Lionel Belasco
A pioneer in disseminating calypso outside Trinidad, Lionel Belasco was born in Barbados in 1881 and raised in Trinidad. During his youth, he learned to play European classical music on the piano but was drawn to the traditional music that was all around him, especially Afro-Trinidadian genres. By 1900 he was leading his own band and, in the mid-1910s, he moved to New York, which became his base of operations for much of the rest of his life. His first records were made in Trinidad in 1914. He subsequently made numerous other recordings, both in the U.S. and in Britain. He also gave performances, sometimes as an accompanist for concert singers.
By the late 1930s, Belasco had learned the Tin Pan Alley music publishing
business in Manhattan. Until after World War II, there was no tradition
of copyrighting music in Trinidad. Belasco took advantage of this situation
and copyrighted many songs in New York, either in his own name or with
a partner. He also composed songs and wrote adaptations of traditional
material. In 1943 he published a songbook that included a piece called
"L'Année Passée." The melody of the song (from
a Martiniquean folksong) was the tune used by Lord Invader for his calypso
"Rum and Coca Cola." Following the publication of "Rum
and Coca-Cola" by Leo Fiest, Inc. and the hit record by the Andrews
Sisters, Belasco sued for the copyright to the melody, while Invader sued
for the copyright to the words. Both won their cases. Belasco died in
1967 in New York.
