In a final tribute to Shadow (Winston Bailey) the public has been invited to wear white, line the route of the funeral procession and wave something white.
A memorial tribute for the former Calypso Monarch and Road March King, who died last Tuesday at age 77, takes place today at 10 am at the Grand Stand of the Queen’s Park Savannah, Port-of-Spain. There will be a public viewing at the Grand Stand from 8 am to 9.30 am.
Members of the calypso and cultural fraternity are expected to be out in full force to pay their final respects to the veteran musician and singer who was well known for his unique stage performance and all black attire.
Following the service, the cortège will leave the Grand Stand at 1 pm. The route for the procession will be from the Queen’s Park Savannah to Charlotte Street, Port-of-Spain, then to the Eastern Main Road, then the Priority Bus Route to Belgroves Funeral Home and Crematorium at Orange Grove Road, Trincity for a private cremation.
Last night, Government and THA officials were expected to attend a vigil for Shadow at the Kaiso Blues Cafe on Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain.
Shadow, who was born in Belmont but grew up on his grandfather’s farm in Les Couteaux, Tobago, started singing calypsoes at age eight. He moved back to Trinidad as a teenager and got his start in the calypso arena as a member of the chorus at Sparrow’s Original Young Brigade Tent in 1970. He shot to stardom four years later with his iconic Bass Man and I Come Out to Play, which placed first and second, respectively, in the 1974 Road March race.
He won the Calypso Monarch title in 2000 and in 2001 became the second calypsonian to win the International Soca Monarch and Road March competitions simultaneously with Stranger.
He died at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex two days after being hospitalised with complications of diabetes.
