"Lor­raine doh cry, I'm gone!"

Ca­lyp­so icon Win­ston "Ex­plain­er" Hen­ry has died.

Ex­plain­er was known for his hit Lor­raine that made it to the British charts at po­si­tion num­ber 35, with the pop­u­lar re­frain;

"Lor­raine doh cry ah leav­in

Ah cyah miss dis jam­min

With all dem steel band beat­in

And woman back­ground shakin

If de bug bite yuh ba­by

Then you could come and join me

In­side Catel­li steel­band

Jam­min wit some man woman."

In 2018, Ex­plain­er was the re­cip­i­ent of the Hum­ming­bird Medal-Gold Na­tion­al Award for his con­tri­bu­tion to the cul­tur­al art­form.

The Trin­ba­go Uni­fied Ca­lyp­son­ian Or­gan­i­sa­tion (TU­CO) is­sued the fol­low­ing state­ment on his pass­ing:

"It is with great sad­ness that we an­nounce the pass­ing of com­pos­er, ca­lyp­so ex­tra­or­di­naire, icon and fa­ther, Win­ston "Ex­plain­er" Hen­ry who de­part­ed this life, to­day 7th Oc­to­ber, 2022.

Win­ston Hen­ry so­bri­quet Ex­plain­er, was born on the 13th No­vem­ber, 1947 and is the fa­ther of three (3) chil­dren Wen­dell, Stageann and Win­ston. He was af­fec­tion­ate­ly dubbed the mes­sen­ger be­cause he com­posed songs which ex­pressed the ills of so­ci­ety and the op­pres­sion of the poor man.

Ex­plain­er start­ed singing ca­lyp­so in the year 1969 which gave him a life­long ca­reer of 43 years, and shot to fame when he joined an Ace Pro­duc­er Mr. Rawl­ston Charles who pro­duced mem­o­rable tunes like Ras Mass and the im­mor­tal Lor­raine, just to name a few. Lor­raine that high­ly in­fec­tious song was in­deed a hit with lo­cals and fans abroad. In fact Lor­raine made it to the British charts at po­si­tion num­ber 35.

In Ex­plain­er’s 43 plus years in the ca­lyp­so are­na, he has con­tin­ued to pro­duce great hits and has al­so col­lab­o­rat­ed with Bun­ji Gar­lin, Blaxx, Max­imus Dan and Farmer Nap­py.

Ex­plain­er com­posed for many artistes and was a men­tor to young ca­lyp­so­ni­ans in­clud­ing De­von Seale, Karene As­che, Ron­dell Don­awa, Chuck Gor­don, Er­phaan Alves, Vic­to­ria Coop­er, to name a few.

As a cul­tur­al am­bas­sador Ex­plain­er took ca­lyp­so around the world. He has per­formed in Eu­rope, North Amer­i­ca, South Amer­i­ca and through­out the Caribbean. He has al­so per­formed in pres­ti­gious venues like the Com­mon Wealth In­sti­tute in Lon­don, The Apol­lo The­atre, Madi­son Square Gar­den, Stu­dio 54 and Brook­lyn Acad­e­my just to name a few.

In 2018, Ex­plain­er was the re­cip­i­ent of the Hum­ming­bird Medal-Gold Na­tion­al Award for his con­tri­bu­tion to the cul­tur­al art­form.

Ex­plain­er was last at­tached to Kaiso House Ca­lyp­so Tent and was a mem­ber of the TU­CO ca­lyp­so monarch ad­ju­di­ca­tion com­mit­tee.

On be­half of the Pres­i­dent, Gen­er­al Coun­cil,mem­ber­ship of TU­CO and the wider cul­tur­al fra­ter­ni­ty, we ex­tend con­do­lences to his fam­i­ly, loved ones, friends and fans in this time of mourn­ing."