RYAN BA­CHOO

Lead Ed­i­tor - News­gath­er­ing

ryan.ba­choo@cnc3.co.tt

Ca­lyp­son­ian turned gospel artiste Denyse Plum­mer died yes­ter­day af­ter a long bat­tle with can­cer. She was 69 years.

Plum­mer, who pro­duced many top songs such as Nah Leav­ing, which be­came a na­tion­al an­them for pa­tri­ot­ic Trinida­di­ans, and He­roes, which earned her the Ca­lyp­so Monarch back in 2001, and Woman is Boss had been one of T&T’s lead­ing fe­male ca­lyp­so­ni­ans. She would lat­er change her life as a born-again Chris­t­ian, giv­ing up the art­form she strug­gled very hard to gain ac­cep­tance in.

A month ago, the coun­try got a ma­jor scare when ru­mours cir­cu­lat­ed that she had died. Yes­ter­day, many fans and well-wish­ers des­per­ate­ly tried to en­sure the in­for­ma­tion had been ver­i­fied be­fore mak­ing com­ments or posts, es­pe­cial­ly on so­cial me­dia

Her pass­ing al­so came a few days af­ter the coun­try lost an­oth­er icon, his­to­ri­an/au­thor Michael An­tho­ny, last week.

Plum­mer made her na­tion­al on­stage de­but in 1986 at the Ca­lyp­so Fi­es­ta in Skin­ner Park and de­spite fac­ing chal­lenges from a hos­tile crowd, pro­gressed to be one of the coun­try’s most dec­o­rat­ed ca­lyp­so­ni­ans. She was the child of a white fa­ther and black moth­er. Her com­plex­ion saw her fac­ing much prej­u­dice in an en­vi­ron­ment that was seen tra­di­tion­al­ly as afro-Trinida­di­an but male-dom­i­nat­ed.

She was the fifth fe­male ca­lyp­son­ian to win both the Young Kings and Na­tion­al Ca­lyp­so Queens Com­pe­ti­tion. She al­so made it to five Ca­lyp­so Mon­archs, win­ning in 2001.

In a state­ment on her Face­book page last evening, Plum­mer’s fam­i­ly said, “It is with a heavy heart we con­firm the pass­ing of our beloved queen, Denyse Plum­mer-Boocock. Denyse was a won­der­ful moth­er, grand­moth­er, wife, friend and an ex­em­plary ex­am­ple to the younger gen­er­a­tions. She will be missed by many, es­pe­cial­ly her fam­i­ly. She will live on through her mu­sic, lit­er­a­ture and the beau­ti­ful im­pres­sions she left on every­one she met. We love you Denyse, thanks for the mag­ic you brought to this world.”

In a state­ment yes­ter­day, Trin­ba­go Uni­fied Ca­lyp­so­ni­ans’ Or­gan­i­sa­tion (TU­CO) pres­i­dent Ains­ley King ex­tend­ed con­do­lences to Plum­mer’s fam­i­ly, friends and those who were touched by her re­mark­able tal­ent and spir­it.

“Denyse Plum­mer’s lega­cy is etched in the an­nals of Trinidad and To­ba­go’s mu­si­cal her­itage. Her jour­ney from singing in the Holy Name Con­vent choirs to as­cend­ing to the pin­na­cle of the ca­lyp­so world is an in­spir­ing tes­ta­ment to her ded­i­ca­tion and per­se­ver­ance. She shat­tered bar­ri­ers and paved the way for fe­male ca­lyp­so­ni­ans, demon­strat­ing that the pow­er of one’s voice tran­scends gen­der and back­ground,” King said.

“Plum­mer’s unique abil­i­ty to in­fuse di­verse mu­si­cal gen­res in­to her per­for­mances, from ca­lyp­so and so­ca to gospel and chut­ney, show­cased her artis­tic ver­sa­til­i­ty. Her mu­sic res­onat­ed not on­ly with­in our twin-is­land na­tion but al­so res­onat­ed glob­al­ly, grac­ing stages across the Caribbean, North Amer­i­ca, Eu­rope, and be­yond.”

He recog­nised Plum­mer’s no­table achieve­ments in earn­ing mul­ti­ple fe­male ca­lyp­so crowns, Ca­lyp­so Monarch and Ca­lyp­so Queen crowns, and her vic­to­ry in the Apol­lo The­atre’s Am­a­teur Night.

“As we re­flect on Denyse Plum­mer’s life, let us re­mem­ber her through the melodies that echoed the vi­bran­cy of our cul­ture, the vers­es that spoke of uni­ty and pride, and the pas­sion she in­stilled in every note she sang. Her im­pact on our so­ci­ety is im­mea­sur­able, and her mem­o­ry will for­ev­er res­onate in the hearts of those who had the priv­i­lege to wit­ness her artistry,” King added.

“May her soul find eter­nal rest as her melodies con­tin­ue to in­spire gen­er­a­tions to come. Denyse Plum­mer’s voice may have left this earth­ly stage, but her mu­sic and im­pact will for­ev­er re­main a part of our na­tion’s sym­pho­ny.”

Re­act­ing to her pass­ing last night, Na­tion­al Car­ni­val Com­mis­sion (NCC) chair­man Win­ston Gyp­sy Pe­ters, who was one of Plum­mer’s close friend in the ca­lyp­so busi­ness, told Guardian Me­dia, “My heart is over­flow­ing with the sor­row I’m feel­ing now for the pass­ing of Denyse. While the coun­try and the world have lost an icon and a su­per per­former, I have lost a dear friend of long stand­ing and a con­fi­dant.

“My heart has no more room at this mo­ment for any more sor­row los­ing, my dear wife Mar­va, ear­li­er in the year. I have lost my dear­est friend and men­tor, Michael An­tho­ny, and now Denyse!”