IT WAS ANOTHER BUSY DAY for Kirk Brown. Already on that Thursday afternoon he had finished his shift on 98.1 The One, fit in an appointment to have his hair braided, and sent off emails in order to fine-tune details about the international models to be featured in the new music video.
As soon as our lunch interview at Oceans Two was over, he had to dash off to the airport to meet the models and their entourage, as well as rehearse for the Mega Cavalcade slated for the next day.
The hustle was real.
The entertainer/emcee/host/entrepreneur/marketing specialist/all-round-everything is known in local music circles for his tenaciously hard-working personality and a charge of energy that just doesn’t seem to quit.
But a softer, more relaxed side is emerging. This Crop Over, Kirk’s rugged vocals have been smoothed and polished into You’re My Number One, arguably one of the more popular songs for the season and, self-admittedly, his best song to date.
“I feel this is the year. I have a real positive vibe. Even people that don’t like me are saying this is my best song and that means a lot, and it shows development . . . . It sounds like a more rested, relaxed Kirk and that was what I was going for,” he explained.
The song has already picked up traction outside of the island, and a Creole-style remix with Martiniquan singer Admiral T will also be hitting airwaves.
It was another significant evolution in Kirk’s career, as everything he does was a part of a strategy (obvious pun intended) towards something greater. The first steps towards that change came last year, when the Caribbean’s soca queen candidly encouraged Kirk to break out of his trademark rugged vocals.
“Alison Hinds sat me down last season and told me I needed to sing better. [She said] ‘You have a lot of fans, a lot of social fans, and it was my duty to not only have people like me but to give a quality product they could support . . .,” he said.
Taking this advice to heart, Kirk applied his strong work ethic – which he got from his parents – towards becoming a better singer. This push also informed the type of song he chose, he revealed.
“Somewhere between the movie [Vigilante: The Crossing] I found time to do vocal training with Norma Bowen. [For my song] I went with Shaft (songwriter Jason Bishop) and originally he presented me with a number of songs, but I wanted to do a song that respected the ladies. Everybody got a rum song or a ‘push back, juck back girl’ kind of song . . . . I wanted to do a no-apology, I’m in love with this girl in the middle of the dancefloor, I got on blinkers so I can’t see the others [type of song].”
While Kirk’s first taste of music came as a student at The St Michael School, he rose to popularity on the Bajan music scene in 2005 as the rugged side to Strategy, started with Philip 7 and Eon Small. At the time, the trained information technology specialist saw himself as a moonlight musician with a love for the art. Kirk’s parents believed that music was not a viable, sustainable career option, so Kirk focused his attention on computers and electronics.
“I don’t love computers but I am very good with them. I did that as my out from Brittons Hill to make a decent salary to support my family. I was IT manager at [Southern Palms] hotel. During that time I was singing with Strategy too, and that was when we were at Baku and Ship Inn,” he said.
He eventually left the 9-5 and times were good . . . until they weren’t.
“We were gigging five to seven days a week with Strategy, but then the gigs started to wane as The Gap started to slow down. The hotels stopped hiring bands and all the [places like] Café Jungles started to close. At one point I had 18 staff members – full band, roadies, office managers . . . We were the first band to go on 106 & Park and we were feeling like we were going to hit big time. From 2008 to 2012, those were the worst years. I saw people from the band starting to leave and telling me that they had to go get a ‘real’ job.”
Determined not to return to IT, Kirk began to strategise. Realising that he was gaining some traction as a host and voicing commercials, he began to explore the potential as a viable revenue stream. He also sought out the help of professionals to teach him about deejaying and learning how to improve his speaking. Since they all said they did not have the time to help out, Kirk helped himself.
“I bought a Numark NS7 [DJ turntable] and myself, Fewwture (Matthew Ashby) and DJ Puffy (Andre Parris), who was still at Combermere, set it up in my spare office and we would practise. I just wanted to not sound bad on radio. That was my approach. I listened to the guys who were very good and I would practise.”
He got his first shot on radio doing the midnight to 5 a.m. graveyard shift at 98.1 The One. He bounced around time slots before settling two years ago on The Edge, which runs weekdays from 5 a.m. to 10 a.m. Kirk also found ways to keep Strategy working without him as the frontman.
“I had the radio and if not for that, we had no gigs. I would be saying to myself, how am I going to make enough money to keep my band running? It is a very desperate position to be in. At one point I sold off everything in my studio: the chairs, couches, filing cabinet . . . because we had no work. People see this businessman and think that everything was running smoothly, but there was a time when nothing was going on for us and that was only two years ago.
“I take it as my personal weight not to have them unemployed,” he asserted. “As the businessman in me, I stopped singing . . . so I leased them out. They were the backing band for Blaxx, Skinny Fabulous, Alison Hinds, Biggie, Lil Rick.”
Things are looking up, however. Kirk has a constant stream of bookings for various events at home and in St Lucia, Dominica, Martinique and Bequia. Imani has been added to Strategy, along with Kirk and reigning calypso monarch Ian Webster. Trouble, his soca release for this year, will also be dropping soon. Fresh off Vigilante: The Crossing set, he will be shooting another movie in September. Strategy is also booked to tour with some of the Caribbean’s finest soca acts. The businessman has his eyes set on an ideal of success that is bigger than Barbados.
Then he will relax.
“I love the artistes here, but we don’t have that definitive success. Machel has a band, a brand and a store. That is what I am seeking to create, and then take a break.
“I am thinking and projecting that both of my songs will do well and bookings will come. I am hoping I will win some major title, or all of them, knock on wood, and then taking the end of August off, working on a new film project in September and taking three months off. The foundation has been laid.”
Perhaps some of his down time will be spent with his “number one” and working on the “big family” he desires. With a hectic schedule, it may be a little challenging to do, but Kirk believed all it took was a bit of flexibility, understanding . . . and some late nights.
“A lot of people have written me off because of my schedule. I know it’s hectic and a lot of people don’t realise I work so early in the morning and so much during the day, that when I get a break, before I host another late-night show, that is when “she” would be sleeping . . . I am wolverine during the day because I choose to be. When I am done with radio, I could sleep from 10 to 6 because there are no gigs then, I just try to make it productive . . .,” he explained.
“I do admit that I work too hard, but it is with a goal in mind. It is not because I don’t care about chilling or don’t want to take a day off, but I felt the need to push, dare I say overextend, to build that foundation and then ease off.” (Green Bananas Media)
