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To­day, the Caribbean and the wider mu­si­cal world cel­e­brate a his­toric mile­stone, as The Mighty Spar­row (Slinger Fran­cis­co) marks his 90th birth­day.

Born in Grena­da in 1935 and raised in Trinidad from age one, Spar­row’s name is syn­ony­mous with ca­lyp­so. His sharp wit, daz­zling stage pres­ence, and mas­ter­ful lyrics earned him the well-de­served ti­tle of “Ca­lyp­so King of the World.”

Spar­row’s tow­er­ing con­tri­bu­tion to mu­sic, cul­ture, and so­cial com­men­tary has shaped the sound­scape of the Caribbean for more than sev­en decades.