Photo: Lily N. Reisling
Meet a Trini
CALYPSONIAN DAVID RUDDER By Nasser Khan
E
ver since he burst onto the calypso stage in 1986 and became a household name in Trinidad and Tobago, calypsonian David Rudder has maintained his place among the top entertainers wherever he performs. Though currently resident in Ontario, Canada, this son of the soil is frequently back and forth to his native Trinidad where he still commands premier billing at special occasions (such as our 50th, Independence Anniversary celebrations in 2012) and parties (or fêtes, as we call them here). He was also a headliner at the 2012 Tobago Jazz Experience. This former accounting clerk started as a back-up calypso singer whose big break came when the lead singer of the band ‘Charlie’s Roots’ fell ill and he was thrust into the limelight. So impressive was he that he soon became the co-lead singer of the band! But it was in 1986 that he really shot to prominence with the release of his first album, which spawned two huge hits: “The Hammer” (a tribute to the late steelpan ace Rudolph Charles) and “Bahia Girl”. These two hits, both of which he wrote, as he does all of his songs, earned him all the winning titles that year, including the Calypso Crown, the Road March and the Young King title, and have been eternal hits since then. You can view his calypso hits via You Tube. Following his 1986 propulsion to fame, he did not find the previous year a tough act to follow and released his mega hit “Calypso Music” in 1987, which encapsulated the rhythm and vibe of our nation. Not content to rest on his laurels, he followed up in 1988 with what many considered to be his best album to date, Haiti, which included the title track, a tribute to the glory and suffering of Haiti; “Engine Room”, which captured the energy of the steel band; and “Rally ‘Round the West Indies”, which became the regional anthem for the world champion West Indies cricket team.
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Ins & Outs of Trinidad and Tobago
Rudder’s innovative songwriting has been influenced by the uniqueness and inescapable styling of the chants and rhythms of the Shango Baptists, which is the foundation of much of his music. The endless list of awards that have been showered upon him at various times over a sterling career that has lasted over 25 years includes Male Artist of the Year, Album of the Year, Best Party Song of the year, Best Social Commentary, Song most played for Panorama, Best Produced Album, Male Vocalist of the Year, Best New Wave Soca and Most Humourous Calypso. He has delivered performances at several World Music festivals and performing arts centres around the world in the USA, Canada, UK and Europe and has been featured over the years in prestigious magazines and publications such as Germany’s Gorgenpost and Stern Magazine, The Guardian in England, in the U.S. the Boston Globe, New York Times and Newsweek, was a cover story for Class magazine, and featured artist in Ebony Magazine. Rudder has performed with such stars as Barry White, Billy Ocean, KC and the Sunshine Band, Third World, Steel Pulse, Musical Youth, Miami Sound Machine and Chalice. In 1990 he sang with the Bahia Girl in Wild Orchid, a major Hollywood movie produced by Warner Brothers, performing with internationally acclaimed Brazilian singer Margareth Menezes. Together, Rudder and Menezes sang “Dark Secrets”, one of three songs Rudder contributed to the movie, which starred Mickey Rourke and Jacqueline Bisset. Some thirty-two albums, records and CDs later, this “Trini to the Bone”, the title of a recent hit, shows no sign of letting up as his fans locally, regionally and internationally would attest. He was awarded one of the nation’s highest awards in 1992, the Humming Bird Medal Silver, for his contribution to culture.