One has to respect the history, the achievement, and the extraordinary cultural contribution of an iconic performer such as the Mighty Sparrow. To generations throughout the Caribbean and across the diaspora, Sparrow has been far more than an entertainer. He has been a chronicler, social commentator, humorist, businessman, cultural ambassador, and one of the great voices through which the Caribbean has spoken to itself and to the wider world.
At Carib News, however, our feelings toward Sparrow have always been especially personal. We remember him not simply as the celebrated Mighty Sparrow, but affectionately as “Birdie,” a friend who was among the earliest supporters of Carib News and of the mission we were attempting to establish in the Caribbean-American community.
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In the early years of Carib News, one of the initiatives we undertook was a campaign urging the Grammy Awards to recognize Caribbean music more fully by establishing categories for reggae and calypso. Sparrow was one of the artists who strongly supported that effort and publicly expressed his support. Eventually, reggae received its Grammy category. Calypso did not.
That unfinished business became part of an ongoing conversation with Sparrow through the years. He continued to believe, as did we, that calypso deserved recognition as one of the great musical and cultural traditions of the world. The campaign for a Grammy category for calypso was therefore never merely about an award. It was about respect for the artists, composers, musicians, and storytellers who had built a unique Caribbean art form and carried it internationally.
Sparrow also understood and supported what Carib News was attempting to accomplish in the Caribbean-American marketplace. At a time when others sought to enter that market without having made the same commitment to the community, Sparrow was one of those who openly questioned it. His loyalty was unmistakable. He recorded a special promotional jingle for Carib News that played for years on WLIB, speaking to the importance, value, and mission of the newspaper. To my knowledge, he had never done anything quite like it for another publication. It was an extraordinary statement of friendship and confidence in what Carib News represented.
Our relationship also moved beyond business and public life. I remember the pride with which Sparrow brought his daughter to the Carib News office as she was preparing to enter college. Like any proud father, he wanted her to meet people he trusted and believed might provide guidance and encouragement. We were pleased to become mentors to her. It revealed another side of Sparrow, the father who, beyond the applause and the stage lights, cared deeply about the future of his family.
Perhaps one of the most unforgettable Sparrow stories involved General Colin Powell.
General Powell was an enormous admirer of Sparrow and of calypso music. We had heard him describe how, when confronted with an especially difficult decision, he would first work through the issue with his advisers, gather the information and opinions available to him, and study the alternatives. Then he would withdraw by himself, put on the music of the Mighty Sparrow, and allow himself to settle into a more natural and reflective state of mind. After listening for a while and clearing his thoughts, he would make his decision.
It was a wonderful illustration of the extraordinary reach of Sparrow’s music.
When the American Foundation for The University of the West Indies was honoring General Powell, we decided that we would create a surprise for him. We arranged for Sparrow to appear as a special guest performer. Gil Figaro took responsibility for arranging the band and handling the logistics necessary to make Sparrow’s appearance possible.
After the awards had been presented and General Powell had accepted his honor, Sparrow was introduced.
The transformation in Colin Powell was something to behold.
Here was one of the most distinguished military and public figures in the United States suddenly encountering one of the great musical heroes of his life. Powell immediately rose, greeted Sparrow warmly, embraced him, and before long was dancing to Sparrow’s music. The room came alive.
It was a memorable meeting of two remarkable men: Colin Powell, soldier, statesman, diplomat, and son of Jamaican immigrants, and Sparrow, the Caribbean musical genius whose songs had traveled far beyond the islands that had inspired them. For that evening, rank, title, institution, and ceremony seemed to disappear. Music connected them.
We witnessed something very similar with Ed Goldberg, a senior executive at Macy’s and another devoted admirer of Sparrow. During a Carib News Caribbean Heritage Month celebration hosted by Macy’s on its executive floor, we again arranged a surprise appearance by Sparrow.
In the middle of the reception program, Sparrow entered.
Ed Goldberg could hardly believe what he was seeing.
Before long, the two men were singing Sparrow songs together, laughing and enjoying themselves, with others joining in. Once again, here were men from very different backgrounds brought together through Caribbean music. It was touching because it demonstrated something essential about culture: authentic culture can cross boundaries that politics, geography, class, and nationality sometimes cannot.
That was Sparrow.
But there was another dimension of the man that deserves to be remembered: Sparrow the businessman and advocate for the rights of Caribbean artists.
At a time when Caribbean performers were deeply concerned about ownership, copyright, royalties, and the protection of their creative work, Sparrow and Arrow brought those concerns to us. They understood that Caribbean performers were creating valuable intellectual property, yet too often the systems necessary to protect that property and ensure that artists were fairly compensated were either poorly understood or inaccessible to them.
We approached Harry Belafonte, who agreed to meet with Sparrow and Arrow. That meeting took place in the Carib News office.
