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Barbados’ Lew Kirton: singer, drummer.

Othersounds.com, which has published interviews with a number of musicians around the globe (including the Caribbean), presents an interview with Barbados’ Lew Kirton.

Interview: Lew Kirton

Lew Kirton (b. 1948) grew up in a religious household in St. Michaels in Barbados. Llewellyn Randolph Kirton as he was born began singing in St. Cyprians choir as a kid. Despite his parents aversion to secular music he continued to want to sing outside of church from age 12 – even when it meant to sneak out of the house to do it.

He went from the Starlighters, Draytons 3 (which after Kirton left became known as the Draytons 2), recording with Barbados’ most popular r ’n b outfit Blue Rhythm Combo, drumming with Sam & Dave to a solo career. For a kid who was nicknamed ”Jiggs”, after the skinny and bowlegged British cartoon of the same name, Mr. Lew Kirton has an impressive stature in both music and real life.

In the following youtube video, Kirton sings Heaven in the Afternoon.

The full interview can be accessed at: Interview: Lew Kirton « othersounds.com.

By Ken Archer

I am an ethnomusicologist, who obtained my doctoral degree at the Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio. My areas of interests include the musical, ritual, and celebratory traditions of the circum-Caribbean and the African Diaspora.

I worked as a lecturer at the Columbus and Marion Campuses of the Ohio State University, where I taught classes in World Music, Rock and Roll/American Popular Music, Western Art Music, and directed the OSU Steel Pan ensemble.