Sterling Betancourt

Sterling Betancourt MBE ( born March 30, 1930 in Laventille, Trinidad ) is a pioneer and a successful musician and instrument maker of the Steel Pan.

Life

Betancourt grew up in Laventille, a suburb of Port of Spain. He was a steel pan - builder of the first hour and played in the Steel band Crossfire. In 1951 he was a member of the Steel Band TASPO, which visited the United Kingdom. As the sole of this group he was then in London, to start with Russell Henderson and Mervyn Constantine, the first Steelband Combo in England.

Performances in and around London were the result, as well as radio broadcasts and performances in jazz clubs, as Russell Henderson often played piano. In 1964, the Steelband an invitation and played at a street party in Notting Hill with hung around the neck Steel Pans. This marked the beginning of the Notting Hill Carnival.

Then played and taught Betancourt increasingly on the European continent. In the context of performances in Zurich Hotels in the 70s he formed friendships with the local population and was the initiator of numerous Swiss steel bands.

Sterling Betancourt has participated since 1964, always at the Notting Hill Carnival. In his " Pan around the neck" Nostalgia Steelband it integrates each friends from all over Europe.

Received the Medal Member of the British Empire in 2002 awarded.