Belafonte brought enormous experience to the discussion. Among the subjects considered was how organizations such as ASCAP, the American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers, could become more effectively involved in protecting the royalty and copyright interests of Caribbean performers and composers.
It was an important conversation because Sparrow was not sitting there merely protecting the Mighty Sparrow. He was thinking about the wider Caribbean music industry. He understood that the artist had to become knowledgeable about business, ownership, publishing, copyright, royalties, and the long-term value of creative work.
That was another side of Birdie.
Behind the humor, the sharp political commentary, the stagecraft, the melodies, and the unforgettable performances was a man who understood that Caribbean culture had value and that those who created that culture deserved both recognition and economic protection.
There was still another moment in Sparrow’s life that revealed just how deeply he valued recognition not only as an entertainer, but as a man of intellect, culture, and accomplishment. The University of the West Indies awarded him an honorary doctorate, and he took enormous pride in that distinction. He would say that receiving the degree was one of the proudest moments of his life. I was present for that occasion, and it was clear how much it meant to him.
Afterward, Sparrow incorporated the honor into the wonderful ritual that often accompanied his performances. He would introduce himself with a long and colorful string of names and titles, each delivered with that unmistakable Sparrow wit and confidence. Then, at the end, would come the declaration: “And I am Doctor Slinger Francisco.”
Whenever I happened to be in the audience, he would turn in my direction and add, with characteristic humor, “And I got my doctorate the same way that Doctor Rodney got his, from the University of the West Indies.”
That became one of those continuing exchanges between us, humorous on the surface but also revealing of Sparrow’s pride and humanity. He valued that degree. It represented something larger than celebrity. It recognized the intellectual and cultural importance of the work he had spent a lifetime creating.
And that is how Sparrow should ultimately be remembered.
He was far more than a singer. He was a philosopher in song, a storyteller, an inspirer, and, in his own distinctive way, an historian. Through his lyrics, he documented personalities, politics, relationships, changing values, human weaknesses, public controversies, and the everyday life of Caribbean people. Generations can listen to Sparrow and hear not simply music, but chapters of Caribbean history.
He was also a musical genius whose talent could never be confined to calypso alone. His range as a performer, composer, interpreter, humorist, social critic, and entertainer demonstrated an extraordinary command of his craft. He could make an audience laugh, think, dance, remember, and sometimes confront uncomfortable truths, all within the same performance.
Few performers have possessed such range.
And fewer still have remained so deeply connected to the people from whom their art emerged.
For those of us at Carib News, our memories of Sparrow will therefore always include more than the great performer on the stage. We remember the man who supported a young Caribbean newspaper trying to establish itself. We remember the artist who joined us in calling for Caribbean music to receive its rightful recognition. We remember the friend who proudly introduced us to his daughter. We remember the businessman fighting for the rights of Caribbean artists. We remember the man whose music could make Colin Powell abandon ceremony and dance, and who could bring a Macy’s executive and an entire room together in song.
We remember the Grammy campaign. We remember the Carib News jingle heard across WLIB. We remember Sparrow and Arrow sitting with Harry Belafonte in the Carib News office discussing the rights and royalties of Caribbean performers. And we remember Doctor Slinger Francisco proudly claiming the academic recognition that meant so much to him.
Together, these moments tell us something about a man whose importance reached far beyond the stage.
The Mighty Sparrow’s extraordinary career cannot be measured simply by recordings, performances, titles, or awards. His importance lies in the way he captured Caribbean life. He could make us laugh at ourselves, confront hypocrisy, question political leaders, celebrate beauty, describe romance, expose foolishness, and tell the stories of ordinary people. Within one performance there could be wit, history, politics, satire, sensuality, philosophy, and social criticism.
His music traveled.
It traveled across islands, generations, races, professions, and social boundaries. It entered homes, dance halls, political conversations, university gatherings, corporate offices, military circles, and the consciousness of the Caribbean diaspora.
And wherever that music traveled, a piece of the Caribbean traveled with it.
That is why the history of the Mighty Sparrow is ultimately larger than the history of one entertainer. It is part of the history of Caribbean culture itself and of the Caribbean people carrying that culture into the world.
At Carib News, we are proud that, along that remarkable journey, our paths crossed so often.
And so there comes a time to say goodbye.
Bye-bye, Birdie.
But only to the man in the physical sense. The songs remain. The stories remain. The laughter remains. The commentary remains. The lessons remain.
And wherever Caribbean people gather and Sparrow’s music begins to play, Birdie will be there again, telling our stories, reminding us who we are, making us laugh at ourselves, challenging us to think, and carrying the sound and spirit of the Caribbean forward.
His song will be remembered forever.
From the archives of Carib News.
