An Appreciation of the Life & Mission of Reginald Georges / Michael Georges (Father)
I would like to make three brief remarks before sharing this appreciation of the life and mission of Reginald Bevon Georges.
First, I give thanks to God for choosing our family as the vehicle through which He shared Reggie’s considerable talents with the world.
Second, it is often that a son has the opportunity to eulogise his father, but rare that a father has the chance to eulogise his son. I thank God for the rare privilege of speaking on behalf of Reggie who was so gifted, generous and well-beloved by all.
Third, I thank you all for being present at this Holy Encounter, to share this special time with us to say goodbye to Reggie at the end of his earthly journey, and wish him well as he enters the next dimension in that eternity, that he will share with Jesus and the host of the souls of the faithful, including his grandparents.
As a preface to this appreciation, I share the words of one of my favourite poets Kahlil Gibran, who, in his book “The Prophet” wrote:
‘ And a woman who held a babe against her bosom said, Speak to us of Children.
And he said:
Your children are not your children.
They are the sons and daughters of life’s longing for itself.
They come through you but not from you.
And though they are with you, they belong not to you.
You may give them your love but not your thoughts.
For they have their own thoughts.
You may house their bodies but not their souls,
For their souls dwell in the house of tomorrow, which you cannot visit, not even in your dreams. ‘
REGINALD BEVON GEORGES was born on March 1, 1974 at Amicus Maternity Centre, Diego Martin, Trinidad, W.I., brought into the world by his mother Celia after fifteen hours of labour. His birth occurred on Celia’s second visit to the Maternity Centre, since the first visit proved to be a false alarm.
In between the first and second visits, Celia had the opportunity to sit with her Mother-in-Law, Mona “Jackie” Georges in the Grandstand at the Queen’s Park Savannah to witness the Parade of the Bands for Carnival 1974. What a memorable Carnival that was! It was the year of the Mighty Shadow, who having been cheated out of a victory at the Calypso Competition, ruled the road as all but one or two bands played one of his two hits: “The Bassman” and “I come out to play”.
Celia surprised everyone by climbing on to the Grand Stand stage at one point, to jump up with some of our friends in costume. Big belly and all, she had a whale of a time prancing to the strains of ..” a hearing a bassman in me head, pump pump pee pum pum pum,
pump pump pee pum pum pum.” Many were shocked and concerned to see a pregnant woman carrying on like that, but, as you already know, Celia is no ordinary woman. So if you want to know how come Reggie was so full of sweet music, you will have to ask the Mighty Shadow or his Bassman, for this was certainly one of the main reasons.
Reggie was the first of three sons born to Celia and Mike, the second of the grandchildren of Granny Mona K.Georges, and also the second of the grandchildren of Granny Muriel Fullerton.
From the time of his birth, he possessed a magnetic charm which drew people to him. Whenever he cracked that magic smile he would melt the hearts of all who were present. Because of this, Celia called him “Sunshine”.
He was named REGINALD in memory of his grandfather, the late Dr. Reginald Georges of Road Town, Tortola. His Granny Muriel Fullerton quickly converted the name Reggie to “Redsy” because of his fair complexion.
You could say that he was an “ECUMENICAL BABY” since he was baptised at an Anglican service held in a Catholic Church. Similar to the arrangement which we at St. George’s now have with our Catholic Brothers at Mary Star of the Sea, East End, St. Michael’s Anglican Church at Diamond Vale, Diego Martin, which was the Church we attended, and at which we were married, used to hold a Sunday evening Mass at St.Finbar’s Catholic Church, Four Roads Diego Martin. This was extremely convenient for us since, our home at San Diego Park was but 200 yards away from St. Finbar’s.
If you want to know how Reggie developed such a close relationship with the Youth Fellowship of St. Williams Catholic Church, when he played a major role in introducing the steelband to St. Williams, now you know it was because he was christened in a Catholic Church.
Reggie was exposed to music, the arts and entertainment at an early age. He happened to have a father whose only hobby was playing and listening to music- jazz, calypso, folk, r & b and yes, classics and sacred music. (His father was once described on a radio show as one who was an economist for the IDC by day, who does pull bass by night.) He also had a mother whose passion was for drama and the stage.
As our only child at the time, he had no choice. He was put in his carry cot and dragged along with us to live Jazz sessions (when we were not having one at home) The leading musicians at the time such as Clive Zanda, the late Andre Tanker, Toby Tobas and others were his informal uncles . His mother was involved in stage productions and radio plays at which he was often present at rehearsals in his carry cot. When the group ISWE started producing their dramatised poems and skits out of a home in Belmont, POS which had been converted into a home Theatre, Reggie was present in his carrycot. The ladies in the cast became his Aunts. Changing him and feeding him, he was passed from hand to hand as a child of the Theatre while his mother was centre stage, and his father was pulling bass for the background music.
