FLASHBACK: Carnival (January – February), 1997 – Barataria, Trinidad

Most true Trinis will remember that circa 1997, Andy Stephenson was well known in Trinidad and Tobago as “The Local Michael Jackson”, thanks to his stunningly accurate impersonations of international superstar Michael Jackson. What alot of you didn’t know was that YOURS TRULY was responsible for the bulk of the writing and production of the hit song that catapulted him to fame as the “Soca Michael Jackson” – not to mention having a big hand in the now-legendary choreography that made the song such a smash as well (who say “Moonwalk and Wine” dey? lol).

In case you somehow don’t remember the hilarious tune or the amazing performance… maybe you need to watch the Soca Monarch performance that changed Soca Monarch presentations FOREVER, that I recently found on Youtube.

It all started one seemingly ordinary night in December in a little house in Barataria where my partner-in-crime Andy Stephenson had been living at the time, when Andy out of the blue said to me that he wished there was some way he could parlay the success he was having as a highly sought after local MJ impersonator into something that would work for the coming Carnival season. “I wish Michael would sing a Soca tune,” he said, “I’d have it made!”

Suddenly a brilliant idea flashed into my head… why not do just that?

Andy and the rest of the then-infamous Nostalgia dance group (his backup dancers and makeshift, rag-tag family at the time who lived with him in the house where all this madness was born), lit up when I proposed the idea.. it was so crazy – it just might work! A Michael Jackson Soca SPOOF! Madness – but brilliantly so (even if I do say so myself).

Not being a Soca guy at all, Andy didn’t know where to begin, but I had plenty Soca experience under my belt having been the right hand to my buddy Sheldon “Shel Shok” Benjamin (RIP Sheldon) in the studio for years while he crafted then-revolutionary and now-classic hits like “Rollin’” by Home Front, “High” by 3rd Bass and many many more. Not to mention the shows/sessions where I had sang background vocals for local legends like Shadow, David Rudder and so many more.

Andy – in typical Andy Stephenson style – suggested we “work out de idea” over drinks at the rum shop around the corner and so we made an excited bee-line there. Several Stag beers and not even an hour later, after beating on the rum shop table (much to the delight of the owner, who was happy for the entertainment), we had what I knew was a smash.

I came up with pretty much all the lyrics and the whole melody, I could hear the riddim (“beat” to you foreigners) in my head, I could see the choreography that went with the lyrics – it was clear. I literally built the verses around the original storyline of the classic MJ song “Billie Jean”, adding dialect and making the starlet Billie Jean a true Trini “wajang” who wanted to “wine up” on poor MJ.

Twenty four hours later we were in a studio working on the track.

Three studios and three producers later, we refused to give up, despite having dealt with some shady character and wound up at Roger Israel’s studio. Roger was Andy’s favourite producer at the time, and was happy to help us create what turned out to be the biggest smash of carnival 1997 after two horrendous attempts to bring “Whoa Jean” to life.

The third time was the charm. I beatboxed parts of the riddim to Roger, who played in the instruments on his keyboard. Andy threw in his two cents, and the other members of Nostalgia chimed in as well with little pieces of gold. In the end – we had a monster to release onto the unsuspecting public of Trinidad and Tobago.

Literally minutes after receiving the final Mastered Mix from Roger’s studio in Diego Martin we raced to the country’s only Urban station (at the time) and released the song that afternoon. By night-time, we were jumping up and down in the car, celebrating, as DJ after DJ in shift after shift played OUR song over and over… and over!

Andy then decided we needed to perform it, and started working on the details of the choreography with me directing him as to what the lyrics I had written said. Somewhere in the midst of all this another bomb of an idea struck me.

Andy performed a near-flawless Moonwalk which always brought the house down when he impersonated Michael… why not give that trademark dance the Trinidad Soca treatment too?

“Andy – yuh could moonwalk and wine at the same time? Yuh think dat possible?”, I said to him excitedly. He pondered… and then perfectly executed the now-famous Moonwalk And Wine move. We all screamed in excitement. “Dat goin to done mas up de place!” I howled. “The LAST thing you have to do is that, right at the end.”

