With a combination of old school and new school Bahamian artists, the
Artist Pages on Island FM’s website seek to educate people about the
traditional forms of Bahamian music as well as the new genres explored by the
newer artists. Remember … it’s not just good music … it’s OUR music!
Avvy
Born April 22, 1984 in Great Inagua, Wendell
Avione Mortimer grew up in a musical family. With a father that played in
local Inagua bands and uncles playing rake n scrape during the 60’s and 70’s,
Avvy could not deny his passion for music. He began writing actively in 2005
and, with the support of his family and friends, produced his first hit single
“Roach on my Bread”. He credits his inspiration to the things he has
noticed around him, relationships and family.
Playing instruments before the first grade, Avvy enjoyed the
traditional Bahamian rushing and is trained in playing a variety of instruments
including drums, recorder, bass horn and trombone. Listening to different
genres of music, he favors mostly the pop of Michael Jackson, the soulful feel
of Otis Redding and the Reggae style of Sizzla Kalonji. The Bahamian artists
he’s known to admire are: Dry Bread, Ronnie Butler, Eddie Minnis, Ira Storr,
Geno D, Funky D and DMac. Since he began, Avvy has released two albums “The
Best Kept Secret Volumes 1 & 2.”
BODINE
Bodine, one of the female entertainers who is in the highest
demanded in Nassau, is a force to be reckoned with. In conjunction with
BuffBoo Records as well as Frontline Productions, she is much more than a
pretty face and voluptuous body. Bodine is the vision of what an entertainer
is. The 2001 graduate of Kingsway Academy is a television host turned writer,
radio host and singer and she is always exploring all other avenues of
entertainment and creativity. Among her many accomplishments were winning the
Bahamas @ Sunrise Battle competition in 2004 where she, under the name J83Blaze,
beat out all the male competitors making her the Freestyle Champion, being
hired by Charles and Eddie Carter in 2004 and by 2006 landing herself a full
time gig as a dj on Rhapsody. Today, she still has her very own radio
show on ISLAND FM called “Fame Friday’s” (airing every Friday from 7 – 10 p.m.).
In 2005 she began to write articles for the Nassau
Guardian highlighting relationships, cultural commentary and entertainment.
That same year she graduated from the College of the Bahamas with a Bachelor’s
Degree in Secondary Education. In 2007, she was promoted by the Ministry of
Education, Youth, Sports and Culture and soon began to script, direct,
co-produce and host News in Education for the Bahamas Learning Channel. In
addition to her promotion, she also serves as a Youth Diplomat for the Bahamas
to places like Guyana and the British Virgin Islands. In 2003 Bodine also spoke
to the Commonwealth Ministers of Education at the 15th CCEM in
Scotland to discuss primary education.
2008 brought to her the successes of being the brand
representative for BTC (The Bahamas Telecommunications Company) which featured
her in two commercials, print ads and an appearance on Tempo Reggae Stations
Badness Outta Style School Tour and Tempo Turns three Celebration held in
Nassau. This female mogul has started her own media company called BeInked that
specializes in songwriting, press releases, album synopsis and bios for
recording artists, as well as magazine articles and Island Entertainment and
Fashion in the Caribbean.
The Brilanders
Born April 22, 1984 in Great Inagua, Wendell
Avione Mortimer grew up in a musical family. With a father that played in
local Inagua bands and uncles playing rake n scrape during the 60’s and 70’s,
Avvy could not deny his passion for music. He began writing actively in 2005
and, with the support of his family and friends, produced his first hit single
“Roach on my Bread”. He credits his inspiration to the things he has
noticed around him, relationships and family.
Playing instruments before the first grade, Avvy enjoyed the
traditional Bahamian rushing and is trained in playing a variety of instruments
including drums, recorder, bass horn and trombone. Listening to different
genres of music, he favors mostly the pop of Michael Jackson, the soulful feel
of Otis Redding and the Reggae style of Sizzla Kalonji. The Bahamian artists
he’s known to admire are: Dry Bread, Ronnie Butler, Eddie Minnis, Ira Storr,
Geno D, Funky D and DMac. Since he began, Avvy has released two albums “The
Best Kept Secret Volumes 1 & 2.”
Cello Tha Black Pearl
Cello is inspired by the work of
the Four Tops, The Temptations, Otis Redding, Isaac Hayes and Marvin Gaye.
Music has been in Cello’s heart
since he was a child, when he and his family sang together in church.