If you want to know how Reggie became such a great showman, it was because he grew up in the environment. That same environment which spawned Paul Keens Douglas who later became and international performer.
Reggie was also fortunate to be among the first cadre of infants to be enrolled in a day care centre, that new industry that was booming to enable both mothers and fathers to be gainfully employed while professional infant care was provided for a fee. (Much to the chagrin of our Pediatrician who would have preferred to see Celia ‘stay home and mind baby’.)
Since this was also the era of colour TV and daytime children’s programmes, Reggie was soon influenced by Ernie and Bert and the Sesame Street characters whose songs were among the first that he started to imitate.
He next graduated to the Pre-Schoolers workshop, where, in addition to reading, writing and arithmetic, he learned to perform song and dance routines together with his cousin, Eddie Brathwaite.
His next step up was to St. Gabriel’s Private School, Dundonald Street, Port-of-Spain, the Primary School founded, owned and operated by his Granny Jackie Georges. Here again he found himself in an environment where, although academics were highly stressed, so too were sports, music and the arts. Striving for excellence in whatever was undertaken was the key. “Onward upward may we ever go” was the motto.
Not only did he take to English language like a duck to water, but he excelled in composing and singing calypsos and delighted in performing them at the school’s annual calypso competition which formed part of their Carnival Fiesta. He sang a particularly catchy ditty called “PacMan” based on the favourite video game of that time.
Around this time, Reggie became a prolific poet, churning out poems on almost a daily basis on every subject under the sun.
Following the time honoured tradition of the Georges family, Reggie , together with his brother Rowan, was sent for piano lessons at an early age to Miss Rhona Edwards of Woodbrook. He found the formal lessons to be a boring chore imposed by his parents. As a result we eventually discontinued the lessons.
Likewise, when he showed interest in the guitar, his father took him and his brother Rowan to the noted guitar tutor, Mr. Pritchard of Simeon Valley Road, Petit Valley, just above Sparrow’s Hideaway. Once more they failed to show sustained interest until one day Mr. P pulled me aside and said “Mr. G, you are wasting your money and my time because the boys are not practicing the guitar, following the lessons, so no progress is being made” Since they had already lost the expensive book I had bought them on Learning to play Finger Style, the guitar lessons were discontinued.
Miss Edwards and Mr. P would no doubt be surprised to learn that Reggie continued on his own to master these instruments, since on many of his recordings in addition to singing and playing the steelpan, he personally laid down the keyboard , guitar and drum tracks.
It was during his stint at St. James Secondary School to which he gained entrance after passing his Common Entrance Exam, that Reggie was introduced to the love of his life. This love to which he remained faithful to the end of his days was THE STEELPAN.
The major steelband to which the SJSS steelband was attached was the St. James Power Stars.Reggie became the drummer for the School Steelband, and his major highlight was participating in the Junior Panaorama, a whole day affair when the band paraded throughout the streets of Port-of-Spain. We followed the band closely throughout because, being and asthmatic we were looking to see if his shoulders would suddenly hunch, an indication that he had started to wheeze. Luckily, this did not happen.
In moving to the BVI shortly after, as the family relocated from Trinidad to Tortola, he was delighted to find the Shooting Stars Steelband on the island and he later became the Captain and Assistant Arranger for Shooting Stars. He was enthralled to be part of the BVI High School Campus at which Music played such an important part.
During the one-year interval between his parents moving to Tortola with Randy, and his joining us with Rowan, his father had sent him to the Michael Tobas School of Drumming and Percussion in Diego Martin. Reggie had created a drum set complete with cymbals from old pans and boxes that he had found around his granny’s house. He was also fooling around with microphones and my old reel-to-reel tape machine, while he imitated the radio personalities of Trinidad at the time. There was no radio school to which he could have been sent, but he certainly lapped up the tuition from Master Percussionist Michael “Toby” Tobas.
Reggie became very active in the High School Bands, Junior Band, Senior Band and Jazz Band. He particularly enjoyed the Jazz Band where he worked diligently under Arthur Selwood, and Chris Jennings. Emerging from the Jazz Band was the group called Phoenix which went on to win the first BVI Talented Teen Contest.
I remember Reggie jumping high on the stage together with the other members of Phoenix, Drexel Glasgow, Burton Richardson, and Dion “Buckwheat” Williams. At that time Reggie was still skinny as a stick and had a high “flattop” hairstyle. He highly treasured that award as he did the distinction that he earned in the Royal School of Music Certificate for voice.
I remember him singing a solo with the BVI High School Choir under the direction of Sandra Crawford. He brought the house down at the Sir Rupert Briercliffe Cultural Centre. Someone was foolish enough to remark to me that Reggie was a chip off the old block. This happened within the earshot of Cislyn Stoutt, who immediately corrected the mistaken fan by saying “ You got it wrong, Michael is the chip Reggie is the block”.
