From a very early age, I was very interested in music. I remember I was probably not more than six years old singing at my friends birthday parties! You might say that my early musical involvement was dominated with singing at Boys Scout campfires, concerts and a little local band that me and my friends formed. By the time I got to high school, I hooked up with a guy from Portsmouth, (Alickson "Bishop" Severin) and we formed a singing duo, calling ourselves "The Imitations". That was pretty exciting! We got to perform to crowds at the Arawak Cinema, the Goodwill Parish Hall, and the St. Gerards Hall! By that time, I was being pursued to join the local Salisbury band, which at the time was Simple Seven. If my memory serves me right, I think that the two singers at the time were Robert Joseph and Patson "Dyno" Ambo. I became the third singer! It was a little problematic for me in those early Simple Seven years, because of my age. Since everybody was older than I was, they could travel at will. I needed to get my father's permission first, and that was not always forthcoming!

Sometime later, Simple Seven was dissolved, and The Impressions became Salisbury's band. Later on, Leniford Williams Dad sent us a keyboard from England. (I think that's where we got it!) A first, for a Salisbury band! Nobody knew how to play it! Nobody that is, until Culbert "Broda" Harry, who was previously our bass player, got to it! And so, the band line up changed. Ronnie Alexander came in on the drums, Brian Thomas on bass, Broda on keyboards, Hilsbert "I-man" John on guitar, Philbert "Flash" Bruno on second guitar, Derek "Pusher" Peter on backup vocals, and yours truly in the lead.

        Due to a number of reasons, Impressions broke up. The guys decided to travel to Guadeloupe in an attempt to follow in the footsteps of Exile One, and Gramacks. Culbert and I stayed in Dominica. The guys eventually convinced us to join them. After a couple of weeks, though, being dissatisfied with some of the conditions there, Culbert and I left and went back to Dominica. Incredibly, they readjusted! Pusher stepped up to the lead vocal mic, Flash on second guitar, Brian on keyboards, Everdson "Kasay Cot" Alexis came in on bass, I-Man on guitar, Ronnie on drums, and the world was treated to "Mamma manger Raisin", etc!!

         By then, back in Dominica, the band, "Naked Feet" was already formed and performing, with my brother Glen, doing the lead vocals. I was recruited by them to play the drums and do background vocals. It was while I was with Naked Feet, that I got recruited to lead sing for Billomen. Billomen was a whole new experience! Just a phenomenal one, to sum it all up! Being chased by autograph seekers was an experience I was totally unprepared for!

        Billomen came crashing down after three years. Dejected, I went back to Dominica and started writing songs in preparation to do a solo album, which my brother Freddie helped produce. That project proved to be so exhausting, that after it was released, I took a sabbatical!

        By 1981, I had moved to St.Thomas. While in St. Thomas, I got a phone call one day, from Simon Girard, ex lead guitarist of Perfecta. He wanted to collaborate on a CD with me and Frere Dejean of Haiti! He said that he would fly me out there, where we would be for a little more than a week. Well, I could only be there for a few days, I told him, so he brought along Jean Phillipe Marthely (current Kassav lead singer) to sing whatever I could not complete. Sometime after, back in St.Thomas, I got a call from  big time Martinique record producer, Jacob Nayaradou. He explained that they were in the process of forming a special band with a different concept, and that they would like me to be the lead singer of that band. He said that he was going to send me a ticket, so I could travel to Martinique, to attend a meeting they were having. As planned, I flew to Martinique. That band happened to be none other than the legendary Kassav! Needless to say, that did not work out, primarily because of my reluctance to move back to that part of the globe!

         At that time, in St. Thomas, Bentley Harry and I had become room mates. One day while having dinner, the local T.V station was featuring the local calypso king, commenting that no one had been able to unseat him for the past six years! Bentley turns to me and says, "Acrab, you can beat this guy!" "Of course!" I replied. "Why don't you?" He asked. I thought about it for a minute, then said, "O.K." I proceeded to write two songs. "Hard she like it", and "Train Eternity". As predicted, I won! The following year, I won again! By then, I was ready to move on.

          I moved to California where I have since been active with several bands. One of the bands is called, "West Indies", because of the varied West Indian members. We have since released one CD. Another band that I've been involved with is called "Island Passion". We have a CD about to be released at the end of February!
       Recently, the original members of Grammacks and I got together to work on another CD, which is now available on the market. I am also currently the bass player for the praise band in my church; so, I've been pretty busy lately!
       What's next, for me? Well, I'm in the process of writing songs in preparation of one of my most ambitious projects ever! Stay tuned!!

By L. John