Superblue
Superblue | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Austin Lyons May 25, 1956 |
| Other names | Blue Boy |
| Years active | 1980–present |
Austin Lyons (born 25 May 1956), better known as Superblue, Super Blue, and Blueboy, is a Trinidadian calypsonian, soca musician, icon and lyricist.
Person
Born May 25, 1956[1] in Point Fortin, Trinidad and Tobago, to a Grenadian mother and Trinidadian father, Lyons became famous from his first foray into the calypso tent world in 1980 with "Soca Baptist", a song he penned in 1979. "Soca Baptist" also won him his first Carnival Road March Monarch in 1980, while giving him the biggest win at that time though the magnitude of that win would be dwarfed by his own subsequent landslide victories. He went on to win the annual Carnival Road March title nine times (in 1980, 1981 and 1983 he won under the moniker Blue Boy, and as Superblue in 1991, 1992, 1993, 1995, 2000 and 2013) and the Trinidad Soca Monarch (now the International Soca Monarch) title a record seven times.
Superblue is famous for wearing blue costumes and dancing on top of speaker boxes. He developed a reputation for performing daring antics while on stage for the Soca Monarch competitions.
Superblue's daughter, Fay-Ann Lyons, whose mother is calypsonian Lady Gypsy, is herself a well-known soca musician (composer and performer), who has already at a young age won three Road March Monarch titles (2003, 2008 and 2009) and who performs at both local and foreign carnival events. Superblue recorded the song "Clear de Road" with Fay-Ann and they performed it together for the International Soca Monarch competition in 2004. They did not place in the top ten, however. Since his Soca Monarch win in 2000, Superblue remained out of the winners' circle musically until 2011 when he received the SAO Hall of Fame Award[2] for his body of work. He continues to record music and his earlier songs are still held to be classic soca compositions, used in Panorama competitions even in recent times. He made a triumphant return to the Soca Monarch stage in 2013 with his song "Fantastic Friday", and captured the International Power Soca Monarch title, in a tie with the defending champion, Machel Montano. SuperBlue is hailed as the originator of the "jump and wave" style of soca songs and also credited by the benefactor of the International Soca Monarch, William Munro[3] to have played a major role in the success of that competition in the early years.
The song "Barbara" by Superblue was played as background music in the movie Side Streets (1998).
SuperBlue sealed his triumphant return to the soca scene in 2013 by also winning the Road March Title in addition to tying for 1st place in the International Soca Monarch with Machel Montano.
His winning song "Fantastic Friday" was played over 500 times on Carnival Monday and Tuesday, beating his main opponent, Machel Montano (who got less than 60 plays), by over 400 plays.
Discography
- 10th Anniversary (Vinyl)
- Happy Carnival (1995)
- Flag Party (1994)
- Bacchanal Time (1993)
- Soca Matrix(2009)
- Extreme Blue (2009)
- Joy (2011)
Superblue firsts
- First calypsonian to ever perform at Wembley Convention Centre in London, UK
- First Soca Monarch winner
- His performances of "Bacchanal Time" and "Birthday Party" appeared on the first worldwide broadcast of Trinidad and Tobago Carnival via CNN
- First double winner of Soca Monarch and Road March in the same year with Bacchanal Time in 1993
- Only calypsonian to appear on Sesame Street
References
- ^ http://www.pointfortin.com/super.html
- ^ "FLYER". Socaawards.com. Retrieved 2012-01-25.
- ^ "An Insight into the International Soca Monarch Competition".