

Born Oct. 4, 1941, in Trinidad, the larger island in the republic of Trinidad and Tobago, Shadow was raised by his grandparents on a farm in Les Coteaux, Tobago, where his earliest musical influences were the rhythms played on goat skin drums that were often accompanied by fiddle players, which he heard at local celebrations. Shadow started writing and singing calypsos at eight years old and by age 15 he was playing guitar and honing his craft “in front of the guys hanging on the corner.” At 16 he moved to Port of Spain, the birthplace of calypso, soca and the steel pan, just three of the vibrant genres the cosmopolitan city has given to the world. There Shadow auditioned for various calypso tents, enduring homelessness at various times in his early pursuit of music, as disclosed in the 2017 documentary, King From Hell, also the title of Shadow’s debut album.

Source: Billboard