Popular Musician, Kenny G, Still Singing Those Good Old Hits

Sometimes we’re all too caught up in the lyrics of some popular artist or their genre of music, that we don’t pay enough attention to the ones that have been singing the lyrics of those same artists and many others. An artist like Kenneth Gladden, or Kenny G, as he is known to his fans across Belize. He has been singing since the mid-eighties in Corozal, and then he became popular with the now-defunct Santino’s Messengers and the Lord Rhaburn Combo. And while he hasn’t written many hit songs of his own, Kenny G has been performing his own renditions of those of other local and international artists. But because music has transitioned over the years and live bands, made up of several members, have faced fierce competition with cheaper-priced DJ entertainment, musicians like Kenny G have had to turn to other means of livelihood to make ends meet. And News Five’s Marion Ali found him doing just that when she visited him at his clothing outlet on Mahogany Street today. She brings you Kenny G’s journey to popularity and off the stage in this week’s edition of Kolcha Tuesday.

 

Marion Ali, Reporting

If you’re over fifty, you know this man for his smooth vocals and his remarkable ability to interpret various musical artists hit songs in a way that you absolutely enjoy. Kenneth Gladden, otherwise known widely as Kenny G, has been in the music industry since his early days in Corozal. His initiation into music came in the strangest of ways. He was not discovered by anyone. He told us that he decided to try his voice at home in private and liked what he heard. And that was his starting point.

 

Kenneth “Kenny G” Gladden, Musician

“When school was out, I used to go do a part-time job da the U.S. Consul with a lee Maya man, Mr. Uk. I used to goh do part-Time job with him. And I get to buy a lee tape recorder right, weh record yoh voice.  And, I used to put on the music, and I record, and I used to sing along with the music, right? And I record the voice, then play it back and listen to it, how ih sound and if ih eena tune. And I say yoh know something that’s sound good. I think I should take it up. And then when people start to hear me, other musicians start to hear me and say, why we don’t want to come sing with the band.”

That was back in Corozal when Gladden’s singing career started. Those early performances took him to Chetumal and surrounding areas in the mid-eighties. From there, he moved to Belize City, where the Santino’s Messengers Baby and the Lord Rhaburn Combo, at another point, were familiar weekend sounds with Kenny G.

 

Kenneth “Kenny G” Gladden

“That was the late eighties, cause that’s when we found Messengers Baby, Santino’s Messengers Baby. That was in the late eighties. I would have said about 88, 89.”

 

Marion Ali

“When you were the main vocalist.”

 

Kenneth “Kenny G” Gladden

“Yes, I was the main vocalist.”

 

Marion Ali

“When you had hair.”

 

Kenneth “Kenny G” Gladden

“When I had hair, black hair.”

 

Gladden says his first inspiration was his father.

 

Kenneth “Kenny G” Gladden

“I was inspired firstly, by my father. Because my father is a great leader. He used to call him Chuck because they say he take off a Chuck Fender. I have never seen my father performing full until later days of his life, when he came back to Belize from New York. But I was inspired by him because everybody tell me, “Boy, how great your father was,” right? Boy, your pa hard. Man like Evan X Hyde just say, “Bwai your pa da a bad man, Bismarck and all these guys who had known my father back then, they tell me how good he was right.”

 

And while you may have heard his mellow voice performing to one of your favourite artists’s songs, you probably didn’t know that Kenny G is the lyricist behind that popular Guana Tail.

Kenneth “Kenny G” Gladden

“Ah hungry, weh yoh want, ah hungry, weh yoh want. Da rice and beans, me nuh want that, Da rice and beans, me nuh want that. Da cowfoot soup, me nuh want that, da cowfoot soup, me nuh want that. Weh yoh want, gimme the guana tail, guana tail guana tail, guana tail. Gimme the guana tail.”

 

Marion Ali

“You wrote that?”

 

Kenneth “Kenny G” Gladden

“Yes. I make that song. When we gone da Bermudian Landing. I see this gial just di dance fronta we right and she just di fling like she di fling wa tail, right? I said, this place known fi guana and the tail di wap wap round and this gial behind just di goh like guana tail. I say, alright, good.”

 

But live music entertainment has transitioned since the eighties. Now live bands face challenges getting jobs because people oftentimes opt for the cheaper-priced D-J entertainment. But Gladden, who has his own New Creation Band now, says he will keep the band going, and he is doing what he can through his own music to keep the Belizean music industry alive. And he has the support of the Director of the Institute of Creative Arts, Kim Vasquez.

 

Kim Vasquez, Director, Institute of Creative Arts

“We really have to look at musicians like Kenny Gladden who are musicians that buck a lot of what we call the living legends or the well-known musicians. And so we tend to not remember them as often as we should. He does in fact have his own band, the New Creation Band, and he does a really good job of promoting Belizean music, of covering the music of, other musicians and keeping Belizean culture alive in his own way. And again, as well he was known for the Santino’s Baby, a very popular band making the circuit Bellevue, all of these different venues. And so it’s really, when you think of Kenny Gladden, you think of a good party, musician. One of these persons that if you’re having a wedding or a christening, a birthday party, you associate that type of Belizean music, that party music, really festive with his music.”

 

Kenneth “Kenny G” Gladden

“By keeping our legends alive it paves the way for youth in a sense that the youth will say okay We never know da Ben McCoy may do that song deh. We hear it but we don’t know da Ben McCoy do it. Or we never know da Lord Rayburn do da song. So by keeping these legends in the forefront, ih pave the way for the youths and they say okay, so we could take one page out of Lord Rhaburn book and we could do a we thing just like Lord Rhaburn.”

 

If you would like Kenny G and the New Creations Band to play at your special event, you can contact him at 625 -0064. Marion Ali for News Five.