Lil Bitts (born Shivonne Liesl-Anne Churche, 31 October 1984) [1] is a soca musician from Trinidad and Tobago. She is best known for her hits "Bump", "Crush" and "Hold Meh".
Lil Bitts, together with Mel (Shivorne Melissa Mitchell), Miki (Tamika Ward-Lewis) and CutieRae (Elena Rachel Rawlins), launched the Making Music to Benefit Charities (M2BC) Foundation in 2009. The Foundation organises fund raisers and hosts various events throughout Trinidad to raise money to purchase instruments for numerous homes and orphanages in Trinidad. [2]
In 2010, Lil Bitts established an entertainment services company, Go 4wd Entertainment. [3] The company aims to serve new and rising young artistes, providing development as well as booking services.
Lil Bitts has performed in Antigua, The Bahamas, Barbados, Canada, [4] Grenada, Guyana, [5] Jamaica, [6] St. Vincent and the United States whilst regularly appearing on stage in Trinidad. [7] She is actively supported by her fan club, known as the Bitts Army. [3]
International Soca Monarch and Groovy Soca Monarch Competitions
Soca music is a genre of music defined by Lord Shorty, its inventor, as the "Soul of Calypso", which has influences of African and East Indian rhythms. It was originally spelled "sokah" by its inventor but through an error in a local newspaper when reporting on the new music it was erroneously spelled "soca"; Lord Shorty confirmed the error but chose to leave it that way to avoid confusion. It is a genre of music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago in the early 1970s and developed into a range of styles during the 1980s and after. Soca was initially developed by Lord Shorty in an effort to revive traditional calypso, the popularity of which had been flagging amongst younger generations in Trinidad due to the rise in popularity of reggae from Jamaica and soul and funk from the United States. Soca is an offshoot of calypso/kaiso, with influences from East Indian rhythms and hooks.
Anslem Douglas is a Trinidadian musician and composer. He is best known for the hit single "Doggie", which was later covered by the Bahamian junkanoo band Baha Men as "Who Let the Dogs Out".
Rikki Jai is an Indo-Trinidadian chutney and chutney-soca musician.
Ravi Bissambhar, also known as Ravi B, is a Trinidadian chutney musician.
Machel Jesus Montano is a Trinidadian soca recording artist and record producer. Known for his high energy, fast-paced, and often unpredictable on-stage performances, he is one of the genre's most popular artists.
Shurwayne Winchester is a Tobagonian soca musician from The Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, who has twice won the Road March title.
Ken Marlon Charles a.k.a. KMC is a soca artist from Trinidad. Famous for hits like "Soul on Fire", "Soca Bashment" and "Bashment to Carnival" KMC is signed to the US-based record label Sequence Records. Considered to be one of Trinidad's top soca artists, KMC has over sixteen years experience in the music industry. He has made a name for himself as a solo artist, songwriter, producer and frontman of the band Red, White & Black.
Kes is a Trinidadian soca group formed in 2005, known for their eclectic mix of R&B, Pop, Rock, Soca, EDM and reggae. The band originally comprised brothers Kees Dieffenthaller on lead vocals, drummer Hans Dieffenthaller, rhythm guitarist Jon Dieffenthaller along with friend Riad Boochoon on bass guitar. Hans was eventually replaced by Dean James with keyboardist Mario Callender and DJ Robbie Persaud appearing as supporting members. Since the band inception, they've been elevated to mainstream popularity locally and throughout the Caribbean diaspora.
Ian Antonio Alvarez, better known by his stage name Bunji Garlin, is a Trinidadian ragga soca artist. He is also affectionately known as the Viking of Soca. His spouse is Fay-Ann Lyons.
Patrice Roberts is a Trinidadian soca singer. She is also a second cousin of singer Bunji Garlin.
