Leroy Young, (born August 7, 1967 in Belize City, Belize), otherwise known as "The Grandmaster", is a Belizean dub poet.
Young was born to Bernadean Young and attended St. Mary's Primary and the former St. Michael's College, now amalgamated into Anglican Cathedral College (ACC). He briefly starred in rap group Fresh Breeze with the Morgan Brothers, Kenny and Turbo, but eventually became addicted to drugs and got into various misdeeds, resulting in a trip to rehab after twice attempting to commit suicide. In the late 1990s, after spending time in prison and drug rehabilitation, he turned to poetry and received a segment in the news broadcast on Channel 7 television station, improvising poems about stories in the news and whatever else. [1]
He parlayed his time on Channel 7 into two books of poetry, Made in Pinks Alley and Generation X. His debut album Just Like That... was released on Stonetree Records in 2004. In 2017, the Image Factory Art Foundation released a DVD retrospective covering Young's career as a poet. [1]
Young is a supporter of the People's United Party and appears on their radio station every Thursday hosting a show dedicated to the arts, "G2" (the other G standing for cohost Angela Gegg).
Craig Joseph Charles is an English actor, presenter, comedian, author, poet and DJ. He is best known for his roles as Dave Lister in the science fiction sitcom Red Dwarf and Lloyd Mullaney in the soap opera Coronation Street. He presented the gladiator-style game show Robot Wars from 1998 to 2004, and narrated the comedy endurance show Takeshi's Castle. As a DJ, he appears on BBC Radio 6 Music and BBC Radio 2.
Sir Derek Alton Walcott was a Saint Lucian poet and playwright. He received the 1992 Nobel Prize in Literature. He was the University of Alberta's first distinguished scholar in residence, where he taught undergraduate and graduate writing courses. He also served as Professor of Poetry at the University of Essex from 2010 to 2013. His works include the Homeric epic poem Omeros (1990), which many critics view "as Walcott's major achievement." In addition to winning the Nobel Prize, Walcott received many literary awards over the course of his career, including an Obie Award in 1971 for his play Dream on Monkey Mountain, a MacArthur Foundation "genius" award, a Royal Society of Literature Award, the Queen's Medal for Poetry, the inaugural OCM Bocas Prize for Caribbean Literature, the 2011 T. S. Eliot Prize for his book of poetry White Egrets and the Griffin Trust For Excellence in Poetry Lifetime Recognition Award in 2015.
Philip Arthur Larkin was an English poet, novelist, and librarian. His first book of poetry, The North Ship, was published in 1945, followed by two novels, Jill (1946) and A Girl in Winter (1947), and he came to prominence in 1955 with the publication of his second collection of poems, The Less Deceived, followed by The Whitsun Weddings (1964) and High Windows (1974). He contributed to The Daily Telegraph as its jazz critic from 1961 to 1971, articles gathered in All What Jazz: A Record Diary 1961–71 (1985), and he edited The Oxford Book of Twentieth Century English Verse (1973). His many honours include the Queen's Gold Medal for Poetry. He was offered, but declined, the position of Poet Laureate in 1984, following the death of Sir John Betjeman.
Seamus Justin Heaney was an Irish poet, playwright and translator. He received the 1995 Nobel Prize in Literature. Among his best-known works is Death of a Naturalist (1966), his first major published volume. Heaney was and is still recognised as one of the principal contributors to poetry in Ireland during his lifetime. American poet Robert Lowell described him as "the most important Irish poet since Yeats", and many others, including the academic John Sutherland, have said that he was "the greatest poet of our age". Robert Pinsky has stated that "with his wonderful gift of eye and ear Heaney has the gift of the story-teller." Upon his death in 2013, The Independent described him as "probably the best-known poet in the world".
Stephen Fain Earle is an American rock, country and folk singer-songwriter, record producer, author and actor. Earle began his career as a songwriter in Nashville and released his first EP in 1982.
Archibald Lampman was a Canadian poet. "He has been described as 'the Canadian Keats;' and he is perhaps the most outstanding exponent of the Canadian school of nature poets." The Canadian Encyclopedia says that he is "generally considered the finest of Canada's late 19th-century poets in English."
