John King: standing for something

Roxan Kinas profiles Barbadian singer John King

  • John and family. Photograph by Eric Young
  • In winner's row, 1994. Photograph courtesy John King
  • Lead singer John with the band Jegna. Photograph courtesy John King
  • Alison Hinds and John King during their winning performance at the 1992 Caribbean Song Festival. Photograph courtesy John King
  • John King. Photograph by Eric Young
  • Photograph by Roxan Kinas

You can trace John King’s progress by his hair. In 1982, when he appeared as the young “Johnny Ma Boy” in Barbados’s Crop Over calypso competition, he had short, head-shaping hair. In 1994, when he made an astounding comeback and rose to national prominence by grabbing the monarchy for the second time after a four-year break from competing, his hair was in thin, short locks. By the time the locks passed his ears, he was a national icon. When they passed his shoulders, his voice had acquired an irresistible power — not just musically, but as an outspoken commentator on cultural, social and entertainment issues.

And these days, John’s opinion counts. Last April, he was appointed Special Envoy to the United Nations Development Programme’s fight against poverty. “It’s a big task,” he concedes, “because people have become selfish. It’s difficult for them to understand that the ‘we’ concept helps the growth of the ‘I’. If the group flourishes, then the individuals in the group flourish. That translates not only financially, but spiritually, culturally and socially.”

But John King first had to succeed on stage before he could be taken seriously as a social commentator. And there, the voice is just as powerful.

Even before he hits the stage, you know he’s coming. It’s the thunder of his voice.

Today he uses that voice, his knowledge and his success to inspire newcomers to the business, especially disadvantaged ones. It’s a side of John many people don’t know.

John’s childhood hardly hinted at his future. Born in England of Barbadian parents in 1964, he moved back to the Caribbean when he was six: his parents wanted him and his younger sister “to have a Barbadian upbringing.” But it was no dream childhood. “Living with my grandparents,” he recalls, “I had a lot of responsibilities, doing a lot for them and my sister. I was the man of the house, even when my mother returned a few years later.” Adjusting was difficult. But “it takes a village to raise a child. That was a distinct advantage, growing up in Barbados.”

Young John was soon in the public eye. “My first public performance was on the radio show Children’s Party with Auntie Olga. I was eight and I sang the Cliff Richard song Put on your Dancing Shoes.” Then he turned to dance. At Lodge Secondary School he led a dance troupe called the Space Knights. It was a deceiving lull that even fooled his mother, Monica. “I had no idea he’d have turned out a singer. I thought he was going to be a dancer. Even from a young age he was always on his toes. It wasn’t until he began singing calypso that I felt this might be the direction he will go.”

But John always knew where he was going. “I believe from the time you get a heartbeat there’s a rhythm. From very small, my goal was a singing career, and once I set my mind to do something, that’s it, it’s got to be done, regardless.” Michelle, John’s wife of four years, says that is John’s nature. “He’s a person who has a lot of goals and because he’s so self-willed, he accomplishes most, if not all of them.”

John’s primary musical outlet was to be calypso. “By default. There was nothing else, so Crop Over was the catalyst to get my voice out there.”

“I distinctly remember a thin young ‘Johnny Ma Boy’ floating onto the stage at the Pic-O-De-Crop (calypso) Finals in 1985,” says Derek Wilkie, Managing Director of CRS Digital Recording Studio and the leading regional music distributor CRS Music Ltd., “to render the song I Want A Plantation. It was that moment for me that a star, who would have a long and successful career, was born.”

The following year, John captured the crown with a song he and Anthony Walrond co-wrote, Tribute to the Skipper. He made the top three in the finals each year after that, until he broke away from calypso to front the reggae band Sygnacha in 1989.

Then in 1992 he reminded Barbados of his versatility by teaming up with Alison Hinds to storm the Caribbean Song Festival and grab Barbados’s first win with the Andre Woodvine and Stedson ‘Red Plastic Bag’ Wiltshire tune Hold you in a Song. In 1993, John took to the seas to entertain cruise ship passengers; but after a more than a year on the boats, he came back home rejuvenated, grabbing his second monarchy title. He was also runner-up in the Tune of the Crop competition in 1994 with I’m Back and Jump and Wave, which became the theme for a major advertising promotion in the US.

But John was still looking for new directions. “I really wanted to do ballads and soul — to croon.” So he compromised, first with his 1996 reggae album Yardstyle and, the same year, with his album Jegna, marking his new band of the same name. “I took calypso, fused it with the soul that I love, and created a folksy type of sound.” He infused his lyrics with more “spiritual content”, and created his own distinctive sound.

“As a performer, truly, John has grown by leaps and bounds,” says Barbados’s reigning Calypso Monarch, Mighty Gabby. “The transition from ‘Johnny Ma Boy’ to John King was not just in name, it was a total transition. He’s a world-class entertainer with tremendous versatility.”

