“I’ve usually thought that perhaps I shouldn’t be concerned within the leisure trade, as a result of, in all honesty, I don’t significantly like to speak about myself. Weirdly sufficient, I’m a shy one that avoids talking about himself in any respect prices. Now, to reply your query as to how a shy individual finally ends up concerned within the leisure and schooling fields, my solely response is, ‘I don’t know’,” Trinidadian Richard Burton, lead singer and sound engineer with the Brooklyn-based Caribbean musical band Tribal Legacy, informed Caribbean Life completely over the Christmas weekend.
Burton — a Brooklyn resident, who additionally teaches public faculty in Staten Island and has been with Tribal Legacy for 21 years — stated he was born at Augustus Lengthy Hospital, Pointe-a-Pierre, Trinidad and Tobago in 1967.
He stated his dad and mom “should have been nice followers of both Richard Burton or Elizabeth Taylor as a result of, rising up, I used to be teased relentlessly for having the identical title as somebody I had by no means heard of earlier than.
“Later, after I realized that I bore the title of a well-known, deceased celeb, I embraced it and made jokes about it at any time when individuals felt the necessity to state the plain,” Burton stated. “Even after I met The Mighty Sparrow for the primary time, he requested me about Elizabeth Taylor’s whereabouts whereas laughing heartily.”
Burton stated his musical journey began throughout his childhood years in church and in elementary faculty.
“Rising up within the 70s was enjoyable, however woe be unto any baby who displayed any modicum of efficiency expertise, be it singing or dancing,” he stated. “From way back to I can bear in mind, I used to be at all times requested to sing, and typically dance, for guests at Christmas, at weddings, at christenings and at many different neighborhood features.
“In all honesty although, I feigned not liking the eye I acquired,” he disclosed. “I reveled in it, and I even noticed myself ‘making it huge’ in music.”
Burton stated he participated in singing competitions and different musical exhibits in secondary faculty, and, at Cowen Hamilton Secondary in Trinidad and Tobago, he stated he “managed to seize the calypso crown in 1982.”
Later, at St. Stephen’s Faculty, additionally in Trinidad and Tobago, he stated he “managed to seize the Calypso crown in 1986 throughout my remaining 12 months of A-levels (British exterior examination).”
At St. Stephen’s, Burton stated he sang baritone within the faculty’s choir, led by Yvonne Suite.
“I’ll eternally be grateful to Mrs. Suite for harnessing and creating my love of singing,” he stated. “Mrs. Suite took me as soon as to audition for a TV present known as Teen Expertise. The present’s host, Hazel Ward, principally stated that I used to be not an excellent singer and dismissed me.
“It actually didn’t trouble me as a result of, for all of the years I watched that present on tv, I hardly ever noticed youngsters who seemed like me or who got here from a rural group like me,” he added.
Burton stated he began to DJ in events at 16 even whereas he was nonetheless in secondary faculty.
Along with enjoying and mixing data, he stated he “used to chant, rap and sing over the PA system, which at all times appeared to please the celebration audiences, and labored for Dibbles Manufacturing as the pinnacle disc jockey.
Button stated he continued as a DJ till 19. In early 1987, he stated he was DJ’ing set at a celebration when Andy Joseph who was then the chief of the band Earforce heard him on the microphone.
“He informed me that he was in search of a singer for his band, and he requested me if I ever thought of being a frontline singer,” he stated. “I had by no means seen myself as a band singer, and I additionally considered it as a bit corny.
“Nevertheless, Dibbles, Christopher Marcano, youthful brother of late calypsonian Lord Superior, inspired me to strive,” he added. “I, due to this fact, auditioned the subsequent day. Andy and the opposite members favored what they heard, and so they employed me as a lead singer for the band. They actually favored the truth that I appeared to have the ability to sing something from reggae to soca to R&B with a good diploma of steadiness, not like many different vocalists they knew who might solely sing one, perhaps two kinds of music.”
Burton stated he was “at all times good” with R&B, classical, pop, calypso, reggae and dancehall, however added that soca was “a special animal altogether.”
He stated he studied the nice band lead singers of the day, resembling Leon Coldero, Carl Jacob, Steve Sealey and David Rudder; and, after some time, he stated he developed his personal fashion.
Burton stated Earforce took him to components of Trinidad and Tobago that he had by no means seen earlier than, and travelled with the band in late August 1987 to carry out for Labor Day weekend events.
However he stated Earforce folded up in 1988, when Andy joined forces with Cliff Harris to create Atlantik.
Burton stated he was not thought of for a job in that band, as a result of he was a second-year scholar on the College of the West Indies (UWI).
“Andy wished me to be a member of the band, however Cliff was adamant that he wished musicians who might give 100% dedication to music which, was merely one thing I couldn’t do at that time in my life,” he stated.
Burton stated he joined Fireflight in 1989 whereas nonetheless a scholar at UWI, working alongside Marvin Lewis.
