I still remember the sound of the truck horns, the signature fast-paced tempos and pumping bass. It was Labor Day in 1997, and “Big Truck” by Machel Montano and Xtatik was blasting through the speakers as I stood near the corner of Brooklyn’s Utica Avenue and Eastern Parkway. I used to be nine years old and it was the primary time my parents brought me “on de parkway” for The West Indian Day parade.

I heard the lyrics “Run, if yah cyah keep yah need to run, when de driver blow de truck horn, run, everybody follow de song badang, badang, badang, bang….Hold on to de big truck!” At the identical time, I saw hundreds of masqueraders jumping and waving on command behind the music trucks. 

That was the day I became a fan of Machel Montano’s music and gained much more of an appreciation for the genre I grew up listening to—soca. 

This 12 months, the Trinidadian superstar is celebrating 40 years within the music industry. His rise to fame is chronicled in a recent book titled King of Soca—The Biography of Machel Montano.

“I wanted people to grasp what it took for him to get there.”

“40 years in music feels unbelievable for me,” Montano told ESSENCE after acting at the 2022 ESSENCE Festival of Culture. “I feel blessed, really blessed.” During our conversation,  I got a probability to inform him in regards to the day I became a fan on Eastern Parkway. He couldn’t imagine I remembered that day. Little did he know, I could always remember it. 

Montano also shared that Recent York holds a special place in his heart. He first performed at Madison Square Garden as a toddler alongside calypso legends like The Mighty Sparrow and Lord Kitchener. He would go on to headline and sell out the venue five times throughout his profession. Recent York can be where he wrote “Big Truck.” The song earned him “road march,” one in every of soca’s most coveted titles.

Moreover, Brooklyn is home to the biggest community of individuals of Caribbean ancestry outside the West Indies. It’s generally known as “Little Caribbean.”

Soca soundtracks Carnival, celebrations rooted in resistance and riot from oppression, across the Caribbean. Held annually at various times all year long, Carnival festivities are massive, multi-day events. They’re steeped in traditions like playing mas, the soca monarch music competition and the grand steelpan competition called panorama. They draw hundreds of individuals from across the globe to the Caribbean and communities across the diaspora.

Montano is a big of the soca genre. He earned the title attributable to his vast variety of international shows, soca monarch wins and collaborations which have pushed the genre forward. You’ll be able to’t discuss soca without mentioning Montano. 

Soca, a portmanteau of ‘Soul of Calypso,’ was birthed from a fusion of African and East Indian rhythms. Lord Shorty created it within the early Nineteen Seventies. While calypso music is a type of socio-political commentary on current affairs, its sub-genre of soca emphasizes high-energy, feel-good vibes  made to make you only wish to rise up and dance. King of Soca captures the essence of the genre, while celebrating the singer’s journey. 

“In the event you call out a song of Machel’s [or] a concert, I can inform you what 12 months it was. I just realize it, so I said that I desired to share it,” says the 71-year old. 

The singer’s mother, Elizabeth “Lady” Montano, an educator and businesswoman who managed Machel’s profession for over thirty years, wrote the book.  

“I wanted to point out the world the story of a young Caribbean boy from the country, from an island, who had certain core values that manifested in him and showed up in his work,” Lady Montano says to ESSENCE. “What happened consequently is that he has had a really sustainable profession for 40 years. I wanted people to grasp what it took for him to get there.”

The 2 are close and have been for the whole thing of Machel’s life and profession. 

“In the event you call out a song of Machel’s [or] a concert, I can inform you what 12 months it was. I just realize it, so I said that I desired to share it,” says the 71-year old. 

Lady Montano organized the book into specific eras of the entertainer’s profession: The Early Years, The Winer Boi period, The H.D. period, The Monk Evolution, and Beyond 40.  The breakdown offers insight into the singer’s growth; including him going from being a toddler star to being generally known as “Mr. Fete” to embracing his spirituality and becoming an advocate for global issues like food security and climate change. 

“I wanted it to be inspirational. I desired to motivate people, especially young people, to know that they can also achieve but understand that success isn’t a straight road,” Lady Montano adds. “It wasn’t for Machel but he never folded.”

“Machel is a person of integrity. He’s a tough employee; he loves his people.”

King of Soca can be greater than an ordinary biography; Lady Montano packed it with family photos, album covers and anecdotes from those closest to the soca legend. She lovingly curated each memory. 

“I had collected 40 years of memorabilia, 40 years of images, of stories and features,” Lady Montano says. “I’m gonna put it in color since the Caribbean persons are people of color. I cannot describe our culture in black and white. She believes her son’s biography will resonate with many, whether or not they wish to study his contribution to soca music’s evolution, or  just his life. She hopes his effort shines through.

“Machel is a person of integrity. He’s a tough employee; he loves his people. He loves his country [and] he loves what he does. His resilience and talent to reinvent himself will bring him continued success,” she says. 

In celebration of the milestone, Montano has an anniversary concert set to happen in Brooklyn on Labor Day. I shall be there with my Guyana flag in hand, waiting to see him mash up de stage. I’m sure it is going to take me back to the moment that made me a fan.

The U.S. launch of “The King of Soca” will happen on September 9 in the course of the fourth annual Brooklyn Caribbean Literary Festival.