Tiny Mix Tapes

RIP: Alphonsus “Arrow” Cassell, calypso and soca star

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From the Star Tribune:

Alphonsus “Arrow” Cassell, a soca musician who won global fame with his 1982 hit “Hot Hot Hot,” died Wednesday. He was 60.

He died of complications from brain cancer at his home on the Caribbean island of Montserrat, said his brother, Justin Cassell, a singer-songwriter who often collaborated with him.

The highlight of his career was “Hot Hot Hot,” Cassell said, adding that his brother also gained fame because “he took soca to all corners of the world.”

“Arrow” Cassell was among the best-known artists of Caribbean-born soca, a music derived from soul and calypso that emphasizes music over lyrics.

“Calypso is political, tropical, slower,” the musician told The Associated Press in a 1996 interview. “Soca is dance. ‘Feeling Hot Hot Hot …’. It makes you forget that there’s a volcano and (remember) there’s fun to be had.”

• Arrow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arrow_(musician)