Shooting Stars was Reggie’s life during this period. He lived for Shooting Stars. I remember how excited he was to bring home Pan Legend, Tuner and Arranger, Winston Graham, an old acquaintance of mine, together with Terrence “BJ” Marcelle who had just arrived on the island. Ishmael Scatliffe and the Festival Commitee had brought them in to work with Shooting Stars for the festival.Rowan .his brother, followed Reggie in leading the tenor section for the regenerated Shooting Stars. “Piggy” Malone, Andre Roberts, Monique De Castro, Damita Ham, and many other youngsters were part of this group, and we the parents were the hangers-on and supporters.
After graduating from High School Reggie went to work for Radio Station ZBVI since he had a desire to build a career in Radio. He astounded everyone by his maturity, his articulate presentation and his rich sonorous voice. Many listeners were surprised to see that it was not a mature man, but a little 17 year old.
At the bidding of Mike Jarvis, who was then the Programme Director at ZBVI, he was encouraged to pursue a course in Radio Production at the BBC. At the BBC in London, Reggie held his own as the youngest in the class, earning his Diploma in Radio Production alongside Broadcast Journalists from all over the globe, most of whom were twice his age, and represented much larger Radio Stations. As a teenager, he was no way intimidated, but successfully handled interviews with Chief Minister Lavity Stoutt, Governor Herdman, and others, and presented them with maturity and professionalism that belied his tender years.
His stint in broadcast radio extended from ZBVI to ZROD, from the father to the son so to speak, as he had the distinction of introducing news programming to ZROD, which prior to Reggie, was only a vehicle for playing entertaining music for young persons. At ZROD he became the one-man news department, and worked zealously to ensure that the young Radio Station earned a reputation for being first with the news.
After a few short years in Radio, Reggie’s true mission to entertain and play sweet music for tourists and locals alike, while addressing burning social issues in song, pulled him away from the radio microphone, to the challenging and uncharted waters of becoming a professional musician and entertainer in the BVI.
Being accustomed to playing music in the night, while working at radio in the day, he now gave full-time commitment to playing his music and singing his songs at various venues throughout the BVI.
He had been given his first such opportunity whilst still at High School, when Donald de Castro encouraged him to play solo pan for the clients at the Cell Five Restaurant at Waterfront Road. Donald had lent him an old tenor pan on a shaky PVC stand, and hired him for a small wage plus burgers and sodas, to entertain the Cell Five guests. From these humble beginnings he built his repertoire and his clientele.
He already had the experience of playing with Shooting Stars and later with Norbert Donovan’s Pan Vibes at various venues around Tortola. With a new professional pan and stand from his father, he followed the example of Winston Graham in going out and securing jobs by entertaining as a pan soloist, playing from calypso to classics. He realised that visitors were interested in hearing Caribbean Music- Calypso, Soca and reggae, and interested in hearing the instrument of the Caribbean, the Steelpan.
From David Moir of Cruise Control, he got the idea of acquiring a midi synthesizer drum machine which would enable him to provide the background music to playing solo, as well as the option of adding on a few other instrumentalists. He teamed up with Stan Bertie and Patrick Browne to form ‘The Caribbean Horizon” providing great musical entertainment at venues throughout Tortola. He would later perform as the One-Man Steelband or as the Ole Time Band with David Gee, Victor “Success” Fortune and Teddy Joseph.
He developed a formidable repertoire of music such that he could quickly respond to most special requests whether for calypso, reggae, jazz standards, latin or oldie-goldies. By day he placed literally hundreds of songs in his system, by night he was able to play his virtuoso pan, while using his golden voice to belt out calypsos like David Rudder, and croon sweet ballads like Nat King Cole.
Reggie was also a wonderful “ex tempo” performer. During his breaks, he would move from table to table chatting with his guests and finding out something about then. When he returned to the stage, he would improvise a calypso about each guest, to their delight as he sang humorous ditties about them.
He resolved to put his compositions on record. His first effort was to produce a cassette – Reggie Georges, Pan in Motion, purely instrumental, featuring Calypsoes by Sparrow, Kitch and others. He also made this and other productions available over the internet. Realising that clients were now demanding CDs and not cassettes, his next effort was the CD New Day featuring only his own compositions and all vocals. These two issues were manufactured overseas from Master Disks that Reggie produced. All his subsequent CDs were produced in-house by Reggie in his home studio.
His legacy grew to include several CDs so that clients could select whatever their favourite music was whether instrumental jazz, calypso, reggae etc.
From his home studio he was able to assist many calypsonians and pageant contestants to present their material by providing background tapes.