John has produced eight albums now, along with several contributions to international compilations. That distinctively rich, powerful voice is often likened in tonal quality to Nat ‘King’ Cole. Says Michelle: “There is a similarity between him and Nat, and when he really enjoys a song, he puts body and soul into it.” But John sees more influences and echoes than that. “I’m a combination of all the people I’ve most admired: Nat ‘King’ Cole, Bob Marley, Julio Iglesias, Maurice White and even Dionne Warwick.”

It’s not just the voice, though: it’s also his extraordinary versatility. “I’ve seen John do reggae, rock, disco, soul, back-in-time, ballads, and of course, calypso,” says Gabby. “If one person can put all those things together as well as he does, you can only refer to him as a true artist and song stylist. John is a real Barbadian treasure in music and performance.”

That’s a widespread opinion. One of Jamaica’s best-respected record producers, Mikey Bennett, who produced John’s Yardstyle album at his Grafton Road Studio and whose clientele reads like a “who’s who” of reggae, says: “John is without a doubt one of the Caribbean’s best-kept secrets. Besides being one of the region’s most talented singers, he is as comfortable singing reggae as he is with soca or rhythm and blues. Secrets like this can’t be kept forever.”

Anthony Walrond, one of Barbados’s most prolific calypso composers, a former tent manager and one-time Chairman of the National Cultural Foundation (NCF), enjoys a relationship with John that spans nearly 20 years. “John has developed in every way,” he says, “but most of all he has developed into the consummate performer. He is so competent now that he organises his own tents and writes for others. He’s not superficial in his approach. He chooses very serious topics to work with.” And John writes material not only for himself, as Gabby points out, but for singers who will be competing against him. “He has an open heart and writes at the highest level, sharing his skills with fellow artists.”

But John’s versatility also generates controversy. He returned to calypso because people wanted him to. To him, the genre is stagnant. “The Caribbean has locked itself into carnivals. It’s once-a-year, and nothing in between. People need to change that psyche and quit treating it as a seasonal activity.”

Calypso has not made significant international progress, he says, because “there’s this absurd notion that lyrics are everything and singing quality is secondary. It’s a craft — an art form. How can you practice any musical art form and not know how to sing? It’s a matter of developing a great voice, then the interpretation of lyrics, rendering good tone and diction and staying in key.” And dramatisation is often overlooked. “You don’t need all the props, you should be the living embodiment of the song.” He sounds surprised that more singers don’t see it that way. “I thought by this point in my career a lot more artistes would have shared my vision for calypso and its hybrids, in terms of giving our music the same dignified status other genres and their exponents enjoy.”

John is not alone in this. A feisty Gabby, known for his scathing criticism on the calypso platform, concurs. “John is correct. This nonsense that you don’t have to be a singer to be a calypsonian holds no water with me. In any music form, no matter what genre, you have to be a singer first. Kitch and Lord Melody were great singers, and Sparrow is still a great singer.”

John is equally critical of calypso’s promotional efforts. “We don’t have our networking in place in the region, and it bothers me that visitors come to Barbados from Europe, purchase my albums and know everything about me, and someone 110 miles away doesn’t know who I am. That is the effect of insularity.”

This hasn’t stopped him being a guiding light for newcomers, though, and helping them with their musical careers. “John has always wanted to run an agency where he can help upcoming musicians with promotion, imaging and stage persona,” Michelle explains. “He has been doing it on a small scale,  but he wants to venture into it in a big way.”

Adrian Clarke, five-year front-line veteran with the band Coalishun, is one of many inspired by John. “John influenced me from the start because this is a guy that can sing. When John performs, he shows, ‘I am good,’ especially in competition. He puts 110 per cent into it and gives the impression ‘if you want to win, you have to beat me.’ John always aims for the best, and that’s the sort of people you need around when you’re a budding performer.”

It’s true: John is a stickler for perfection. “People in the Caribbean have the potential to be major forces in the international music arena,” he says. “We have excellent musicians and the rhythm of the Caribbean is innate, but we have no standards. And I always say class is second to nothing. When I weigh many artists today that people see as so spectacular against the past greats, they’re not even close to greatness. People say it’s a different era or style, but some things transcend time and trends, like basic singing skills, communicating with the audience, putting over songs so the listener becomes a part of the experience; crystal-clear diction, even the ambience you create. And many Caribbean entertainers simply do not have those basic skills.”

Though John had dreams of an international career, his family comes first now. He has three daughters: Tara, 12, Makala, three, and adopted daughter Melissa, 17. “The commitment of having a small child puts a damper on touring. For me to do a long tour now, it has to be worthwhile enough that I can say, ‘my kids benefited from me being away from them’, otherwise I won’t do it.”

