DESPERADOES |
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| This Laventille (Rose Hill) band was formed in the early-1940s by a group of young men that included Wilfred "Talkative" Harrison, Ivan "Brains" Bourne, Reynald "Singco" John, Donald "Jit" Steadman, Carlton "Mimp" Francis, Brooks Banton, Wilfred "Be-eh" Pacheco, and George Yeates. The band was first called the "Dead End Kids" before its name was changed in the 1950s to Gay Desperadoes, after the 1936 American movie "The Gay Desperado" starring Ida Lupino. In the late-1950s, before it made its impact musically, Desperadoes was involved in some of the most violent Carnival clashes with other steelbands: Tokyo; Renegades; and San Juan All Stars. However, by the early-1960s, the band's image began to change under the leadership of George Yeates who was successful in gaining the sponsorship of the Coca Cola Company. Around this period, Rudolph "Crabby" Charles left the small steelband "Spike Jones" to join Desperadoes and, by the mid-1960s, had become its leader and arranger. By then, the band had moved from its first location in lower Laventille Hill to the community center up the hill. In 1966, the sponsorship of the band changed from Coca Cola to the West Indian Tobacco Company.
Under Charles's leadership, help was recruited to improve the band with tuners Ellie Mannette, Vernon "Birdie" Mannette and Emmanuel "Kobo Jack" Riley from the Invaders Steelband, and musicians Beverly Griffith (Starland Steelband), Carl "Bumpy Nose" Greenidge (Kentuckians Steelband), Raymond "Artie" Shaw (Police Band), and Clive Bradley (Clarence Curvan Orchestra). Later, Robert Greenidge joined the list of musical arrangers who contributed to the band's success. Strongly supported by the Laventille community, Desperadoes had very impressive Carnival presentations from the mid-1950s through the 1960s: "Sands of Iwo Jima"; "Operation Korea"; "To Hell and Back"; "Glorious Spain"; "Crawl of the Crocodile"; "Prisoner of Zenda"; "Extracts from the Animal Kingdom"; "The Frozen North." Over the years, Desperadoes performed in concert abroad at the following venues: Royal Albert Hall (London, England); Carnegie Hall (New York, USA), with Liza Minelli and Skitch Henderson; the first Black Arts Festival (Senegal); Apollo Theatre (New York, USA); and Barbados, with Luciano Pavarotti. Following one of its visits to the USA in the 1970s, the band changed its name from "Gay Desperadoes" to "Desperadoes." As of 2022, the band won the Panorama competition 12 times, the Steelband Music Festival three times and, in 1992, received the Trinidad & Tobago Chaconia Medal Gold for its cultural contributions. Desperadoes finished among the top three steelbands in the following significant competition: | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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| Compiled by Ronald C. Emrit |