Lord Invader is this week’s Phantom Dancer feature artist. He was a Calypso singer and composer who began performing in the 1930s and recorded in the US from 1941 to 1959. We hear one of his 1941 sides today, introduced by actor Vincent Price. He composed ‘Rum and Coca Cola’, a hit for The Andrew Sisters.

The Phantom Dancer produced and presented by 1920s-30s singer and actor Greg Poppleton can be heard online from 12:05pm AEST Tuesday 7 April at https://2ser.com/phantom-dancer/

The final hour of the mix is all vinyl.

LORD INVADER

Lord Invader was born in Trinidad. He first came to notice in 1937 when he began performing in the capital, Port of Spain.

He competed in the very first  Calypso King competition and recorded for Bluebird records.

The Decca label invited him to New York City in 1941 to record.

He wrote many calypso lyrics, his most famous ‘Rum and Coca-Cola‘, was plagiarised by Morey Amsterdam and became a hit for the Andrews Sisters.

The melody had been previously published as the work of Venezuelan calypso composer Lionel Belasco on a song titled “L’Année Passée,” which was in turn based on a folk song from Martinique. Invader wrote lyrics to the tune.

The song became a local hit and was at the peak of its popularity when Amsterdam visited the island in September 1943 as part of a U.S.O. tour.

In 1948, after years of litigation, both plaintiffs won their cases, with Lord Invader receiving an award of $150,000 in owed royalties. However, Morey Amsterdam was allowed to retain copyright to the song. Lord Invader wrote a follow-up song to “Rum and Coca-Cola”, titled “Yankee Dollar”.

In the early 1940s, radio stations in the USA refused to play Lord Invader’s original version on the grounds of its using the trademarked name, and its references to prostitution and alcohol.

Invader later opened a calypso club in Trinidada and toured the U.S, Britain and Europe.

VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Birdsong had a place on US radio from the mid-1920s into the 1950s.

The show that started it all was American Radio Warblers, a program selling birdseed.

Organist Preston Sellers performed with TEN canaries.

The show ran for almost 30 years, finishing on the Mutual Network from Chicago.

Trill, I mean thrill, to Preston and ‘The Original Feathered Stars of the Air’ in this commercial 78 recording…

7 APRIL PLAY LIST