He was a lobbyist for opportunities for musicians and artistes. He continued lobbying the Tourist Board for artistes to play at the Cruise Ship Dock until this became a regular part of the Cruise ship activity. He single-handedly produced a Calypso show featuring many of the local calypsonians during that year when no competition was held. Reggie’s Calypso Tent at Duff’s Bottom provided quality entertainment with a back-up band which included Kamau Georges and Randy Georges, but unfortunately due to no money for promoting the show ,it was poorly attended.
He has had a hand in coaching and training every Church Steelband on the islands. He worked from scratch to start the St. Williams Catholic Youth Steelband and the St.Mary’s Youth Steelband in Virgin Gorda and has assisted both the St. George’s Miracle Touch and the St.Paul’s Youth Steelband. Reggie’s work with the Church Steelbands has always been on a voluntary basis insisting that God gave him his talent and it was his responsibility to give back wherever he could.
In addition to commercial jingles for BVI and USVI establishments, Reggie composed calypsos on many social issues, one of which “Domestic Violence” was commissioned by the Family Support Network and was acclaimed by Governor Savage, who gave Reggie an award for his work. Reggie was so delighted to hear of Deon Crabbe’s victory on the sprint track, that he immediately composed “Hip Hip Hooray for Deon Crabbe today” which was well loved by the Sports community. Though considering himself to be apolitical, he was persuaded by Carvin Malone to do the jingle for the VIP- ‘Rally round the VIP’. This became the clarion call for the VIP in the last election campaign. Although VIP suffered a loss, his lyrics did much to get across their message in clear and simple terms.
He also became sought out for performing at weddings and on Luxury Yachts. Reggie thoroughly enjoyed such opportunities to entertain visitors. The weddings that he enjoyed most, however were those occasions when he was invited by family members overseas to perform at their weddings. His cousin Shaunna’s wedding in St. Vincent in January 2003 was the first ( when he played on a borrowed pan and his father was conscripted to accompany him on a borrowed bass). His brother Randy’s wedding in Missouri in July 2005 was the second, and his Aunty Jan’s wedding in January 2006 was the third.
Although achieving so many accomplishments in such diverse dimensions, Reggie was plagued with health challenges throughout his life. As a youngster he suffered from asthma and was hospitalised on three separate occasions in Trinidad requiring oxygen. On one of these occasions we feared that he would not survive. Reggie did pull through, and eventually outgrew these asthmatic attacks.
At age 18 as soon as he attained his adulthood and graduated from his BBC Diploma programme, he was diagnosed as having a bipolar condition, having suffered an episode. This condition was to become his major challenge over the years as he sought professional help locally and overseas to overcome this scourge. At times he was able to survive for three or more years without an episode. This encouraged us to believe at one time, that he had likewise outgrown the bipolar attacks. Unfortunately, following a serious episode triggered by the Nine Eleven disaster, his episodes continued and became more frequent and worse. After a long period of hospitalisation in 2005, it appeared that he was now on the right track for managing this challenge.
Unfortunately, this was not to be, as during a visit to his five-year old son Tyrique, and his friend and partner, Tyrique’s mother, Evelyn Jessop in Philadelphia, what was to have been a joyful reunion to celebrate Tyrique’s graduation from Pre-School turned tragic, as he was rushed to hospital and immediately placed in intensive care in a diabetic coma. Despite the best efforts of the Doctors and staff at the Albert Einstein Medical Center, Reggie ‘did not make it’. Reggie, the One Man Steelband, breathed his last on July 5, 2006 at 12.40 p.m. Philadelphia time (1.40 p.m. B.V.I. time).To God be the glory!
Postscript:
July 5, 2006 was the first anniversary of the passing of his maternal grandmother, Mrs. Muriel Fullerton in Trinidad. Reggie who was extremely close to his grandmother was unable to attend the funeral because he was hospitalised at Peebles Hospital at the time.
July 2006 was the forty-ninth anniversary of the passing of his paternal grandfather, the late Dr. Reginald Georges, who also breathed his last in the city of Philadelphia where his body is interred. Reginald Georges, the One Man Steelband of Road Town, Tortola, was named in memory of Reginald Georges the physician of Road Town, Tortola.
Our cousin Gloria Brown of Philadelphia, who was present with Evelyn Jessop when Reggie was admitted to hospital in Philadelphia was also present with her father the late Dr. Edward Georges of Philadelphia and Reggie’s paternal grandmother the late Mrs.Mona “Jackie”Georges , when Dr. Reginald Georges was admitted to hospital in Philadelphia.
I close with a quotation from one of my favourite authors Jack Addington:
“The one I love can never be destroyed and is never taken from me; yet must be freed to God’s eternal experience. I release the one I love to the life that never dies I bless him on his onward journey. I know that he is never far from me and that nothing can separate us in the eternal plan. “
Reggie, God bless you m’son, you are now free to play your sweet pan and compose and sing your songs for the heavenly hosts for ever.
Adieu mon soleil !
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