To hear the voice of Charles Legend Odell is to be transported to another era – a time when life was simpler, when an active musical band culture ruled this country, a time of The Opels.
This is the voice that will be featured at Still Standing, a concert that will not only seek to capture the flow of sweet Bajan music through the mists of time, but will honour 53 years on stage for a man who has paid his dues to local culture and is still standing, still singing and still inculcating in young artistes the need for proper vocal training.
“The voice is an instrument which must be manipulated, just like a guitar. Each voice has a different tone but a voice trainer can work with it, even if a person is tone deaf,” said Odell.
Having started singing officially as a teenager in the Eagle Hall Choir, the man who was born on July 5, 1944 in Peterkins Road, Bank Hall, St Michael, was led to the stage by his sister Joan, who was also a member of the Eagle Hall choral group. The group, boosted by Odell’s young alto voice, won several competitions in the late 1950s.
But by the dawn of the 60s, however, the secular group The Opels, then rising in popularity on the local vocal scene, had a vacancy.
“I could sing different parts – tenor and alto – so I was given an opportunity to sing with the group after being introduced by [bass singer] Rudolph ‘Bandit’ Waithe,” Odell added. “Waithe also taught me to play the guitar,” he added; this move that propelled him to be The Opels’ rhythm guitarist.
Charles, recalling the massive popularity of the group throughout the 60s as it boasted voices like Clarence Thompson, Richard Stoute and the late Hubert “Angel” Grant and Lionel “Midge” Springer, said the Opels was solidly booked for nearly all of the major international shows promoted in Barbados at the time. In fact, by the time the group had reached its zenith, Odell was the lead vocalist.
“This was because I used to encourage the group not just to do covers but original songs,” he said, noting this was a turning point for him and The Opels, leading to his first recorded numbers, Baby Please Don’t Cry and Keep Your Promise.
But that’s not how he got to be a local legend. “Long ago I was actually called Predictor by the Mighty Gabby, who used to remark on my ability to foretell events. Even now, I see things in dreams and they come to pass, and I dream every single night,” he revealed.
It was in the 1990s that he, upon seeking to join the Kingdom Of Super Gladiators, was christened Legend by that calypso tent’s manager Roy Byer, who praised him for being “a legend in Barbados”.
“So that became my stage name,” added Legend.
But even before that, Odell was making waves here and abroad, having emigrated to Canada in 1970. Seeking to broaden his musical horizons, Charles worked the music circuit in Ottawa, performing at hotels, restaurants and clubs, learning the piano, and even hosting a 30-minute cable television programme.
Upon returning home in 1981, months before CARIFESTA, in which he subsequently participated, he got a job working with the Barbados Tourism Authority performing folk songs at old “great houses” around the island.
“I also worked in primary schools, preparing students vocally for the National independence Festival of Creative Arts (NIFCA), and arranging their songs. I’m satisfied with where I am after 53 years in music,’ he stated.
“I could’ve gained a lot more materially, but I dropped out of what I call the fast lane, because if I didn’t, I might either be a junkie or dead,” was how he put it.
The man, whose relatives included revered local minstrel Shilling, will now showcase on May 21 his grandson Omar McQuilkin, as well as veteran entertainers Stoute, Tony Grazette, Frank Foreigner Frank Coppin, Observer, Tyrone Trotman and his dance troupe, and the Barbados Youth Service’s vocal group at the Queen’s Park Steel Shed.
“I’m still performing in various genres, as well as acting, singing and writing. I’m still standing,” said the qualified yogi.
