SMOKEY BURKE is back from Canada, and the fifth check since his cancer treatment showed him to be squeaky clean.
As if that was not enough reason for a celebration, several of his friends in the entertainment fraternity joined him for a live launch of his Different Smokes For Different Folks From Then Til Now album on CBC’s Morning Mix programme with Teisha Hinds yesterday.
Among those reflecting on their association with Burke was former bandmate Raymond Harewood, who played with him in his first band, the Twilighters, back in the day when he was a drummer.
Long-standing chairman of the National Cultural Foundation, Al Gilkes, shared with viewers and the studio audience how he met Burke as a youngster coming around the Barbados Advocate office on Broad Street with his (Gilkes’) colleague William Burke Sr.
Gilkes also takes credit for showing Smokey his way around the drums and for getting Smokey on his first sold-out show.
Ian Alleyne also spoke of his admiration for Burke as a youngster coming up.
Mark Lorde, Alex Waithe, Rickey Aimey, Willie Kerr, Richard Stoute, Red Plastic Bag, Blood, Richard Haynes, Washbrook Bayne and several others passed through during the morning.
“I brought out some of my friends and most of them have turned up, for which I am really, really grateful. This is so beautiful,” a beaming Burke said.
Burke, who was in fine voice, sang some of the songs on the 17-track album, which features some of his early hits from 1974 right through to 2010. It has spouge, folk and ragga soca and reggae.
“There are some tracks on it that were really demos and were never finished recordings. But because the original tracks have been lost, I decided to put [them] on anyway and I’ve explained that inside on the CD.”
Producers for the album include Ian Alleyne, Chris Gibbs, John Gibbs, Anthony Lowhar and John Roett.
All things being equal, Burke will have biannual cancer checks for the next four years.
“It’s a nice feeling,” he said. (YB)
