight
23 Tush Mush – Billy Reece
24 Check It Out - Wildfire
25 Forever Young - Tony Wilson
26 Take Me With You - Oliver Chapman
27 Babe - Jenny Pakeera
28 Heaven - Michael Boothman
29 Baby I Love Your Way - Patti Charles
30 Sunday Morning - Peter Britto
31 Come On Down - Wildfire
32 Trinidad Boogie - Last Supper
33 The Struggle – Dorian “Versatile” Hector
34 Take Me Back - Carol Addison
35 We're All God's Children - Wildfire
36 Sexy Lady You - Jackie Wonder
37 Rock-A-Bye Baby Love - Stephen Encinas
38 Island Sunshine - Richard “Nappy” Mayers
39 3 Way Situation - Nadie La Fond
40 Too Much Pressure On The Kid - Jackie Wonder
41 Oh Lord, Why Lord – Billy Reece
42 And The Lord Said - Mac & Katie Kissoon
43 Love To Daddy - Wildfire
44 You Are What I've Waited For - Denyse Plummer
45 Apple Of My Eye - Mave & Dave
46 Only What You Steal - Tony Wilson
47 Life Is A Struggle - Hamilton Brothers
48 Music Makes The World Go 'Round - Hamilton Brothers
49 Pressure - Carl & Carol
50 Disco Reggae (Tony's Groove) - Kalyan
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