Surrounded by musicians, a veteran of talent shows, theater and vocal quartets,
Cello was discovered at a musical competition in Nassau by the Bahamian group
Coda. Now, many years later, Cello is a solo artist in his own right, singing,
writing songs, playing keyboards and producing.
When Coda disbanded in the late
1990’s, Cello returned to Nassau, where he launched a recording studio,
producing albums for major Nassau recording artists. After a lot of hard work
(and a little bit of luck), Cello hooked up with a Detroit film crew filming a
Bahamian sit-com. Cello came on board as the Music Supervisor and wound up
landing the title role in the series. In 2001, he followed another film crew to
Detroit, where he connected with the local music scene there. His latest film,
in which he plays a lead character, is The Ultimate, an indie release due out
in 2004.
Courage Band
Formed in 1985, Stewart, Chang Imlach, Dannard Anderson and Jammie Cartwright are unofficial Bahamian ambassadors. The group entertained almost 80,000 football fans in 2004 at a Dolphins’ half-time show and had a full week of television appearances and prime time radio interviews in Miami leading up to this event. The Courage band has been described as the producers of “Urban Island” music, meshing rhythm and blues with pop rock, salsa, Hip Hop, Junkanoo, Soca, and reggae to create a sound unique only to them. They have worked with artists such as Beres Hammond, Ed Lover & Dr. Dre, as well as Bahamian artists like Ronnie Butler, Count Bernardino and Freddie Munnings Sr.
DASH
Musically Dash hopes to bridge
the gap between contemporary R&B with elements of soul, funk, hip-hop, jazz
and pop. Born February 22nd, 1987, Dash was influenced by Marvin Gaye,
Prince, Aretha Franklin, Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Beyonce, Kanye West, Donny
Hathaway... and too many others to name. His first single, “The Greatest Show”, has
received numerous awards including, (Finalist) Best R&B song-John Lennon
Writing Competition, (Semi-finalist) Best R&B Song-International Songwriter
of the year, which made Dash the only Bahamian and only Caribbean native to
place in those competitions for 2011. He also performed the song at Caribbean Fashion
Week in New York, among many other performances.
Dry Bread
With
a fusion of Goombay, calypso and Junkanoo rhythms, Cyril “Dry Bread” Ferguson
was first influenced by music he heard at church as a young boy. Living on the settlement of Cat Island, he
quickly learned the way of the Family Island folks. Living with no
refrigerator, raising chickens and searching the bushes for food became a part
of his daily life. In later years being inspired by what he has seen and heard
on the island where he grew up, he moved to Freeport and formed a band that
performed at local talent shows, visited various Family Islands and the Turks
and Caicos to perform his act.
On
a trip to Bimini, Bahamas he was inspired to write a song called “Don’t Squeeze
the Mango” when he stopped off at a convenience store where the sales lady
hastily told him to “Hurry up, don’t squeeze the Mango”. Cyril decided to return to the College of the
Bahamas to enhance his knowledge of music. He returned to the musical scene to record and
continues to make contributions to his country, producing hits like “Bahamian
Music”, “Sweet Ting in the Can” and six albums to date. He admits music has not always paid off
financially but he has always stood out as one of the best Bahamian Musicians of
his generation.
The Duke – A Bahamian
Maestro
Although his musical practice
began in the early 1940’s, Errol “The Duke” Strachan was also a tailor,
mechanic, carpenter and a taxi driver. But Errol could not deny his musical
passion. Music and entertainment is what
made Duke Errol the hottest musical commodity among the locals as well as the growing
tourist market of the 1950’s and onward.
In 1959 Duke formed his own band
“Errol Strachan Quintet” later renamed “Duke Errol and the Lords,” consisting
of Washington Collie, Fletch Ferguson, John Gibson (brother of King Eric) and Fernandez
from Trinidad, who played bass and steel drum. The Duke is credited with forming
The National Youth Orchestra and training musicians such as Nigel Clarke, James
Percentie, Lynden Sand, Lenny Moore Anthony Ritchie and much more.
Elon Moxey
Born in Pinder’s, Mangrove Cay
where he spent his early years, Elon began dabbling in music at an early age
and always aspired to become a singer/musician. At the age of 14, Elon
relocated to West End, Grand Bahama where he got a job as a waiter and
simultaneously worked at his music. However, it would be over four decades
before he experienced a peak in his career. His most popular hits to date are
“Oh, My Andros” and “Catch the Crab”.
