Shurwayne
Winchester who is undoubtedly blessed
with a singer's voice, a quick wit and
an ability to make pictures with music
was born on February 8th, 1974 in Tobago.
His talents first came to light in 1986,
when he was only twelve years old and
began competing in local calypso competitions,
where he consistently placed within
the top three. He participated in these
local competitions until 1990, when
he was encouraged to compete against
seasoned veterans, such as Calypso Queen
Denyse Plummer, Calypso Monarchs Cro
Cro and Luta in the Carib Independence
Calypso Competition. As a result of
his performance, he was hired for various
calypso tents both in Trinidad and Tobago
from 1980 through 1996.
In 1996, Shurwayne joined the band "TROBBLE",
but the band was short lived. Upon its
demise, he was asked to join "INXS".
One year later, Shurwayne auditioned
for Spectakula, one of the largest "Calypso
Tents" for Carnival. Spectakula's
management felt that he would be better
showcased as a front line singer for
a soca band, and recommended him to
Andy Joseph, bandleader of "Traffik".
His first recording was made in 1998,
with the tracks "Leave it in"
and "Soca Baby" with Traffik.
His voice caught the attention of record
producer Devon George. Then he recorded
"Get out of my dreams" written
by Marlon "Socket" Clarke.
The song, released in December 1998,
remained in rotation for two years until
July 2000 a rarity in the Soca genre!
1999 saw Shurwayne back in competition
this time, the sweet voiced singer entered
the Soca Monarch Stakes. His performance
garnered rave reviews and was deemed
"Most Dynamic" by the press.
Shurwayne became the heartthrob of soca,
both locally and internationally among
West Indian markets. In May, he recorded
a remix of "Quelvis" by and
with King Wellington for the album "Rumour
Riddims". His overdub is credited
with sending the song to the top of
the charts within one week. This song
remained on the charts for seven months.
Shurwayne has five additional tracks
written by him on the album.
His 1999/2000 releases "Avanelle",
"Wine Down" and "Who
Say" which were also written by
him exceeded his previous successes.
Released in November 1999 "Wine
Down" stayed on the charts until
mid August 2000, while his up-tempo
"Who-Say" released in December
1999, climbed the charts quickly and
remained a hit through October 2000.
On October 21, 2000 Shurwayne was awarded
"Best New Artist" and "Male
Vocalist of the Year" at the Sunshine
Music Awards, New York. In late October
he released "Why yuh blaming me?"
which hit the charts the following week.
In November he released "Jouvay
Jump Up" which followed the same
path, and "You Make Me Wanna"
(a.k.a. So Hot) this became an instant
favorite.
"Release the Beast" and his
challenge tune "Revenge" joined
the others on the charts in January.
"You make me." stayed on the
charts thru August 2001. These five
songs were all written by Shurwayne.
His first solo album "Under My
Spell" was released in January
2002. Two cuts from the album "Splash"
and "Doctor on Call" were
also hits for Carnival 2002. The first
release for Carnival 2003 was "Baby
Love". It took off immediately,
and became of the requested songs for
the ladies.
"Masqueraders" was the second
release, and was a contender for Road
March. Shortly thereafter a third song
"Front" was released. It took
the airwaves by storm, and was the most
requested song by Shurwayne. Both men
and women showed their love for the
melody and lyrical structure, which
again took him to the finals of Soda
Monarch. He collaborated with Chinese
Laundry and Ricky Jai on his composition
"Rags Don't Care", a fast
nation building and unity song, which
was respected by both artistes and fans
alike. "Powder" was his J'ouvert
contribution and hit the charts on West
Indian radio stations in North America.
In 2004 he released his second album
titled "Press Play" featuring
his 2004 Road March song "The Band
Coming". Shurwayne walked away
with three awards at the Annual Soca
Awards held in New York in August 2004.
He won the award for Best New Soca Collaboration
of the year for the song "Come
Beta" with Destra Garcia. Shurwayne
also won the award for Favorite Up-Tempo
of the Year-Male and Soca Vocalist of
the Year.
Shurwayne did it again in 2005, winning
the Road March title two years in a
row with his infectious track
"Dead or Alive". This song
was off his 2005 offering "Give
Thanks" his most intimate album
to date. The sixteen track album boasts
one hundred percent new material and
also features a host of collaborations
including "Jammin All Night"
with Traffik band mate Candi Hoyte,
"Don't Waste Water" with reigning
Soca Monarch Bunji Garlin, as well as
the title track "Give Thanks"
with Maximus Dan.
In the recently held Copyright Organization
of T&T (COTT) awards Shurwayne received
Songwriter of the year and Song of the
Year for "The Band Coming".
In addition, Shurwayne also received
Up-tempo Song of the Year-Male and Song
of the Year at the Soca Awards held
at the prestigious Queen's Hall, in
Trinidad.
