Calypso is a style of Caribbean music that originated in Trinidad and Tobago during the early to mid-19th century and spread to the rest of the Caribbean Antilles by the mid-20th century. Its rhythms can be traced back to West African Kaiso and the arrival of French planters and their slaves from the French Antilles in the 18th century.
Frederick Wilmoth Hendricks, best known as Wilmoth Houdini, was a prominent calypsonian.
Lord Invader was a prominent calypsonian with a very distinctive, gravelly voice.
Aldwyn Roberts HBM DA, better known by the stage name Lord Kitchener, was a Trinidadian calypsonian. He has been described as "the grand master of calypso" and "the greatest calypsonian of the post-war age".
A calypsonian, originally known as a chantwell, is a musician from the anglophone Caribbean who sings songs of the calypso genre.
The Growler was a Trinidadian calypsonian. Growler recorded 36 record sides (78-rpm) during the 1930s and 1940s, making him among the most prolific recording artists in the golden age of calypso, with only Roaring Lion, Growling Tiger, King Radio, Attila the Hun and Wilmoth Houdini exceeding his output during this period. Lord Kitchener, one of the most important figures in the later development of calypso, acknowledged Growler as one of his influences.
Roaring Lion was a Trinidadian calypsonian. His 65-year career began in the early 1930s and he is best known for his compositions "Ugly Woman" (1933), "Mary Ann" and "Netty, Netty", which are still performed today. The song "If You Wanna Be Happy", which hit number one on the Billboard Hot 100 on 18 May 1963, as well as the R&B singles chart, is based on Roaring Lion's "Ugly Woman".
Neville Marcano, known as the Growling Tiger, was a Trinidadian calypsonian.
Ice Records is a record label based in Barbados owned by musician Eddy Grant. In addition to Grant's music, the label also seeks "to record, promote and market classic calypso, soca and ringbang ." Ice Records lays claim to owning the largest catalog of Caribbean music in the world.
George Browne, better known as the Young Tiger, was a Trinidadian calypso musician.
The Calypso Monarch contest is one of the two major annual calypso competitions held in Trinidad and all English speaking Caribbean islands, as part of the annual carnival celebrations.
Lord Pretender was the stage name of Aldric Farrell, M.O.M., H.B.M. a calypsonian vocalist born on the island of Tobago widely acknowledged to be a "master" of extempo, a lyrically improvised form of calypso music. Starting with an impromptu performance at the age of 12, his career spanned nearly seven decades until cancer of the larynx forced him to retire in the mid-1990s.
Adolf Hitler is a calypso written and performed by Clifford Morris, better known as the Mighty Destroyer, winning the Calypso King competition at the Trinidad and Tobago Carnival of 1941, the last one before the end of World War II due to the danger of German submarine attacks in the Caribbean.
Rufus Callender (1910–1976), better known as Lord Caresser, was a Trinidadian calypsonian. He is best known for his 1937 recording of "Edward the VIII", a calypso about the 1936 Abdication of Edward VIII of England. This was one of the best-selling records in the golden age of calypso of the 1930s and early 1940s, and generated further hits for Jamaican singer Lord Flea and American singer Harry Belafonte when they covered it in the 1950s.
Lord Executor was a Trinidadian calypsonian. He belonged to the first generation of calypso pioneers that included Julian Whiterose, Norman le Blanc, Henry Forbes the Inventor and Black Prince. Unlike those other early figures, however, Executor recorded extensively during the golden age of calypso of the 1930s and early 1940s, producing 28 record sides (78-rpm) and directly exerting influence on the second generation of calypsonians he worked alongside. According to the Roaring Lion, Executor "helped raise the general standard of the Calypso genre, gaining it more respect and acceptability in the public eye".
Black Prince was a Trinidadian calypsonian. He was one of only three of the first-generation calypso pioneers to record, the others being Iron Duke, who made the first (vocal) calypso record in 1914, and Lord Executor, who recorded extensively from 1937 to 1940.
