Crazy (calypsonian)

Crazy
Birth name Edwin Ayoung
Also known as Wong Ping, The Mighty Arawak
Born 1944 (age 72–73)
Port of Spain, Trinidad
Genres Calypso, soca, parang soca, chutney soca, reggae
Years active 1974–present
Labels Crazy, Charlie's, Kalico, Ice, JWP, Hometown Music
Website www.calypsocrazy.com

Edwin Ayoung (born 1944),[1] better known as Crazy, is a Trinidad and Tobago calypsonian. He has been active since the mid-1970s and is one of the most successful artists from Trinidad and Tobago.

Career

Ayoung was born in 1944 at Maraval Road, Port of Spain, Trinidad, one of eleven children to a Chinese Trinidadian father and an Afro-Venezuelan mother.[2][3] As a youth he showed promise as a cricketer, but chose a career in music.[2] He initially worked under the names Wong Ping and the Mighty Arawak, but was renamed 'Crazy' by fellow calypsonian Fred Farrell due to his extravagant performances.[2][3]

Crazy made his solo carnival debut in 1975 with "The Electrician", which was also released as a single.[2] He followed this with "Satan's Coming" and "A Great Achievement", before signing for Eddy Grant's Ice Records label, for which he had his first hit, "Dustbin Cover"/"Listen Joffre Serrette".[2] The two songs from the single gained him second place at the National Calypso Monarch finals in 1978.[2]

Crazy was the first artist to sing a "Parang Soca" song (mixing soca and hymnal Latin music) in 1978.[2][4] His debut album, Crazy's Super Album, was released in 1979 and sold over 35,000 copies in his home country.[2]

Crazy acted in the Trinidad All Theatre Productions' shows Cinderama (1980) and Snokone and the Seven Dwens (1981), and in 1982 toured Europe with the company in their re-enactment of carnival's traditional J'Ouvert opening ceremony.[2]

In 1982, he finished joint second at Road March with "Uncle Crazy".[2] In 1984 he became one of the first soca artists to perform at Reggae Sunsplash.[2] He won Road March in 1985 with "Suck Meh Soucouyant", and finished as runner-up in 1989.[2][5]

He pioneered the crossover genre chutney soca with his 1989 Road March entry, "Nani Wine", a big hit in North America and the West Indies in 1989.

After a relative lack of success in the early 1990s, which included an album recorded with Byron Lee, his fortunes improved in 1997 with the release of the album Still Crazy After 25 Years, the same year finishing third in the Soca Chutney Monarch competition and reaching the final of International Soca Monarch.[2]

He continues to feature in major contests, and in 2007 placed 5th at Road March with "Cold Sweat".[6]

In 2012 he pioneered another new style, "Trini-style reggae", releasing a Trini-reggae cover of "Hotel California".[7]

In 2013 Crazy was named in a list of the top 50 calypsonians of the 20th century by the Trinbago Unified Calypsonians Organisation (TUCO).[8]

In 2015 he headlined the Pan New England Steelband Festival in Blue Hill, Maine.[9]

Lyrical content

Crazy's lyrics are often humorous, but have also incorporated political themes. While many of his lyrics have been risqué, in 2011 he appealed to parang soca artists to keep lyrics 'holy' in the run up to Christmas.[4] In contrast to the homophobic lyrics of many calypsonians, Crazy's "Take ah Man", with its line "If yuh cyar get ah wooman, take ah man", was adopted as a gay anthem in Trinidad and Tobago.[10] He wrote "Stop the Crime" in response to the murder of state prosecutor Dana Seetahal and generallevel of crime in Trinidad.[11]

Discography

Albums

EPs

Singles

Digital singles/tracks

References

  1. ↑ some sources, e.g. Thompson (2002) state 1948
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 Thompson, Dave (2002) Reggae & Caribbean Music, Backbeat Books, ISBN 0-87930-655-6, pp. 81–83
  3. 1 2 Guilbault, Jocelyne (2007) Governing Sound: The Cultural Politics of Trinidad's Carnival Musics, University of Chicago Press, ISBN 978-0226310602, pp. 119–120
  4. 1 2 Loubon, Michelle (2011) "Crazy appeals to soca/parang bards: Stop the smut, keep it holy", Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, 28 November 2011. Retrieved 25 April 2016
  5. ↑ Clarke, Donald (1998) The Penguin Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Penguin, ISBN 978-0140513707, p. 706
  6. ↑ "Trinidad & Tobago Carnival 2007 Results", trinisoca.com. Retrieved 25 April 2016
  7. ↑ Rambally, Krystal (2012) "Crazy jammin’ Trini-style reggae", Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, 29 April 2012. Retrieved 25 April 2016
  8. ↑ Blood, Ray (2013) "Who Is the Best Calypsonian?", Trinidad and Tobago Guardian, 2 August 2013. Retrieved 25 April 2016
  9. ↑ Bossert, Diane (2015) "25th Annual Pan New England Steelband Festival in Blue Hill", Bangor Daily News, 8 April 2015. Retrieved 25 April 2016
  10. ↑ Crichlow, Wesley (2003) Buller Men and Batty Bwoys: Hidden Men in Toronto and Halifax Black Communities, University of Toronto Press, ISBN 978-0802089427, p. 62
  11. ↑ Fraser, Mark (2014) "Crazy sings against crime", Trinidad Express, 14 May 2014. Retrieved 25 April 2016
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