Mighty Sparrow moved to Trinidad as a one-year-old with his mother, his father having relocated there in 1937.
28 Facts About Mighty Sparrow
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Mighty Sparrow grew up in Laventille, a suburb of Port of Spain.
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Mighty Sparrow began singing as a small child, but his love of calypso was discouraged while at Newtown Boys Catholic School, where he sang in the choir.
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Mighty Sparrow received his performing name "Little Sparrow" during his early career, as a result of his energetic stage performances:.
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In 1956, Mighty Sparrow won Trinidad's Carnival Road March and Calypso King competitions with his most famous song, "Jean and Dinah".
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In 1957, Mighty Sparrow recorded his first album, Calypso Carnival 58, released the following year on the Balisier label.
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Mighty Sparrow again boycotted the carnival in 1959, choosing instead to tour extensively, and early that year released the album Sparrow in Hi Fi before signing a deal with RCA, for whom he recorded eleven albums between 1960 and 1964.
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Trinidadian expatriate Lord Kitchener had helped popularize calypso in the United Kingdom, and Mighty Sparrow found some success there.
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Mighty Sparrow had already been recording with Balisier and Cook Records, and with Belafonte's help he began to record for RCA Victor.
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In 1960, Mighty Sparrow returned to the Calypso Monarch competition, winning his second Kingship and third Road March title with "Ten to One Is Murder" and "Mae Mae".
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Mighty Sparrow began recording for his own label, National Recording.
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Mighty Sparrow won further titles in the 1960s and 1970s and continued to enjoy great popularity in Trinidad.
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Mighty Sparrow recorded prolifically, with forty albums released in the 1960s and 1970s.
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In 1968, he recorded the album Mighty Sparrow Meets the Dragon with Byron Lee in Jamaica.
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Mighty Sparrow had his greatest success internationally in the 1970s, starting with the album The Best Of, featuring live recordings in Brooklyn, New York of Sparrow favorites.
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Mighty Sparrow had a big hit in 1977 with "Crawford", a tribute to sprinter Hasley Crawford, and that year embarked on a tour of West Africa, during which he was given the honorary Yoruba title Chief Omo Wale of Ikoyi.
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Mighty Sparrow recognized the advantages of using New York as a base for recording and international touring, and by the mid-1960s moved his operation and family to Jamaica, Queens.
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Mighty Sparrow became a fixture in Brooklyn's Labor Day Carnival, regularly appearing at the big Dimanche Gras show at the Brooklyn Museum.
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In 1985, he performed at the carnival's King of Kings show alongside The Mighty Sparrow Swallow, Blue Boy, Scrunter, Blakie, Mighty Sparrow Duke, and Black Stalin, taking the "King of Kings" title and the US$10,000 first prize.
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Mighty Sparrow made an appearance at the Reggae Sunsplash festival in 1993.
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Mighty Sparrow did a remake of his "Congo Man" song with fellow Trinidadian Machel Montano on the 2008 Flame On album.
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In 2010, Mighty Sparrow left the stage in a wheelchair after a performance in Trinidad, and later that year was hospitalised after suffering an inguinal hernia while performing in Maryland.
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Mighty Sparrow made a full recovery and continued to tour internationally.
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Mighty Sparrow has been hospitalised several times with complications of diabetes.
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Mighty Sparrow returned to public performance in January 2014, with a 40-minute set at a bar in Brooklyn, New York.
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Mighty Sparrow's lyrics are famous for being witty, ironic, and ribald.
27.
Mighty Sparrow did express discontent in 1957's "No, Doctor, No", but it was comparatively mild, and aimed at holding PNM politicians to their promises rather than replacing them.
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In more recent times, Mighty Sparrow continues to incorporate social issues into his music.