Exuma (musician)

Macfarlane Gregory Anthony Mackey (18 February 1942 – 25 January 1997), known professionally as Tony McKay and Exuma, was a Bahamian musician, artist, playwright, and author best known for his music that blends folk, rock, carnival, junkanoo, calypso, reggae, and African music stylings.

His Exuma persona, as well as his lyrics, were influenced by the West African and Bahamian tradition of Obeah, a system of spiritual and healing practices developed among enslaved West Africans in the West Indies, practiced by many on the islands of The Bahamas.

He himself was also a practitioner of herbal medicine.

Reviewers have often identified McKay's music as containing or invoking Voodoo-related imagery, and have compared his music to that of New Orleans-born musician Dr. John (and vice versa).

However, McKay clarified against the association between the imagery of his music and the popular concept of Voodoo as depicted in Hollywood-produced films, stressing that his music is instead based on the healing practices of Obeah: "It isn't Voodoo or witchcraft [...] not in the way that the man goes home at night and makes a secret potion."

Beginning in 1963, recorded a number of 7" singles. He released the following as "Tony McKay":

In 1969, Palisades Amusement Park advertised McKay as a featured artist during that year's season opening weekend.

He appeared on a bill that included Peaches & Herb.

In 1969 McKay launched the group "Exuma" (named after a group of Bahamian islands) with his then-partner and lifelong friend Sally O'Brien.

He enlisted several musician friends, forming his backup band, the Junk Band.

The band included O'Brien (as Sister Sally), Bogie, Lord Wellington, Villy, Spy Boy Thielheim, Mildred Vaney, Frankie Gearing, Diana Claudia Bunea (as Princess Diana), and his good friend Peppy Castro (Emil Thielhelm, lead singer of the Blues Magoos).

He soon gained the attention of Blues Magoos manager Bob Wyld.

"I'd been singing down there (Greenwich Village), and we'd all been exchanging ideas and stuff. Then one time a producer (Wyld) came up to me and said he was very interested in recording some of my original songs, but he said that I needed a vehicle."

Wyld recommended McKay to Mercury Records and convinced the record label to sign him.

Exuma's self-titled debut album was released in 1970 through Mercury Records, and was followed by Exuma II later that same year.

In a 1970 interview, McKay, as Exuma, said the electrical part' of his being 'came from beyond Mars; down to Earth on a lightning bolt.

He described his music as "all music that has ever been written and all music not yet written. It's feeling, emotion, the sound of man, the sound of day creatures, night creatures and electrical forces".

Born in Tea Bay on Cat Island, Bahamas, McKay and his mother Daisy Mackey moved to Nassau.

He grew up there in a small house on Canaan Lane, shared by Ma' Gurdie, an older woman who McKay said "danced so well".

"When I sing, I can still see Ma' Gurdie's beautiful moves".

As a boy, McKay and his friends caught and sold fish to buy movie tickets.

Watching the films exposed them to Sam Cooke and Fats Domino and other American blues singers, who they would imitate.

McKay moved to New York City at the age of 17 to study architecture.

He "promptly ran out of money".

Friends give him an old guitar and knowing three or four Chords, he started practicing old Bahamian calypsos.

Homesick for Nassau, McKay began writing poetry about Ma' Gurdie and Junkanoo.

These poems became the basis for McKay's "Brown Girl in the Ring" (later a hit for Boney M), "Rushing Through the Crowd" and other Exuma songs.

Due to McKay's greater interest in music, he did not complete his architectural studies.

Nassau friends living in Brooklyn took McKay to Greenwich Village, introducing him to hootenannies in neighborhood cafes.

McKay founded the group Tony McKay and the Islanders.

During this time, McKay also performed at Cafe Wha? and The Bitter End.

McKay often performed with well known musicians and comedians in small Greenwich Village clubs and bars.

"I started playing around when Bob Dylan, Richie Havens, Peter, Paul and Mary, Richard Pryor, (Jimi) Hendrix and (Barbra) Streisand were all down there, too, hanging out and performing at the Cafe Bizarre".

In 1970 McKay, recording as "Exuma" and accompanied by a band with the same name, released two albums.

Both featured full cover artwork painted by McKay.

Mercury Records released McKay's first album Exuma, produced by "Daddy Ya Ya", a pseudonym adopted by Bob Wyld.

His next four albums, Do Wah Nanny (1971), Snake, Reincarnation (both 1972), and Life (1973), were issued by Kama Sutra Records.

In 1977, he created a musical stage production titled Junkanoo Drums that incorporated a number of his songs; the success of the show led to Exuma becoming a regular performer at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival.

By the 1980s, McKay had founded his own record label, Inagua Records, and moved to New Orleans.

After moving to Colorado in 1994, he spent time living in Miami, Florida, and Nassau, Bahamas, and died in his sleep in the latter city in 1997.