Global is an album by Trinidadian Ragga Soca artist Bunji Garlin released in 2007 by VP Records. The album is Garlin's first that he aimed at international audiences, with previous releases aimed only at the West Indies, and he explained "In order for the genre to grow, we have to put out music that people throughout all of the islands can feel, not just for Trinidad". The album features guest appearances by Chris Black and Freddie McGregor. Allmusic's Rick Anderson called it "very nice overall", commenting that Garlin's vocals were "straight out of the dancehall -- more rapid-fire declamation than melodic calypso crooning".
Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez is a Trinidadian soca recording artist and songwriter. She is also known by the stage names Lyon Empress, Mane the Matriarch, and the Silver Surfer, a nickname which she claimed during her performance at the 2008 International Soca Monarch. Personally she's married to Bunji Garlin.
International Soca Monarch is an annual soca music competition/fete event, the finals of which are held on every Carnival Friday in Trinidad and Tobago. Contestants in the event vie for two separate crowns or titles, the International Soca Monarch for uptempo songs, and Groovy Soca Monarch for slower-paced songs. Between 2016 and 2018 a change in format meant that contestants vied for only one award but this one category changed was reversed in 2019. In 2016 an additional award was added, called the People's Choice, then subsequently removed, which involves text message voting by Digicel subscribers. Subscribers could have voted multiple times for their favorite artist during the competition and the artist who received the most votes was given an additional cash prize. The International Soca Monarch competition has become the mecca event for soca artists in Trinidad and Tobago (T&T) where the event has been hosted since its inception; and also the rest of the Caribbean region, as many artists who have competed on its stage have moved on to successful soca careers. Dubbed the "Super Bowl of soca music" it is a highly anticipated and well-attended event that has been graced with internationally acclaimed recording artists such as SuperBlue, Machel Montano, Fay Ann Lyons Superblue's daughter and Bunji Garlin's wife, Kevin Lyttle, Rupee and Fay-Ann's husband Bunji Garlin.
Mark Antonio Jiminez, better known by his stage name Ataklan is a Trinidadian singer-songwriter and performer primarily of the modern rapso tradition. Ataklan has been referred to as "Trinidad's answer to Beck" and a "fiercely independent songwriter and singer and arguably the most original artist to have emerged on the island since David Rudder". Since his emergence in 1993, Ataklan has released tracks including "Flambo", "Naked Walk", "Flood on the Main Road", "Shadow in de Dark", "Soca Girl" and "Caribbean Swagga", among numerous others.
"Differentology" is a song by Trinidadian singer and songwriter Bunji Garlin. "Differentology" was released by Sheriff Music on November 7, 2012, as one of the first of Garlin's offerings for the 2013 Carnival season in Trinidad and Tobago. The song was written by Garlin, and produced by Keron Thompson. Garlin stated that the song came to him while in an impromptu session with the guitarist.
Full Blown Entertainment is a music production and songwriting company based in the Caribbean twin-island of Trinidad & Tobago. They are responsible for the songwriting or production of songs for a variety of artists, including Boyz II Men, Machel Montano, 2face Idibia, Kes The Band, and Kerwin Dubois.
Nadia Batson is a Trinidadian singer, songwriter, producer and model. She was a runner-up in the Power Category at the 2007 International Soca Monarch with her song "My Land" with Kees Dieffenthaller.
Olatunji Yearwood, better known by his mononym Olatunji, is a Trinidadian soca artist.
Gamal Doyle, better known as Skinny Fabulous, is a Vincentian musician, singer and songwriter. He is a five-time Soca Monarch winner for his home country Saint Vincent and the Grenadines and created history in Trinidad and Tobago winning the 2019 Road March title with his hit "Famalay" which features Trinidadian soca artistes Ian "Bunji Garlin" Alvarez and Machel Montano.
Erphaan Alves is a Trinidadian soca recording artist and songwriter. He initially gained full recognition in the soca world 2012 when he qualified as a finalist in both Groovy and International Power Soca Monarch Finals with the songs "In your Eyes" and "Terrible". His transition to soca megastar proved complete when he cued the HD band into his 2018 monster hit ‘Overdue’.