Instead, his focus now is on composing. With well over 100 songs to his credit, he says: “I want to take it further. My sights are set on doing songs for international artists. If my composing could win a Grammy, that would make up for not being an international entertainer.”

Not that he has stopped developing as an entertainer. He acted and sang in the 1998 Holders Season presentation of the opera Inkle & Yarico. Recently, he even began taking voice lessons. “I’m never afraid of new challenges. I refuse to think I’ve reached the best I can be.” Derek Wilkie agrees: “John will be around for a long time. My hunch is there is still much concealed talent that the region and the world are yet to experience.”

Still, John manages more than he sings these days. He’s on the Board of the Barbados Tourism Authority (BTA). Last season he managed the tremendously successful Conquerors Calypso Tent out of the Plantation entertainment complex, home of the long-standing Plantation Tropical Spectacular show. He wrote or co-wrote numerous songs, five of which reached the Calypso Monarch finals; four reached the Party Monarch finals. A comprehensive 200-page annotated discography “looks at the work I’ve done in an academic way, and examines the calypso art form more intellectually. It’s selling well and shipping to libraries around the world.”

And John’s socially-conscious side keeps him busy. In 1995 his Barbados I Love You — One for the Children benefit concert drew more than 6,000 patrons, and raised enough funds for the Child Care Board’s purchase of a hydraulic lift-equipped van for transporting children with special needs.

“I am a very concerned Caribbean person,” John insists, “and my songs and activities reflect that. I believe each person has a duty to contribute whatever they can to help others. If it’s cancer charities, AIDS, the disabled, fire victims, I see it as a way of giving something back.”

“I really admire John,” says Dawn Rudder, Principal of the Learning Centre, a school for learning disabled children. “He has so much to offer and to give. He has never turned me down for anything and never wanted payment. He has an easy manner with the children, and they fall right in with him.” Says Michelle: “He gives a lot, too much sometimes. People call up with problems, or stop him on the street, he’s someone who can always sense when there’s a problem, so he’s still a counsellor.”

It’s a principle that has informed everything John King does. “Give, give and give a little more,” he says. “And stand for something.”

Recorded Abums

1987    Different Strokes (solo album)
1988    Awesome (solo album)
1989    Simply Massive (solo album)
1992    Come Down Posse (Sygnacha band album), Hold You in a Song (duet single)
1994    Psyched  (solo album)
1995    Bubbling in the 809 (compilation album),
Caribbean Christmas (CRS compilation)
1996    Yardstyle (solo reggae album, Mesa label)
1996    Jegna (solo calypso/reggae album)
1997    Spirit of the Rhythm (compilation album)
1998    Message From Beyond  (solo album),
Colours of Christmas (RHP compilation)

Bands

•    1989-1993    Leader/lead singer, Sygnacha
(reggae band)
•    1995-1996    Lead singer, Spice & Company
•    Since 1997    Leader/lead singer, Jegna

Hits

•    Caribbean Unity (Rocky, 1984)
•    Woman Respect Yourself, Can’t Party (Rita, Calypso Monarch, 1988)
•    Jump Up And Play, Soak Me Down (De Hawk, Calypso semi-finalist, 1993)
•    Nice Time (Troubadours International, 1994)
•    Caribbean Woman (Cassandra Samuel, Queen of Song, Barbados, 1994)
•    Bend Down (Atlantik, Trinidad Carnival, 1996)
•    Together As One (Atlantik, Trinidad Carnival, 1999)

Achievements & awards

•    Calypso Monarch (Barbados), 1986 and 1994
•    Musicians and Entertainers Guild of Barbados (MEGOB) Top Calypsonian, 1986
•    Kool Bajan Promotions (New York) award for Outstanding Contribution to Barbados, 1986
•    Marcus Garvey Committee award for Outstanding Contribution to Barbados Culture, 1988
•    Top Reggae Band, 1991 (Sygnacha)
•    Top Male Vocalist and Top Pop Artist, Culture Promotions Awards, 1992
•    Barbados and Caribbean Song Festival winner, 1992
•    Vocalist of the Year, 1994 (Barbados)
•    Caribbean Music Award nominee, 1995, 1996

ON STAGE

•    All major Caribbean, United States and European carnivals, Barbados Crop Over and Malibu Congaline
•    SOB’S Night Club, New York
•    Norwegian Cruise Line, MS Starward
•    Reggae Sunsplash, Jamaica
•    Opening act for major artistes including Skeeter Davis, The Drifters, Ben E. King, Third World, Beres Hammond, Buju Banton, Marcia Griffiths and Air Supply
•    Caribbean Muzik Festival, Bahamas
•    Holder’s Season 1998 and 1999 lead singer/actor in Inkle & Yarico

Funding provided by the 11th EDF Regional Private Sector Development Programme Direct Support Grants Programme.
The views expressed on this website are those of the the authors and do not reflect those of the Direct Support Grants Programme.

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