Dr. Winston Mc Garland Bailey – Shadow – No Stranger to Pan
Winston Bailey was a Trinidad and Tobago calypsonian, cultural icon, storyteller.
He was born in Belmont, a suburb of Port of Spain in Trinidad, but grew up in Les Coteaux, Tobago, with his grandparents Evlan and Elly Bailey until he was 14. He began to sing at a very early age of eight. He knew from this very first moment he wanted to be a singer.
During the years he became known for his masterful lyrics and a composer of catchy, haunting melodies and bouncing basslines. His songs were and still are consistently chosen by many steel bands as their tune of choice at Pan competitions. The pan community at large recognized his genius.
Never forgotten are the lyrics in his best known song Bassman “Like he taking my head for a panyard, morning and evening, like this fella gone mad, Pim-pom”. He won the Road March with "Bassman" and placed second with "I come out to play" in 1974. "Stranger" made him the Road March competition’s oldest winner in 2001.
He was the second to win both the International Soca Monarch and the Trinidad Road March competitions simultaneously, a feat he accomplished in 2001 with his song "Stranger". Shadow won the Calypso Monarch in 2000 with "What's Wrong With Me" and "Scratch Meh Back".
His 1994 album Dingolay won a Caribbean Music Award for best engineered album. In 2003, Bailey received the Hummingbird Medal (Silver) for his contributions to music in Trinidad and Tobago. He received an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the West Indies for his contributions as a musical composer.
Panorama 2019
honoring the icons
Ken 'Professor' Philmore
The Shadow
De Fosto