The very next day Andy – never the type to “stick” (Trini for “waste time”) – jumped into my car and announced that we needed to go to Spektakula. At the time Calypso “tents”  (shows) were still very much the rage in Trinidad for Carnival and the tent called Calypso Spektakula was undoubtedly one of the biggest, hosting superstars of the artform at the time like Sparrow, Watchman, Rio, Funny, Ruppe and many more major stars of the day. Andy knew that in order to really have a smash we needed to big amongst “the big guns”.

The Martineau brothers, Frank and Claude (RIP Claude) knew Andy well since they often used him in the role of Michael jackson or Tina Turner for their popular Comedy shows in the year, so it was easy for him to explain our crazy idea for the song to them. A quick audition later, Andy was a full fledged member of the cast of Calypso Spektakula.

From then on there was no stopping us – or Andy. Starting with the authentic intro to “Billie Jean”, guitars wailing, Andy would come out in full MJ regalia and then  the riddim for “Whoa Jean” would kick in and the place would go nuts. Night after night. EVERY time.

By the end of Carnival, Andy had qualified for the prestigious Soca Monarch competition, and went on to literally change the game on the night of Finals. No one had ever used props like a lift to raise them above the crowd of thousands at the Stadium. Very few people had dancers and even less had extravagant costumes.. Andy, however, used the full Nostalgia troop to dance and myself, his wife and various other “friends” on backup vocals.

It was a show truly befitting the Soca Michael Jackson, as he came to be known. After that, Andy proceeded to tour Canada, the US and all of the Caribbean extensively as the Soca Michael Jackson, cementing his year as the hottest new sensation in Soca out of Trinidad. Crowds worldwide rejoiced and went wild at the uncanny impersonation and bacchanal-filled performance that Andy, Nostalgia and I had spent all of Carnival in TnT carefully building. He arrived to shows in limos (a la MJ), flew First Class… he did it big.

In another clip I found on Youtube, a patent-leather-clad Andy takes the stage at a Mother’s Day show in NY, and even trades quips with host Tommy Joseph at the end, just as he did every night at Spektakula during Trinidad Carnival 1997.

For those who only remember Andy as a “one hit wonder”, I’d like to leave you with Andy’s second tune that also scorched the airwaves in TnT. In the summer of 1997, hot on the heels of his carnival smash, Andy wowed local DJs with a Dancehall-Meets-Soca tune called “Sexy Raggamuffin Girls”.

The ground-breaking (locally anyway) video had Trinis talking about the intro where he transformed from his popular MJ persona into another dark-skinned, dapper-dressing character that those of us involved in the project from Day One knew was actually just Andy’s REAL self (sans makeup and wig).

Anybody remember the video for “Sexy Ragamuffin Girls”?

If the background looks familiar it’s because it’s the interior of the store that is now TSTT’s West Mall branch (at the time though, it was the newly opened Cragie’s high fashion store for men – Trevor Cragwell AKA Cragies also provided the tailored suit that Andy sports in the clip).

Oh and see if you make out yuh boy (that’s ME lol) in the clip… Also look and see if you can spot any other Trini Soca stars in there while you’re at at it… ;-)

If you’re wondering where Andy disappeared to, all I know for sure is he migrated years ago with his family. Recently he popped up on Youtube as the mysterious MegaMega Popstar, just in time to pay tribute to the MJ, who had just passed when Andy’s channel on Youtube appeared.

Me? I’m still here. Still breaking the rules. Still changing the game every chance I get.

Producing and arranging the music, writing the bulk of the lyrics, singing backgrounds, arranging/producing all the vocals and helping to orchestrate the stage show for the now-classic “Whoa Jean” (aka “Billie Jean”) is just one feather in my proverbial hat. There’s plenty more to come.

So… if you didn’t know the whole story before – NOW you know! Mista Vybe inna yuh dancehall again… OUT!

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Posted by: Mista Vybe at 10:19 pm | Filed under: Flashbacks |

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Tags: 1997, Flashbacks, Mista Vybe, Soca, Soca Michael Jackson