Wayne Berkeley — A biography

Berkeley grew up in Belmont, Port-of-Spain, opposite the headquarters of bandleader Harold Saldenah. He rose to fame in 1965 when he designed the costume for Pauline Figueroa who won the Jaycees’ Carnival Queen contest. He formed his own Carnival band in 1974 and won nine Band-of-the-Year titles (1973, 1974, 1980, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993 and 1994).

The following is a listing of Berkeley’s Carnival presentations and placings:

1973 - “Secrets of the Sky,” 1st (with Bobby Ammon)

1974 - “Kaleidoscope,” 1st

1975 - “A La Carte,” 2nd

1976 - “National Heraldry,” 2nd

1977 - “Hawaii”

1978 - “All That Jazz,” 3rd

1979 - “The Ritual,” 3rd

1980 - “Genesis,” 1st

1981 - “Masquerade,” 3rd

1989 - “Hero Myth,” 1st

1990 - “Nineteen-Ninety,” 1st

1991 - “Swan Lake,” 1st

1992 - “Titanic,” 1st

1993 - “Strike Up the Band,” 1st

1994 - “Mirage,” 1st

1995 - “Origami,” 2nd

1996 - “Showboat,” 2nd

1997 - “Les Bijoux,” 2nd

Berkeley also had winning presentations in the other Caribbean islands of St Maarten and St Vincent. He retired from presenting bands after Carnival 1997 but continued to design for Earl Patterson whose Masquerade band won the 1998 Band-of-the-Year award with “Amaranth — The Secret Garden.” However, his involvement in Carnival was curtailed in February 2000 when he suffered a stroke that left him paralysed on his right side. He resumed designing in 2002.

(Compiled by Ronald C Emrit, taken from BestofTrinidad.com)