Calypso legend Lord Funny to be honoured at 2024 Sunshine Awards Hall of Fame

Trinidadian calypsonian Donric Williamson, popularly known as ‘Lord Funny,’ stands to receive the honour of induction into the Sunshine Awards Hall of Fame in celebration of its 36th anniversary.

The ceremony takes place on October 19, 2024, at the Robert Treat Hotel in Newark, New Jersey, where guest dignitaries along with friends, relatives, and fans will gather to support Lord Funny’s contributions to Caribbean cultural and musical heritage.

Lord Funny has been in show business for more than fifty years and is famous for his genius style wherein he relates wit and humour with piercing social commentary.

It was during the late 1960s that he first gained popularity due to the hit single, Farmer Brown, which was a light-hearted witty calypso telling the story of a donkey. His style of humor and compelling style of narration rapidly won hearts.

Later, it was with his 1973 song, Soul Chick, that he recorded the best-selling hit, mostly in New York where he sold well over 500,000 copies.

Throughout his career, Lord Funny continued to post hits such as ‘Ding Dong’, ‘How You Feel?’, ‘Sweet, Sweet Trinidad’ and many others throughout his winning and celebrated career.

Lord Funny’s prowess extends way beyond music, as he has won a bevy of other respected accolades over the years. He was awarded the Keys to the City of Port of Spain in 1989 for his important contribution to the Trinidad cultural landscape.

He received a Sunshine Award in 2000 for impact in the performing arts. In 2018, he was awarded the Hummingbird Medal Silver, one of the highest honours awarded by the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, for contributions to culture and the arts.

Often compared with Spoiler, who is also a super calypsonian known for continuing to engage his audience with humour in his performances, the lord has truly defined the art of how to use humour as a tool to get at some deep social issues at play here.

His wit and prowess on the stage has given him a tag of the favourite figure in the eyes of the people in the calypso field. His social commentary ability, mixed with humour, created a credibility factor that made him popular beyond this world, and his work continues to inspire later generations of calypsonians.

Other prominent Caribbean artists to be inducted in the Hall of Fame include Rikki Jai, Edwin Yearwood of Barbados, Ajamu of Grenada, and Jamaican singer Carlene Davis.

Humanitarians Rhonda Maingot and Rose Jackman, co-founders of the Living Water Community, would be recognized with the Dr Dom Basil Matthews Sunshine Award for human service.

This induction into the Sunshine Awards Hall of Fame suits Lord Funny, whose legacy continues to enrich Caribbean culture in the art of calypso.

His influence, being one of the originators of humorous calypso, and his contribution to the arts, resonate him at the greats’ level in the Caribbean music-making history book.