Mighty Sparrow

Slinger Francisco ORTT CM OBE (born 9 July 1935), better known as Mighty Sparrow, is a Grenadian born, Trinidadian calypso vocalist, songwriter, and guitarist. Known as the "Calypso King of the World", he is one of the best-known and most successful calypsonians. He has won Trinidad's Carnival Road March competition eight times, Calypso King/Monarch eight times, and has twice won the Calypso King of Kings title.

Slinger Francisco was born in the fishing village of Grand Roy, Grenada, West Indies, on 9 July 1935. He moved to Trinidad as a one-year-old with his mother, his father having relocated there in 1937. He grew up in Laventille, a suburb of Port of Spain. He began singing as a small child, but his love of calypso was discouraged while at Newtown Boys Catholic School, where he sang in the choir. At the age of 14, he joined a steel band comprising neighbourhood boys, and performed with the band at Carnival.

He received his performing name "Little Sparrow" during his early career, as a result of his energetic stage performances:

Your calypso name is given to you by your peers, based on your style. In the old days they tried to emulate British royalty. There was Lord Kitchener, Lord Nelson, Duke. When I started singing, the bands were still using acoustic instruments and the singers would stand flat footed, making a point or accusing someone in the crowd with the pointing of a finger, but mostly they stood motionless. When I sing, I get excited and move around, much like James Brown, and this was new to them. The older singers said "Why don't you just sing instead of moving around like a little sparrow?" It was said as a joke, but the name stuck.

— Mighty Sparrow

After a couple of years, he changed his stage name to "Mighty Sparrow". On leaving school, he began working for the government Control Board, but continued to perform calypso, which became the better paid of the two, and his residency at the Lotus Club made him a star locally.

His first performance as a carnival singer came in 1954, with "The Parrot and the Monkey". In 1955, Sparrow made his first recordings – "Missing Baby (Ruby)", "High Cost of Living" and "Race Track" for Vitadisc – which were included on the Royalties of Calypso Kingdom compilation a few years later. In 1955 and 1956, he also recorded "Give The Youngsters A Chance", "Family Size Coke", "Goaty", "Clara Honey Bunch" and "Yankee's Back Again" for GEMS, "Jean And Dinah" and "The Queen's Canary" for Kay, and "Sailor Man" for Veejay Special Ace.

In 1956, Sparrow won Trinidad's Carnival Road March and Calypso King competitions with his most famous song, "Jean and Dinah" (also known as "Yankees Gone", a song celebrating the departure of US troops from Trinidad). A live performance of "Yankees Gone" was included in the album Jump Up Carnival in Trinidad. His prize for winning the Calypso King title was $40. In protest at the small sum (the winner of the Carnival Queen beauty contest won $7,500), he wrote the song "Carnival Boycott" and attempted to organize other singers to boycott the competition. About half of the singers followed, including Lord Melody. Sparrow claims credit for succeeding improvements in the conditions of calypso and steelband musicians in Trinidad, as well as the formation of the Carnival Development Committee, a musicians' assistance organization. Sparrow refused to officially participate in the competition for the next three years, but he continued to perform unofficially, even winning another Road March title in 1958 with "P.A.Y.E." He did perform at the 1957 carnival in the Young Brigade Calypso Tent, where the four songs he performed were recorded and later released on the album Calypso Kings and Pink Gin.