Hottest Soca-reggae Don, since Arrow's Hot Hot Hot.

12 MP3 Songs
WORLD: Island, WORLD: Reggae



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Bio of Rootsy Pierre

One of 10 children, Kewin "Rootsy" Pierre was born in the picturesque village of Marigot Bay on the Caribbean island of St. Lucia. Like all his siblings, he carried a strong penchant for music in his early youth and was determined to take up a singing career. A humble character from modest beginnings, he always showed an interest to learn, and would spend every spare moment he had in a quiet corner practicing on an aging guitar. In 1987, he got his big break when he participated in the St. Lucian National Carnival Association Calypso Tent and fired his way to the finals with a wonderful calypso melody "Jah is De Solution," which captured the support of many St. Lucian calypso fans, an amazing feat for a debutante. He did not win then, but his opportunity furthered his confidence towards achieving his one true goal: to be a #1 music artist.

He endured the inconsistencies and limitations of the music world in his small island, and persistently pushed ahead with writing his own songs and communicating with many elite musicians within the proximity of his native land in an attempt to reach the success of recoring his originals. In 1988, after many trials, he left his homeland to seek better opportunities and a path that would lead him to his dream. He migrated to New York, and after undergoing the usual hurdles of settling down, he got involved in the New York-based St.Lucia Calypso Competition. He eventually won the Calypso Crown and held on to the title for 3 years. In 1993, Rootsy joined "Freemix", an integrated band of Caribbean musicians and got deep into the scintillating rhythms of Reggae, Calypso Zouk music, producing their debut album, "Hoola-Hoop".

With the music embedded in his veins, Rootsy continued upward in his quest for expressing his most ardent attributes. After his stint with Freemix, he joined "Hardware", a solid group of musicians under the leadership of Arthur Valmond (versatile, instrumentalist and songwrite/producer), "Hardware" really knocked on the Cadence and Zouk scene. Rootsy remembers the vibrant and poetic Arthur as a lifesaver since Arthur was always ready to delve into the music. "He gave me the will to go on, was a motivating person and always ready for the next big song", said Rootsy in one of his reflections. Arthur and Rootsy had a few things in common: music, a persistent nature, and they shared the knowledge of "creole", a french patios spoken by a few of the Caribbean islands. The knowledge of this lingo was sufficient to bond the two together in the musical concepts for the Cadence, Zouk and other Frech Wave music.

Together, they have done quite a few draft recordings, which they have in their archives waiting for the right moment. The first of these drafts recordings to be released will be "Your Niece Didn't say", written by Rootsy and Arthur and composed and produced by Arthur. But his quest did not end there. A few years later he joined a band called "Osha" as their lead vocal and made three successful albums. When asked about his future in the music world, Rootsy's usual answer is "I love music not only for the fame and glory that can project me to, but mainly I could share with the masses the opportunity of education through the song and unity through communication". Says this warm-hearted, compassionate, and humorous individual. "I want to be able to respect music as long as there is breath in my body, for it has brought me to reckon with life in a way that I would not if I had not known music for what it is worth and the love it spreads.

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