I began playing religious choruses on the piano for Sunday school and for Youth For Christ. I was good. I was even offered a trip to America to play choruses for the Youth For Christ group but declined this offer. My basic style was jazzy. I would make the audience clap and stomp. During this time, I learned to play the accordion, banjo, ukulele, mandolin and even bottles. I'll never forget the night when I was left at home alone. I was thirsty. While pouring myself a glass of water, I playfully kept tapping the water bottle. As I poured, I noticed the pitch changing. By the time my family returned home, I had tuned eleven more bottles and was playing a song. I even appeared playing them once in church

     When I joined the band 'The Intruders' I had no keys to our house. My father imposed a 10 p.m. curfew, resulting in a mandatory lock-out for non-compliance. From that day on, I slept in his car, on the ground in our yard, in the park, on the sea wall, or on the porch. Otherwise, I would ride my bicycle until the early morning when the family was awake and the front door was open. Later, when I grew older, I found a matured woman who often let me sleep with her 

     Often - I would find my band uniform in the garbage bin. I would take it out of the garbage and make it to the gig with it wrinkled and smelling of garbage. No one in the band knew what I was experiencing - nor did I let this problem seep into my performance

     In 1969, as leader of  "JC Intruders," I disbanded the group after returning from a tour of French and Dutch Guyana. I then started traveling to other lands. In Barbados, I played with the "Troubadours," (originators of the "Spouge" which is a beat similar to Reggae but really wasn't), while the famous and popular West Indian singer Jackie Opel was still alive. By that time, I was playing the organ.

       I learned to play the saxophone and played it and organ for "The Neptunes" in Antigua and "The Flames" 

  Continued

Art Work:            Jake Commander

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