CALYPSO legend The Mighty Sparrow is in a coma in a New York hospital, the Trinidad Express newspaper reports.
According to The Express, Sparrow (given name Slinger Francisco) was scheduled to receive a Lifetime Achievement Award last Thursday from the Trinidad and Tobago Consulate in New York City.
He did not attend the ceremony. His son, Richard Francisco, accepted the award on his behalf and read a message from his father stating that he was unable to attend the function.
The Express quoted a source as saying Sparrow was “depressed” recently. Calls to Sparrow’s home and mobile phones in New York went unanswered, the newspaper reported. So, did calls to his home in Trinidad, where his wife, Margaret Francisco, spends much of her time. The Grenada-born Sparrow is rated along with Lord Kitchener as Trinidad and Tobago’s greatest calypsonians.
His career started in the 1950s when he first competed in the country’s Carnival events.
He has a strong Jamaican connection, first performing here in the early 1960s. Sparrow was a close friend of Jamaican bandleader Byron Lee, performing regularly on the latter’s Jamaica Carnival.
The two collaborated on the 1975 album, Again!, which contained the hit songs Dragon Dance and Obeah Wedding.
In August 2001, Sparrow received a Jamaica Independence Award during the country’s independence celebrations.