Now in her 77th year and as forward as ever, Calypso Rose can look back at over 60 years of making people happy. Born in Tobago, she grew up in Trinidad, where she fell in love with calypso, despite the disapproval of her Baptist minister father. She wrote her first song aged 15. A decade later she shook up the male-dominated world of calypso, winning the Calypso King title – reluctantly retitled Calypso Monarch – at the 1978 carnival.
To date she’s written over 800 songs, changed attitudes denouncing domestic violence or social injustice and received dozens of international awards and honorary citizenships. She’s a living calypso legend, the Calypso Queen, and as she sings on her latest album: “No man alive or dead could take mi crown off mi head.”
Calypso Rose - vocals
Drew Gonsalves - guitar, cuatro
Jamba - guitar
Damny - keyboard
Robert Milicevic - drums
Don Stewart - bass
Jan Morgan - trumpet
Terence Woode - trombone
Derek Thorne - percussion