Guyana’s legendary reggae pioneer, Troy C, is about to show the world that he is indeed the number one reggae singer coming out of Guyana. Turning a new chapter in his musical career, Troy C (the “C” is for culture) has recently signed a recording deal with OLAI Media, which will now take his music to a worldwide audience.
Like so many of his contemporaries back in Guyana, Troy C had suffered from the country’s scarcity of means and resources to record and market internationally, her most gifted singers. Up until the early 2000s, there had been no state-of-the-art recording studios in the country. Popular Guyanese singers were virtually unknown internationally, with the exception, perhaps, of Eddie Grant. Grant rocked his way into the global spotlight with his chart-topping pop/reggae crossover, “Electric Avenue”, back in the early eighties, and his nationality wasn’t known to many of his admiring fans worldwide. Troy C, on the contrary, makes a bold and conscious effort, both musically and publicly, to raise awareness of and to promote his native land and its unique culture.
The journey to fame and fortune has been a long and trialing one for this son of a preacher woman, but ever faithful in Jah Rastafari and true to his art, he always seems to find a way to overcome the challenges before him and to keep on trotting.
“Rasta don’t deal with politics,” he says. “I deal with the Almighty.”
Born and reared in Georgetown, the capital city of Guyana, South America, Troy began singing in his mother’s church choir at the age of 3. In his teens, he began singing and performing at such glitzy venues as The Library and Trump Card nightclubs. This exposure brought national popularity to his music, and Troy C was later catapulted into a national pop icon when he opened for such internationally known singers as Beenie Man, Dennis Brown, Gregory Issacs, Shabba Ranks, Half Pint, Maxi Priest, Papa San, and Patra on their 1992 Guyana tour.
Following the success of that mega show, Troy C toured Canada and Jamaica. He recorded his debut single “Smoke Your Life Away” in Jamaica, and quickly followed it up with one of the first, if not the first, popular music video ever to be produced in Guyana. Many of his fans still believe this is his signature song to date. In this single, like in many of his other songs, Troy C laments the sad reality of self-destruction through drug addiction and other forms of human maladies.
“I believe in singing truth and right, and in sending a positive message to the people,” Troy C said, in an interview with Raíces Magazine back in 1997.
Some 12 years later and with 2 self-produced albums to his repertoire, that mission has remained the same for Troy C. And he has continued to captivate, enlighten, and entertain his fans with a music that has now evolved into a primary voice of an entire nation and its culture. Musical talent, this son of Guyana believes, is a force of divine inspiration. And conscious of his obligation to God and homeland, he thus uses his gift to praise Jah and to promote his cultural heritage. For cultural awareness that uplifts, he also believes, is the message that all reggae singers should convey to the masses, citing Bob Marley, Peter Tosh, and Jacob Miller as typical examples.
Part singer, part preacher, and part visionary, Troy C commented back in the 90s that the abundance and variety of Guyanese artists, despite the hardship they faced, would one day make his nation a powerhouse in the music arena. Today, though still not saturated with recording studios as say, Jamaica, Guyana now enjoys a recent explosion of musical acts that are making quite a name for themselves and their country. And where does Troy C stand among his peers? Right in the line-up, of course, with such national stars as Natural Black, Brutal Jammers, Jomo, Little Africa, Alabama, and the likes. In fact, Troy C, whose smooth and upbeat musical style is strongly influenced by Soca and Funk, has shared the same stage on many occasions with Natural Black. And from whom, it has been said, he has invariably stolen the show.
“Even though Natural Black is usually the headliner,” said one fan after a show with the two at Albany Manor in Brooklyn, New York, “many people come just to see Troy C. He’s definitely the crowd pleaser!”
Backed by a well respected record label, more seasoned, and stronger than ever, Troy C is ready to claim his place as truly the legendary reggae pioneer of Guyana.
