Carl Jacobs was born on Pashley Street, Success Village, Laventille, 63 years ago, and from a child music has been like a source of life to him. “Music has always been a part of my existence,” said Jacobs. “You know when children sit down and want to be a policeman, doctor or lawyer? I always wanted to be a musician.”
As a student attending St Mary’s College, Port-of-Spain, Jacobs was initially trained in opera singing by the Irish Roman Catholic priests at the college. He revealed: “I used to sing opera first and, on leaving St Mary’s, I sang rock as I had a heavy rock persuasion. Rock music was my love. I was heavily influenced by groups like Iron Butterfly, Black Sabbath, Joe Cocker and Rolling Stones.
“I even won the Best Vocalist award singing Joe Cocker’s With a Little Help from my Friends, singing with Host of Others at the Pop Gear competition, held at Scarlet Ibis Hotel, St Augustine. You’d never believe who placed second in that final? David Rudder, singing Sly & The Family Stone’s Everybody is a Star with Succession Brass.”
In the 60s, Jacobs formed Beams with Malick Folk Performers’ late musical director Roland Gordon, also from Laventille. Reminiscing, he said: “After Beams, we formed Host of Others, then The Rush Band from behind the bridge. After Rush came my first introduction to big stage and big audiences, performing with Michael Boothman & Friends. Out of that union came the hit album and single Heaven. After that came touring with Sparrow’s Troubadours. It wasn’t for a long period but it was another step forward on the musical ladder.
“The beginning of the collaboration with Robin Imamshah came during the 70s. It was Dennis DeSouza who set up the meeting between Robin and I which facilitated us becoming the lead vocalists of Roots, even before David (Rudder). It ended with the creation of Shandileer in 1979. This was when Carol and I began singing with Shandileer.”
Jacobs’ impressive musical tour of duty also included doing chorus work at Kitchener’s Calypso Revue at Princess Building which was destroyed by fire in 1979.
“Throughout the 70s and 80s, you could find the names of Carl and Carol on the sleeve of every calypso album doing chorus. Performing in the calypso tent as Carl, Carol, David Rudder and Patsy Holder was an entire education. Calypsonians are not the easiest artistes to get along with. They are people with mood dizzying swings.”
Some of the big calypsonians that Jacobs has worked with have been Kitchener, Sparrow, Melody, Calypso Rose, Singing Francine, Terror, Crazy, Duke, Arrow, Swallow, Shadow and Black Stalin.
He continued: “Shandileer was big and has a whole history by itself. The success and development of Shandileer made me realise that adoration by fans is a two-edged sword; it can be good and bad.
“People used to try to compliment us by calling us the ‘Ashford and Simpson of calypso’ and me ‘Trinidad Teddy Pendergrass’. While we appreciated this and knew our fans meant well, we just wanted to be plain and simple ‘Carl and Carol’, nothing else. We wanted to be known for ourself although it was a great compliment. This hastened the name and brand Carl and Carol.
“This is when we migrated to the US and settled in Miami. After moving around the US and Toronto for a while, we decided to make Miami home and establish the Carl and Carol brand. We are still doing so as it is a lifetime vocation. We are determined to take our music and culture to an international plateau, something we have been doing for 20-plus years. Time flies so fast.”
Carl and Carol have an impressive discography of hit singles, inclusive of Luv Up, Bend Down and Rock, WeWant to Live, Fix It Up, From Now On, Pressure, Santimanitay and Savage. Carl also shares credits with Rudder for the recent classic hit Trini to the Bone, written by Ian Wiltshire.
Now back home, Carl and Carol are concentrating on building and establishing Kaiso Blues Cafe, located at 85 Woodford Street, Newtown. They are the parents of three children (Carla, Caryl, Kyle) and grandparents of six.