QH "WOMEN IN THE ARTS" SERIES - MAVIS JOHN

To try to capture the essence of Mavis John’s voice is like trying to capture a moonbeam. This marvellous musical maven escapes the boundaries of conventional musical mores, ever reaching that place where body joins spirit for a rendezvous of magical melodies. Attempts to describe and celebrate this Trinidadian/Tobagonian of Grenadian parentage include First Lady of Caribbean Jazz, the Caribbean Queen of Jazz & Soul and the Lady of Song. Whatever her conventional descriptions this songstress’ career began and continues to be, beyond the ordinary.

Mavis’ musical beginnings as a pre-teen in the 1950s saw her performing in nightclubs to selected friends, entertaining United States soldiers at the US Naval base in Chaguaramas, Trinidad, and serenading Trinidad and Tobago many weekends over on the national radio programme ‘Sunday Serenade.’ All who heard her voice was sure of a successful career in singing for this young wonder. By the late 1960s she began to realise this prediction, as she sang her way to becoming a teen idol in the twin-island state. During this phase of her career, her voice caught the attention of Trinidadian producer, Jeffrey Turpin, manager of the then popular singing group, The Strollers. She was recorded on the flip side of one of the group’s singles performing James Brown’s ‘Its’s a man’s World.’ It was an immediate hit. She then became a feature of Turpin’s Caravan, recording Jeffrey Turpin’s “The Sun Didn’t Shine.”  The following decade, the 1970s, saw the blossoming of both love and career for Mavis as she sang alongside popular radio host husband, David Elcock. This phase of Mavis’ life bore two children – a son Jason and the single “You are What Love Is.” This song launched her into Caribbean Soul stardom.

In the 1980s Mavis took a hiatus from the stage and studio to pursue two other loves – her family and a career in teaching. Her love for the stage though soon saw her second coming in 1995. Her return to the stage was rewarded with great enthusiasm, as audiences old and new embraced the sweet re-emergence of her magical melodies. Her return also saw the ballooning of her career. In 2001, Mavis recorded her first full-length album, Mavis Sings. The album includes the flagship piece of her own composition “The Time Is Now” and ten other renditions, some borrowed from revered peers and past icons, others borrowed from her own past. “Release The Dove” of Mavis Sings (a reflection on the New York Twin Towers/World Trade Centre bombing, 2001) made listeners stop in their tracks and has reached the ears and heartstrings of world leaders such as former UN Secretary General, Kofi Annan and past New York Mayor, Rudy Giuliani.

Returning to the stage also meant a range of performances both at home and abroad. International performances included the St Kitts Music Festival in 2003 where she appeared on the same playbill as the internationally celebrated The Manhattans and Third World, and the St Vincent & The Grenadines Blues Festival in 2004 where she shared the limelight with vocal bards such as Percy Sledge, The Temptations Review and Ashanti. In mid 2004 Mavis delighted audiences with a live concert performance of Mavis Sings. Later that year she shared the stage with celebrated South African vocalist and musician, Hugh Masekela at Trinidad and Tobago’s first San Fernando Jazz Festival.

This songbird is not only an artiste but a culturally and passionate patriot of Trinidad and Tobago and the Caribbean. She was able to revive our national song and national spirit with her rendition of ‘God Bless Our Nation.’ Mavis has also been very successful in theatre productions such as Derek Walcott’s ‘Marie La Veau’, Elliot Bastien’s, ‘A Nancy Story’, Earl Lovelace’s ‘The Dragon Can’t Dance’, Edgar White’s, ‘I Marcus Garvey’ and as recent as last year, 2019, she brought the house down in ‘Shades of I-She’, a tribute to women, written and directed by Pearl Eintou Springer and in Efebo Wilkinson’s ‘Bitter Cassava’ which was produced for Carifesta 2019. She continues to hone her craft, stirring emotional reactions from patrons at all her performances and receiving many standing ovations. She was also a feature act at North Coast Jazz.

Mavis, who celebrated her 74th birthday on 16th May, represents a legacy of sixty years of sterling artistic performance. She stands tall among the stars of Trinidad and Tobago’s cultural ambassadors and gracefully embodies and captivatingly resonates with the collage of natural T&T talent, enhanced by her personal elegance and humility and the professionalism which she brings to the entertainment industry. Her song, Use My Body, which was written in the 1960s is now being played all over the world. As the ‘stage’ of T&T’s theatre is significantly expanded by a prolific cadre of youthful talent, Mavis towers as a mentor worthy of emulation. The new, young artistes will be well advised to observe simple classiness with ‘nuff’ respect.

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