Sparrow is an eleven-time winner of the calypso monarchy
and eight-time winner of Trinidad and Tobago's Carnaval Road March competition.
His many non-music honours include The Order of the Caribbean Community.
I assumed
he was born Trinidadian. Not so. Seems he hails from a small fishing village, the Pacifica of Grenada
if you will, 9 July 1935.
His family moved to Trinidad the following year. Young Slinger sang in the boy's choir of St Patrick's
Catholic Church, eventually becoming head choir boy.
He learned music and mastered many languages, including
Latin, Spanish, French, Dutch and Chinese. At fourteen, Sparrow formed a steel
band for Carnaval. Developing an interest in Calypso, he taught himself to
play guitar and write songs. Early musical influences include Nat "King" Cole, Sarah Vaughan, Billy Eckstein, Frank Sinatra
and Ella Fitzgerld, in addition to early Calypsonians Lord Kitchener, Lord Melody,
Lord Invader and The Mighty Spoiler.
At 20, his "Jean
And Dinah" won him the grand prize: forty dollars. Sparrow was not impressed.
His songs about inequities changed the culture for the better. The Calypso King of the World
has performed all over the globe in a career spanning more than four decades, been
made a chief in Nigeria and Cultural Ambassador of Grenada. Besides wit and charm,
Sparrow's lyrics were often dangerous and political, uniting West Indians from his native
Grenada to my native Brooklyn. 
