HE IS BOBBY SAINT to the world, but he will always be Hal Linton on home soil.
The darling of the 2007 Barbados Music Awards was back home and on stage last weekend for the final edition of the Mahalia’s Corner season and to spend some quality time with his three godchildren.
He insists on the same given name, but is he the same person?
The road to 2015 has had some interesting twists and turns and he is now at that “next level” for which most artistes yearn. Those who watched his growth before he relocated to the United States may have a Cardiac Arrest at what went into his choice of Bobby Saint alone.
Bobby Saint is, in fact, his “porn name”.
“This is how a porn name works – the first dog as your pet and the street you grew up on. So I grew up in St Barnabas Heights in St Michael and my first dog was Bobby. It was a joke and I decided I’m going to use it,” Linton explained.
He has already rebranded, but he performed as Hal Linton at Mahalia’s Corner. That will obtain for every show in Barbados.
“I’m always going to be Hal Linton in Barbados. That’s my government name. That’s the name my mother and father gave me. I’m proud of that name. No matter what happens anywhere else, I’ll be Hal Linton here,” he insisted.
The rebrand coincided with his move from New York to California last year, and he seems to be finally content with his life and what is happening with his career. He has even got into scoring.
“I did a lot of stuff for the new Lego movie coming out in December. I’m writing for Austin Mahone of Cash Money and I did Wolfgang Gartner this year. It was like my first Billboard Top Ten (No. 6 Billboard Dance Charts). It’s been an amazing year,” he said with excitement in his voice.
He said he had been enjoying himself and being creative since moving to Los Angeles.
“This year has been like next level,” he told EASY magazine“It’s been ten years I’ve been in the United States working the music, and now I’m starting to see the fruits of that labour. That’s what it is, though, when you’re creative. Everyone isn’t like Rihanna that had that hit song, that blow-up. She’s beautiful. She has the whole thing. Barbados creatively has been doing well, and I feel like we’re not getting enough press here.”
Apart from his own exploits, he was boasting about Shontelle and Livvi Franc as well. He could not contain the pride when he said Franc wrote about five of the songs on Britney Spears’ last album.
“Barbados has been creating these amazing talents, and we’ve been doing stuff outside of being just artistes. That’s why I disappeared, because I was doing that . . . . It’s not as much glitz and glam like back in the day with Cardiac Arrest, but it’s good,” Linton said.
His fortunes appear to be much better now than when he hooked up with Motown. Linton did not go into the details, but it is evident that things did not quite go the way he and his connections had hoped.
“It was a bad time to be at Motown,” he said. “All the label heads were being fired and all that . . . . This is like 2004. Everyone was getting fired. It was fine, I was touring, I was doing stuff and I kind of got over the artiste thing for a little while. People haven’t seen me do music here for a long time, and I’m cool with that. I’ve just been writing for other artistes.”
Not daunted or disillusioned by his experience at Motown, Linton picked himself up and found some other niches that proved to be much more lucrative. Songwriting has seen him travelling to different countries.
“That’s been great. It’s taken me all over the world. I lived in Paris. I lived in the UK doing albums. . . . Then I was in Australia.”
Artistes he has been working with include Anthony Touma, who won X-Factor in Paris, Evans, Way of The Eagle, Allen Stone, Nikka Costa and Justin Stanley. He has been dabbling with writing for Broadway with Stanley as well, Linton said.
After a break to explore his other creative abilities, Linton said he was now getting back to artistry. He was quick to admit that Hal Linton, the artiste, did not work in the United States.
“That wasn’t my fault, that was my label’s fault,” he said. “It didn’t work because my label didn’t want to do what I wanted to do. I’ve experienced the worst part of the music business, in the US and that’s why I’m so propping this year up. Because this year I’ve actually met amazing people, done amazing work and it’s making me do more. I feel like it’s a more promising year. Moving to LA was a good thing for me. It really changed my entire career.”
The LA move also saw him adding professor to his titles. Linton said he teaches twice a week at a music college called Icon Collective.
Hal Linton/Bobby Saint the singer has also resurfaced this year and he is currently working on two extended play recordings.
“That’s why I’m so excited about Mahalia’s Corner,” he said from the shade of a tree at the park by Pebbles Beach, which is a stone’s throw away from Hilton Barbados, where the show was held.
It was his first trip back home since January 2014 when he came for his father’s funeral, and his first time on a local stage since Love, Poetry and Song the previous year.
Bajans should not expect to see him more often, though.
“I try not to perform in Barbados a lot. I want to come and be like ‘oh, it’s been a year, let’s go and see it’. I prefer it to be like that. I’m not like the every weekend. I’m not that. I want to do amazing stuff and bring new things to people. I don’t want to oversaturate them. I’m not trying to be here all the time. I want to come and give people a great show, something to remember and come back. That’s how I feel about performing here,” he said.
Now that he has seemingly come into his own as a multidimensional artiste, he said he will continue to dream hunt, and does not have time to dedicate to a committed relationship.
“No matter how old I get – I could be 85 – I want to still have a few dreams. I love that,” Linton said.
I’ve experienced the worst part of the music business, in the US . . . . This year I’ve actually met amazing people, done amazing work and it’s making me do more. I feel like it’s a more promising year.
