THE MUSIC

 

     It all started in the early 60s, with a guitar that a friend of mine received as a gift. I was 14 years old. I would mess around with the guitar, and so after a while, I learned to pick a tune or two. About a year later, I got together with some friends from the Hope Road area in St.Lucy, and feeling a bit bold, we decided to go on a show at Radio Barbados (at that time in the old Lazaretto building). We didn´t even have a name, so, since I was lead guitarist, they called us the Bertram Connell Combo. My first band was the Serenaders, based in Hope Road. We gained some popularity playing around the northern parishes. North Point Hotel on Sunday afternoons and countless dances at River Banks. ( Note: I think we were the first Serenaders, not to be confused with another band called Serenaders, which did some spouge recordings). After the break-up of Serenaders, I went on to play with the Electrons, based in Road View, St, Peter, led by Austin Husbands. One of the highlights was backing up Jackie Opel at a show at the Coleridge & Parry School Hall. An introduction to Spouge from the master himself. It was during my time with the Electrons that I started composing and writing songs, sung mainly by Hayden Bells Hinds, lead singer at the time. I also wrote Merry Christmas Baby, doing the vocals myself. After Electrons came Outfit. The band was based in St. Matthias.