Arrow- soca music's first superstar

The popular entertainer and businessman, who was diagnosed with a brain tumour in early 2009, had been very ill and was confined to his home in Montserrat for several months. Several days ago, when his condition took a turn for the worse, he was airlifted to the Mount St John Hospital in Antigua for treatment. He remained there under the care of Dr Prince Ramsey and Dr Deon Thomas, before returning to his Montserrat home a few days ago.

He passed away at his home at approximately 6 am yesterday.

Arrow was the last of nine children born to Joe and Rachel Cassell in Plymouth, Montserrat on November 16, 1954 . He first performed aged ten in a concert at the Montserrat Secondary School and began singing calypso in 1967, taking the Junior Monarch title that year. He took up singing professionally in 1969, and in that year he was runner up in the Montserrat Calypso King competition, going on to win the title the following year (following in the footsteps of his brothers Justin (aka Hero) and Lorenzo (aka Young Challenger). He would go on to take the title a total of four times.

He released his first single, “Dance with Me, Woman” in 1972, and set up his own Arrow label in 1973. The following year saw the release of debut album The Mighty Arrow on Target, followed in 1975 with Arrow Strikes Again. He won the Road March competition at the 1975 St Kitts festival with “Rummy Song”.

Arrow got his start as a calypsonian in the traditional Trinidadian style but soon began exploring ways to bring the music to an international level. Always an innovator, he played around with mixing elements of cadence, salsa, and American R&R guitar into his music. This resulted in some criticism, with accusations that he was destroying Montserrat’s calypso traditions. In fact, his updating of the genre brought it to a new audience.

In 1982, Arrow began working with Trinidadian arranger Leston Paul, and, with his Multi National Force band, recorded the album Hot Hot Hot, the title track, Hot Hot Hot, becoming his first pan-Caribbean hit and the biggest selling soca hit of all time. It was adopted as the theme song of the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico, and was later covered by David Johansen (in his Buster Poindexter alter ego), Menudo, and Babla and Kanchan.

Arrow first sang “Hot Hot Hot” in Trinidad when he performed here during the Carnival season as a member of the Original Young Brigade cast (now Revue) at Wrightson Road, Port-of-Spain. He was a regular performer in Trinidad during the Carnival season for several years, beginning in 1972.

He capitalised on this success with 1983’s Heat album, and the “Rub Up” single, and 1984’s Soca Savage album, from which the international hit “Long Time” was taken. He enjoyed further chart success in the United Kingdom with a remixed version of “Hot Hot Hot”. By this time, Arrow was also incorporating Latin brass into his music. Subsequent albums also saw the incorporation of merengue (1986’s Heavy Energy), and rock (1988’s Knock Dem Dead). Heavy Energy was his first album for Island Records’ Mango label, with two further albums released on the label.

Arrow also established himself as a businessman in Montserrat and for several years he operated Arrow’s Manshop store in Plymouth. When this was destroyed by the Soufriere Hills volcanic eruption, he relocated to Salem.

He organised a fundraising calypso festival on the island in 1996, in response to the devastation caused by the volcano.

Arrow co-headlined Bermuda’s Soca ’96 festival, and continued to regularly release albums. In 1988, he was awarded the Living Legends award by the organisers of the Caribbean Song Festival and the Bahamas Tourist Board.

Arrow continued to be much in demand for performances throughout the Caribbean He performed at the Cricket World Cup 2007 opening ceremonies with Shaggy, the late Byron Lee and Kevin Lyttle.

His last performance in Trinidad and Tobago was at the opening ceremony of the Summit of the Americas in Port-of-Spain in April 2009 when he performed for visiting United States President Barack Obama. Arrow joined a cast of prominent local entertainers, including calypsonians David Rudder, Ella Andall and soca artiste Machel Montano.