Eloise Lewis
Known as the “First Lady of
Bahamian Song”, Eloise Lewis is the most famous “Bahama Mama”. Born in
Jacksonville, Florida but raised in Nassau, she studied guitar and began
singing publicly at the age of thirteen.
Her renditions of “Similau” and “Coconut Woman” are priceless, and her
other experiments with Latin, folk songs, ballads, and added sounds are among
the more successful in calypso.
Eugene Davis
Also known as “Geno D”, and born on
March 27, 1960 in Moore’s Island, Abaco, Eugene Davis as a child always found
joy in performing for his family on various occasions. His first professional
performance was at a talent show at The Palace in the 1980’s. In 1995 he left his
job at ZNS as a broadcaster to pursue a career in music. Inspired by Bahamian artists such as Blind
Blake, George Symonette, Ronnie Butler, Tony McKay and the Obeah Man, Geno D went on to produce chart
topping albums such as: “Unveiled”, “Island Vibes” and “Golden Oldies Bahamian
Style”. His most popular songs are “Stagger Lee”, “Gal if I had You”.
Freddie Munnings
Fredrick Alfred Munnings, born
October 20, 1921 in Pure Gold, Andros, overcame his speech impediment and
became a Bahamian legend. He began his career in electronics and stone masonry
and would have continued that path had not fate intervened. At the age of 17,
FM, as he was known, accompanied a friend to a band rehearsal where the lead
singer was a “no show”. It was then that his friend convinced him to sing for
the group. He was an instant hit.
This was the beginning of his
illustrious career in music. He then did regular stints at clubs like the Zanzibar,
Spider Web and the Silver Slipper. Freddie later enrolled in Trinity College of
London to study music formally. In 1949,
he became one of the founding members of the Bahamas Musicians and Entertainers
Union to promote the interests of other Bahamian musicians and entertainers.
Freddie
Munnings Jr.
Freddie
Munnings Jr. was born February 2, 1949 to musical genius Freddie Munnings Sr.
and mother Mavis Corine Farrington, and destined to follow in the footsteps of
his father into the world of music. He received his education at Aquinas
College in Nassau where he studied music with Andrew Curry, then ventured to
Florida where he continued his higher education at Florida Memorial College,
majoring in business, as well as Barry University where he enrolled in a post
graduate program. During these years he took part in several professional
groups such as the Youth Foreman Playhouse & the Professional Theatre for
Actors.
Passionate
about his music, he first performed at the Miami Beach Circuit in 1971 in Miami
Beach, Florida. He also performed at several International Hotels and Resorts
on Paradise Island during the 1970’s. With the inspiration of his father and
brother, Freddie Munnings Sr & Raphael Munnings, as well as fellow Bahamian
musical legends like Wendell Stuart and Tony “Obeah Man” McKay, he went on to
produce two albums, “All the Best Things” and “Dreamer Man” .
In his most
recent projects, he, along with Peter Bates formed “Sunflower Organization”
which was originally a tribute to Bates’ daughter who was lost to cancer. This
organization helps with persons who are in crisis and have lost a loved one due
to illness. Freddie has also become a judge for the Bahamian Junkanoo parade
which is well known and coordinated a summer parade called Junkanoo in June. His
awards include: The Junior Achievement Appreciation Award for Artist of the
year, Best Male Vocalist in 1997 and Aquinas College Lifetime Achievement for
Alumni Award. Freddie also received a Rotarian of the Year Award for the years
1995 -1996 and the Timothy Award for song of the year.
GERRY DEVEAUX
Self-described as disciplined and
hardworking, Gerry is also known for his producing, singing and songwriting.
Gerry also got hit with the acting bug, making an appearance on the American TV
soap opera “All My Children”. He credits his success in the entertainment
business to famous Aunt Roxy Roker who was known for her role as Helen on the
popular 70’s sitcom “The Jefferson’s”. Deveaux says it was Roxy who taught him
the ins and outs of the entertainment industry.
Since signing with Warner
brothers over fifteen years ago he has created his very own music company
called Bahama Rhythm Music working with artists such as Madonna, Lee Ryan,
Lenny Kravitz, Chaka Khan, Angie Stone and Kylie Minogue. Gerry has also
produced music for popular TV shows like “The Sopranos” and “Friends”. His aspiration is to continue to represent
the Bahamas and to someday become a Bahamian ambassador to the United States.
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