The death of beloved calypso veteran Leroy “Black Stalin” Calliste has been confirmed. He was 81.
Calliste was a calypsonian who won the National Calypso Monarch title for the first time in 1979 with the songs Caribbean Man and Play One. He was born on September 24, 1941, in San Fernando, Trinidad and Tobago. He would repeat his victory in 1985, 1987, 1991, and 1995.
In 2014, he suffered a minor stroke. Calliste received the Hummingbird Medal (Silver) at the National Awards ceremony in 1987 and an honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, in 2008 for his dedication and contribution to calypso music and culture in Trinidad and Tobago.
