Russell Henderson

Russell Henderson, MBE ( born January 7, 1924 in Port of Spain, Trinidad ) is a piano player and musician on the steelpan.

Person

Russell Henderson grew up in Belmont, Port of Spain. The mid-1940s he formed a jazz combo, the Russell Henderson Quartet, with whom he performed and soon became known nationwide. 1951 Henderson traveled to London to learn the piano voices on the North London Polytechnic in Holloway Road.

He settled in England then down and had a great influence on the spread of the Caribbean music in the UK. Together with Mervyn Constantine and Sterling Betancourt, he founded the first steel band in England and was instrumental in the founding of the Notting Hill Carnival. Moreover, Henderson taught at schools in London.

2006 Henderson was awarded the Order Member of the British Empire.