Calypso Rose

Calypso Rose or Linda McCartha Monica Sandy-Lewis (born April 27, 1940 in Bethel Village, Tobago) is a Trinidadian calypsonian.

She started writing songs at the age of 13; over the years, she has composed more than 1000 songs and recorded more than 20 albums.

Considered the "mother of calypso", Rose was the first female calypso star and her lyrics frequently address social issues like racism and sexism.

Her influence over the calypso music genre forced the renaming of the Calypso King competition to the Calypso Monarch instead.

In addition to writing songs about social issues, Rose is also an activist and was given the title of UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for former child soldiers along with performing at numerous events for social change.

She has received every award available to living artists in the Caribbean.

She currently resides in Queens, New York, and regularly returns to Trinidad and Tobago in addition to touring.

Calypso Rose was born under the name Linda McCartha Monica Sandy-Lewis.

Her mother gave her this name as an homage a respectable army general by the name of Douglas MacArthur.

At the beginning of her music career, the singer originally took the name Crusoe Kid but later changed it to Calypso Rose.

This occurred when she auditioned for the managers of a calypso tent called Young Brigade.

The name Crusoe Kid was meant to signify her origins in Tobago, and a reference to the novel Robinson Crusoe.

After hearing her perform, the managers at Young Brigade renamed her Calypso Rose because a rose is considered the mother of all flowers and she considers herself the mother of female calypsonians that came after her. She grew up in the small village of Bethel on the island of Tobago, one of the two Caribbean islands forming Trinidad and Tobago and the birthplace of calypso.

Rose's earliest memory is her grandmother sitting at the seashore and telling her that no one knows where they would be buried because her grandmother was originally from French Guinea and ended up in Tobago because she was kidnapped and sold there.

Calypso Rose was the fourth child to be born by her mother, Dorchea Sandy, who had a total of thirteen children, two of which passed away.

Her father, Altino Sandy, was a leader of the Spiritual Shouter Baptists. In addition to being a leader in the church, he was also a fisherman and Rose would to go with him every evening to the beach when she lived with him.

To this day, Calypso Rose says she drinks seamoss, and eats a lot of fish, ginger, garlic, and banana to give her the energy to put on a powerful show.

Her family was very traditional and were initially opposed to her singing in Carnival tents; her father saying that "calypso belongs to the devil" She lived with her parents and her ten siblings in a two-bedroom house until she was nine-years-old, at which point she went to live with her aunt and uncle on the neighboring island of Trinidad.

Her aunt, Edith Robinson, was wanting a child so she suggested to her husband that he go to his brother, Altino Sandy, and ask to take care of one of his children.

Ms. Edith Robinson came and asked for Rose's permission to adopt her, Rose agreed and went with her to Trinidad.

Shortly after arriving in Trinidad, she began to get bullied because she was a 'small islander' which she didn't expect because she thought Trinidad and Tobago was one place.

One of the many struggles that Rose endured was being raped at the age of 18 and ever since then she has not pursued a relationship with a man.

Rose came out in an interview as a lesbian at the age of 72 and was married to woman for 17 years by then.

Calypso Rose began singing at calypso tents in the 1950s at the age of 15 going against her harsh critics, and had the opportunity to perform in different places from Grenada, St. Vincent to the US Virgin Islands.

A large influencer and supporter of Rose was a man named Lord Kitchener who was the first to recognize her as a composer.

From 1963 to 1965, she would continue to perform in his tent.

She knew Lord Kitchener from the age of 9 and he was known for his influence on many young calypso singers because of the songs he would make.

Even with many of the religious elders in Trinidad's disapproval for Rose's participation in calypsos, she was able to win them over with her song "Abide With Me" which is about hurricane Florence that hit Tobago and Grenada in 1964.

In 1966 she would perform with a very well known calypsonian in many occasions by the name of the 'Mighty Sparrow' (Slinger Francisco).

Despite many people's misconceptions, Rose was not the first female calypso singer.

However, with her song "Cooperation", she was able to compete outside of Tobago and Trinidad against other male calypsonians and win her first title as Calypso King in the Virgin Islands and win Virgin Island's Road March in the same year.

In 1966, she wrote the song "Fire in Meh Wire" that had gone international and was translated into eight different languages, and was the first calypso to run two years in a row at the Trinidad Carnival.

With the making of another song called "Tempo", Rose was able to become the first female to win the national Road March title.

By the mid-1970s Rose had located to Queens, New York.

She recorded for the Brooklyn-based calypso labels Straker’s Records and Charlie’s Records, and used the city as a base for international touring.

Soon after, in 1978, she performed "Her Majesty" and "I Thank Thee" and was able to win another national Road March and became the first to win Calypso King which changed to Calypso Monarch because of the successful integration of females in a male-dominated competition.

Her health was not always in its best form as she faced and survived breast cancer in 1996, stomach cancer in 1998, diabetes, and two heart attacks which was solved by a pacemaker.

When she went to live with her uncle and aunt, her aunt was a big influence on her love of calypsos because of the many records that she owned and the freedom she would give her.

Rose then began to write her first calypso called "Glass Thief" which signified her shock to Trinidad after her aunt gave her money and told her to go to the market where she saw boys stealing eyeglasses from someone's face.

This was the start of her voicing her opinion on gender equality and later on writing her second calypso that empowered women to dance.