However his stint with Fireflight didn’t final very lengthy, as a result of the band broke up shortly after carnival 1990.
Nevertheless, through the 90s, Buton stated he labored with Volt Categorical, his personal band Aktiv, and in addition did a couple of gigs with Traffik, KC and the internationals, and Atlantik.
Burton stated the spotlight of his musical profession within the 90s got here when Aktiv “held its personal” towards Traffik at Harvard Membership in Port-of-Spain, the Trinidad and Tobago capital, in November 1996.
“We had been principally an unknown band and the consensus among the many press, promoters, and celebration goers alike was that we outplayed Traffik,” he stated.
Nevertheless, Burton stated he dropped from his excessive “like a rock” within the following weeks, as a result of Aktiv by no means bought one other job.
He disclosed that 1997 was one of many worst Carnival seasons he had ever skilled as a musician.
He stated he had written and recorded a music known as “Avenue Social gathering” for the season, nevertheless it was shelved very early by one of many house owners of “one of the fashionable and highly effective radio stations in Trinidad and Tobago.”
“This man prided himself a singer, and he noticed my music as a menace,” lamented Burton, stating that, later in 1997, he “needed to find yourself closing store on AKTIV as a result of it is extremely tough to maintain the curiosity of musicians in a band that isn’t working.”
He stated he give up music altogether and determined to deal with his predominant job as a instructor and his aspect job as an electrician. He had already been educating for seven years at his alma mater Cowen Hamilton Secondary, the place he taught Spanish and English “to some nice college students.”
In 2001, Burton stated he migrated to New York to show Spanish at the highschool degree.
One night time, in early 2002, he stated was at a celebration at The Ark in Brooklyn, and bumped into Trinidadian entertainer KC.
A couple of week later, Burton stated he acquired a cellphone name from Owen Romeo, in any other case referred to as “Dynomite”.
“He stated that he ran a band known as Tribal Legacy, and KC informed him I used to be in search of a job as a singer,” he stated. “He additionally stated that KC informed him how nice of a singer/entertainer I’m, and he would like to satisfy me.
“We met, and, later that week, I accompanied them to a gig in Port Jefferson, Lengthy Island,” Burton added. “Now we have had nice success on the restaurant and celebration circuit. Now we have carried out in a number of states from New York to Massachusetts to Connecticut to Maryland to Nevada, and Pennsylvania simply to call a couple of. Now we have carried out at personal events, and public occasions each huge and small for individuals of all races and from all walks of life.
“Over time, I additionally discovered that I actually get pleasure from enjoying Caribbean music for non-West Indian audiences,” he continued. “They usually shock me with their information of our music, in addition to their willingness to embrace our Caribbean tradition.
“I really like enjoying music for Caribbean individuals,” he stated. “I wish to suppose that my viewers and me are always engaged in a musical mutually parasitic /symbiotic relationship. In different phrases, I feed off their power identical to they feed off mine. I’ve usually been informed that one in all my strongest options as a frontline singer is my potential to get individuals concerned, in addition to say spontaneous issues that make individuals completely satisfied.”
Burton, who has two post-graduate levels, stated performing reside with Tribal Legacy and different bands has been “fairly an expertise.”
“Nonetheless, I do typically remorse not having carried out extra recordings over the previous 36 years,” he stated. “I should have recorded solely about six or seven songs throughout my time as a singer, however nothing has ever had any actual business success.
“I’ve carried out many nice exhibits with Tribal Legacy over time and, for essentially the most half, it has been a enjoyable expertise,” Burton added. “Lately nonetheless, I’m attempting to focus simply as a lot on creating my sound engineering expertise.
“Sound engineering has made my life very straightforward at Curtis Excessive Faculty, the place I work as a Spanish instructor,” he continued. “I arrange and blend sound for all faculty occasions, from the college performs to out of doors live shows, to occasions within the cafeteria and within the gymnasium. Sound engineering elevated me to the place of auditorium supervisor.”
In spite of everything these years, Burton stated he additionally nonetheless DJs, and added he solely has two regrets relating to music.
“My first remorse is that I by no means realized to play an instrument and even learn music,” he stated. “All my kids can learn music, and so they play devices. A minimum of two of them play a number of devices. Maybe I ought to have carried out so in my formative years, however between faculty and singing, I simply by no means made the time. I remorse this as a result of I imagine that I might have been a a lot better singer and songwriter. The late nice Lord Kitchener gave me that recommendation again in 1990 and I by no means heeded.
“My second remorse is one to which many musicians can relate,” he added. “My love for music has actually robbed me of time I ought to have spent with my household. I can’t start to recall what number of household occasions I needed to cancel or neglect for the sake of some gig or different. I need to reside with that remorse since my kids are largely adults of their 20s and 30s, so it’s a bit late to ‘make reminiscences’ as they are saying.
“That’s the story of Richard Burton, husband, father, instructor, singer, sound engineer, DJ, and electrician,” Burton continued. “I hope you loved studying as a result of I actually loved telling it to you.”