Phillip Christopher Jupitus is an English stand-up and improv comedian, actor, performance poet, cartoonist and podcaster. Jupitus was a team captain on BBC Two's popular music quiz Never Mind the Buzzcocks from its inception in 1996 until its end in 2015, and also appears regularly as a guest on several other panel shows, including QI and BBC Radio 4's I'm Sorry I Haven't a Clue.
Queensbridge Houses, also known simply as Queensbridge, is a public housing development in the Long Island City neighborhood of Queens, New York City. Owned by the New York City Housing Authority, the development contains 96 buildings and 3,142 units accommodating approximately 7,000 people in two separate complexes. The complex opened in 1939 and is the largest housing project in North America.
Radric Delantic Davis, known professionally as Gucci Mane, is an American rapper and record executive. He helped pioneer the hip hop subgenre of trap music alongside fellow Atlanta-based rappers T.I. and Young Jeezy, particularly in the 2000s and 2010s. In 2005, Gucci Mane debuted with Trap House, followed by his second album, Hard to Kill in 2006. His third and fourth albums, Trap-A-Thon and Back to the Trap House, were released in 2007.
Samuel Percival Maitland Hunt is a New Zealand poet, especially known for his public performances of poetry, not only his own poems, but also the poems of many other poets. He has been referred to as New Zealand's best-known poet.
Emanuel Xavier, is an American Latinx poet, spoken word artist, author, editor, and LGBTQ activist born and raised in the Bushwick area of Brooklyn. Associated with the East Village, Manhattan arts scene in New York City, he emerged from the ball culture scene and the Nuyorican movement to become a successful poet, writer and advocate for gay youth programs and Latinx gay literature. Once an underage hustler and club kid drug dealer, and later a hate crime survivor, he has performed, conducted spoken word poetry workshops and produced benefits and events for LGBTQ youth organizations around the United States.
Tropical Vision Limited, or as it is locally known, Channel 7, is a Belize City based television station operating since 1981.
Kalilah Antonette Enríquez is a Belizean journalist and poet. She currently resides in Kingston, Jamaica, where she co-hosts the popular current affairs radio programme, Nationwide This Morning on Nationwide News Network.
St. John's College has three divisions and a number of central academic centres and activities. Through its divisions, it offers a wide variety of liberal arts and science courses at the secondary, British A-level, and United States junior college levels. St. John's College is a Roman Catholic institution in the Jesuit tradition, one of the oldest, largest, and most diverse educational institutions in Belize, founded by the Jesuits in 1887.
Angela Gegg is a Belizean artist, author, entertainer, and real estate expert.
James Douglas Morrison was an American singer, musician, songwriter and poet, who was the lead vocalist of the rock band The Doors. Due to his wild personality, poetic lyrics, distinctive voice, unpredictable and erratic performances, and the dramatic circumstances surrounding his life and early death, Morrison is regarded by music critics and fans as one of the most iconic and influential frontmen in rock history. Since his death, his fame has endured as one of popular culture's most rebellious and oft-displayed icons, representing the generation gap and youth counterculture.
Benjamin Hammond Haggerty, known by his stage name Macklemore, is an American rapper and songwriter. A native of Seattle, Washington, he has collaborated with producer Ryan Lewis as the duo Macklemore & Ryan Lewis. His releases to date include one mixtape, three EPs, and four albums.
George Virden Watsky, better known mononymously as Watsky, is an American musician, songwriter, record producer, poet, and author.
Falling in Reverse is an American rock band based in Las Vegas, Nevada that formed in 2008 by lead vocalist Ronnie Radke while he was incarcerated. The band's original name was 'From Behind These Walls,' but was quickly renamed to Falling in Reverse shortly after formation. They are currently signed to Epitaph Records.
Busiswa Gqulu, known mononymously as Busiswa or Busi, is a South African singer-songwriter and poet. Born in Mthatha, Eastern Cape, South Africa, she gained public recognition for her feature on DJ Zinhle's song, "My Name Is", after being discovered by Kalawa Jazmee's CEO Oskido.