Biography
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Born
1906
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Died
1968 (aged 62)
The Duke of Iron (born Cecil Anderson, 1906 — 1968) was a well-known calypsonian, nightclub and concert entertainer, and recording artist from the 1930s through the 1960s. He was renown for his bawdy humor, crisp diction, and confident vocal mannerisms. His clarity in pronouncing English lyrics helped him achieve tremendous popularity with American audiences.
Anderson was a native of Trinidad, and moved with his family to New York in 1923. In the 1930s he was a featured vocalist with the Caribbean-styled big band Felix & His Krazy Kats. He became a headliner on the New York club scene, which included a ten-month stint at the Village Vanguard in the 1940s. He also participated in the legendary 1946 Calypso At Midnight concerts produced by Alan Lomax at New York's Town Hall auditorium.
Anderson was notorious for humorous, ribald calypsos, like "I Left Her Behind For You," "Miss Constance" ("she said: I may be small, and yet/I can take on any runner when the track gets wet"), "The Naughty Fly," and "The Postman" (who has "the longest route in town/they know he rings the bell whenever he comes round"). He also wrote topical songs about radio commentator Walter Winchell and the New York Mets baseball team.
During the 1950s and 1960s, he performed at Carnegie Hall, the Apollo Theater in Harlem, and at many leading nightclubs, such as the Village Gate, the Jamaican Room and the Calypso Room. He appeared in the film Calypso Joe (Allied Artists Pictures, 1957) with Angie Dickinson. He regularly returned to Trinidad to keep up with current trends in calypso, and performed and recorded many annual Carnival hits.
The Duke of Iron recorded singles and albums for a variety of labels, including Decca, Virgin Isle-Supertone, Varsity, Paragon, Stinson and Folkways (both for Moses Asch), Monogram, Prestige/International, and RCA Victor.
Anderson played cuatro and was an exceptional pianist. His brother George "Boysie" Anderson played flute, clarinet and saxophone, and recorded with Cecil on several of his later albums.
He died in 1968 at age 62.
Jazz saxophonist Sonny Rollins, who recorded a number of Caribbean-styled instrumentals, composed and recorded a piece entitled "Duke of Iron" in his memory.
Calypso Lore
Some sources allege that Anderson, as the Duke of Iron, made the first calypso recording in 1914. Anderson was eight years old at the time. The recording in question, titled "Iron Duke in the Land," was made by calypso pioneer Julian Whiterose. Although calypsos had originally been sung in French, by the time "Iron Duke" was recorded calypsonians had developed the art singing in English.
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