Tevin Joseph is one of the nation's top volleyball players and has represented T&T at tournaments in countries like Poland, Berlin, Guatemala, Canada, Jamaica and Mexico. He credits his involvement in volleyball for keeping him out of trouble and focused on his studies at secondary school but lately, it's the 22-year-old's love for music that has been reaping the benefits."I come from a very musical family. My sister Renee is a gospel singer and her husband Emile Fortune is a producer, he actually did the production on my songs. So music just comes naturally to me," he said.
The Princess Town West Secondary old boy has experimented with various genres of music, but decided to launch his singing career with soca. Down to The Ground, the song he wrote for Carnival 2014 caught the attention of a record company in Atlanta which signed the excited young man."I posted the song on my YouTube channel and the next thing I know in September, I received this call from someone by the name of Francesca Maria who said she is the CEO of Gyal Volume Records and she was interested in my song," explained Joseph.
The Gyal Volume Records CEO was looking for a soca artiste to add to her label and someone played her Joseph's song and she was sold on it at first instant.Joseph, the last of three children, said he felt a mix of emotions when he got that phone call."At first I thought it was a hoax, then when I realised it wasn't, I felt surprised, confused and happy all at the same time."
His producer Fortune was the first person he shared the good news with and within two days, Joseph signed a contract with the US label which required him to ten songs for Atlanta Caribbean Carnival which takes place from May 22-23, 2015."The feeling I have right now is indescribable. Just the other day music was like just a hobby for me but now it is a main focus, and I am just happy that at my age I got the opportunities to do two things that are positive and that I equally enjoy," said Joseph.
He has already written two more songs for 2015, Feel It, which was released on November 19 and Run.Both were produced by For-Tune Productions, the studio run by his brother-in-law.
Asked if he would be pushing the songs locally, Joseph said Down To The Ground got some airplay earlier this year on a few local frequencies, but his management was not really pushing it for the local market."I am really concentrating on pushing them for the UK market. If I get some love here, that will be appreciated too," said Joseph.
He believes the local soca industry is difficult for a new artiste to penetrate unless he is being supported by seasoned artistes and DJs who appear to have the power to decide which songs gets played."I don't really depend on the radio for my music to get recognition. There are so many other mediums now like YouTube, iTunes etc. An artiste does not really need to depend wholly and solely on a radio station to play their music anymore," Joseph said.
So what else is on this enterprising young man's future checklist? An MBA and an A-class clothing boutique for gents."I say go for whatever your heart desires. You only get the chance at life once so don't sit down on your talents. Use them all up."