The singer and songwriter Mighty Sparrow, who has died aged 91, was quite simply the greatest calypsonian there has ever been. For at least five decades he was a monumental figure on the Caribbean music scene, while also capturing the hearts and minds of millions of fans around the world with self-penned songs that were the quintessential calypso mix of political commentary, humour, sexual innuendo and melody.
Loved and feted by Trinidadians more than any other public figure in the island’s history, he was to calypso what Bob Marley was to reggae – an inspirational living legend. In Britain, no less than elsewhere, the sheer wit and quality of classic songs such as Jean and Dinah, Congo Man and Mae Mae brought calypso to many who would never otherwise have encountered the music form, particularly in the 1950s, 60s and 70s, when he was in his prime.
