Lord Flea

From HitStory, the pop encyclopedia of School of Rock · Artist

Lord Flea was the stage name of Norman Byfield Thomas, a Jamaican mento musician from Kingston, who died in 1959. He began in the dance halls of Kingston and in 1949 was given a regular spot for a year after winning talent contests. With the support of local businessmen he made records. The owner of Club Calypso in Miami was looking in Jamaica for an authentic sound and offered him and his band, the Calypsonians, a residency of several months in the United States.

Music and breakthrough

The music was sold as calypso, but Flea called his style mento. In 1957 he explained that this name was used in Jamaica until calypso became a catch-all name for all West Indian music. The band members had colourful names such as Count Slick, Count Spoon and Prince Charles, and the bassist Fish Ray already used a walking bass. In 1957 the group appeared on The Perry Como Show, recorded the album Swingin' Calypsos for Capitol and played in the films Calypso Joe and Bop Girl Goes Calypso. With Shake Shake Sonora he received a good review in Billboard.

Influence

His lyrics are funny. In Mister Give Me Ma Rent, for example, he sings about a nosy landlady. Flea fell ill and died in 1959. His funeral procession was at the time the longest that Miami-Dade had ever seen. He helped set off the calypso craze in the United States, although American imitators made more money from it.

Listening

• 
  Naughty Little Flea · Lord Flea, 1957
  Apple Music ↗

Discography

Studio albums

• 1957Swingin' Calypsos