Trinidadian-born, Canadian singer, songwriter and entertainer Anslem Douglas sang the praises and serenaded 13 phenomenal ladies Saturday night in the course of the 10th Annual Phenomenal Lady Awards on the Queens Museum of Artwork.
Brooklyn resident Douglas introduced the home down, with “Too Candy,” “Ohh Ahh” and “Who Let The Canine Out,” his authentic and signature masterpiece, in the course of the gala affair, organized by the Far Rockaway, Queens-based La “V” en Rose Productions.
Haitian-born Rose Guerrier, founder and president of La “V” en Rose Productions, shared the function of Grasp/Mistress of Ceremonies together with her cousin, Jacques M. Leandre, an legal professional.
“In my 34-plus-years on stage, acting from Antigua to Zimbabwe, I nonetheless discover probably the most pleasure in performing to a well-dressed seated viewers,” Douglas advised Caribbean Life completely afterwards. “On Saturday, the sixteenth of March, on the Queens Museum, that was perfection. The venue, the event and the viewers, dressed to the nines, positioned me in a Heaven on earth.
“The tenth anniversary of Phenomenal Lady Awards was an incredible occasion, as all of us got here out to pay homage to the ladies in our neighborhood who’ve completed and proceed to do wonderful issues,” he added.
“I felt very privileged to be one of many performers to bathe them with reward and serenade them with a couple of of my songs,” Douglas continued. “Thanks Rose (Guerrier) and your committee for blessing me with the chance to carry out to such a chic viewers and community-oriented awardees.”
Douglas, who was born on July 23, 1964, in a small village in Southern Trinidad, mentioned music has all the time been the core of his being.
He mentioned he was launched to the artform at a really younger age, with publicity to performances at the local people middle, mixed along with his older sister’s affect, who, on the time, was a gifted younger poet.
The singer mentioned his sister served as “the inspiration and basis” for his musical growth.
Douglas mentioned his vocal expertise flourished whereas singing at his native Pentecostal Church.
At 16, he mentioned he and several other of his church mates fashioned a band known as “Exodus,” which shortly gained recognition and supplied him with a glimpse of stardom.
Douglas mentioned he enlisted within the Trinidad and Tobago Coast Guard for six years and continued to hone his vocal expertise whereas performing within the Coast Guard band.
His numerous musical influences included Caribbean star Blakie and Lord Kitchener, and R&B vocalists Peabo Bryson and James Ingram, which led to his performing varied musical kinds with the band.
The attraction of larger phases and brighter lights finally led Douglas to Trinidad and Tobago’s vibrant soca and calypso music scene.
Douglas mentioned it didn’t take lengthy for him to turn out to be acknowledged as a number one expertise. He carried out with a few of the largest bands within the area, together with Hearth Flight and Atlantic.
He mentioned audiences had been drawn to his husky, but sultry, sound, including that it was throughout this time that he delivered mega-hits like, “Ragga Poom Poom”, “Good Music To Dance”, and his internationally-acclaimed, GRAMMY-winning hit, “Who Let the Canine Out.”
A number of of Douglas’ different songs additionally rose to prominence, corresponding to “Good friend,” from his Soul Island album, the place he takes listeners by a spread of human experiences; “Ooh Aah,” a Easy-Jazz hit off of the identical file; and “Abuse” on the “Sir Anslem Douglas” album that speaks of social outrage referring to home violence.
In 2013, Douglas launched the highly effective soca observe “Bacchanal,” together with a neo-calypso music “Dancing with You,” and “I Need To Know.”
The next 12 months, he launched “Increase,” “Broughtrupcy,” and the velvety reggae observe “It Wasn’t You.”
In 2018, Douglas recorded “Irie Tonight,” adopted by “Make It Clap” in 2019, and the only “Again It Up,” which he launched for carnival that 12 months.
Douglas mentioned he wrote the music “Break That Cycle” to intensify consciousness surrounding the difficulty of home abuse and the necessity to “break the cycle.”
He mentioned his musical accomplishments have been acknowledged outdoors of the Caribbean. He was awarded Greatest Caribbean-Fashion Artist on the 2014 Black Canadian Awards, amongst different recognitions.
For the previous a number of years, Douglas mentioned he has continued to carry out, file and write songs, whereas additionally specializing in different pursuits, together with writing his first kids’s guide, The Adventures of Spin & Scratch-The Relocation (Writer Home Publishing, 2019).
Douglas mentioned his forthcoming music challenge is an R&B/Soul album recorded in New York Metropolis in 2019/2020 with certainly one of Brazil’s prime producers, Sandro Albert. It’s anticipated to be launched later this 12 months.
You may attain Douglas at Anslemmusic@gmail.com.
