BIRDIE FLIES HOME

The life, ca­reer and lega­cy of ca­lyp­so leg­end Slinger “Mighty Spar­row” Fran­cis­co was yes­ter­day cel­e­brat­ed true to the larg­er-than-life per­sona he craft­ed in charm­ing gen­er­a­tions of mu­sic lovers over decades.

But while Fran­cis­co made a ca­reer from his sharp wit and bari­tone voice, his fam­i­ly said their pa­tri­arch was much more than an en­ter­tain­er, as they shared their cher­ished mem­o­ries of his role as a dot­ing fa­ther at his state-as­sist­ed fu­ner­al at the Na­tion­al Acad­e­my for the Per­form­ing Arts (NA­PA), Port-of-Spain.

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Dur­ing her eu­lo­gy, one of Fran­cis­co’s daugh­ters, Michelle Fran­cis­co, fond­ly re­called her ear­ly child­hood mem­o­ries with the man many af­fec­tion­ate­ly re­ferred to as ‘The Birdie,’ say­ing that while he fre­quent­ly trav­elled as part of his sched­ule as an en­ter­tain­er, he al­ways found time to speak with her, even if they were hun­dreds of miles apart.