Mélange Travel & Lifestyle Magazine October 2016 | Page 365

Share with us your
background and what
motivated you to get
started in this business.

I started in the entertainment
business back in my days at
Vancouver’s Langara College as
an entertainment coordinator. I
brought in top entertainment for
the students on a weekly basis
and that is where the
entertainment “itch” started.
Fast forward to working in
various night clubs as a busboy,
then graduated to a “doorman”
and then became a Talent Buyer
for the various clubs mentioned!
I found it extremely exciting, the
entertainment business is like an
addiction – I just can’t get it out of
my system!

What was the very first
Melo Productions event?

My very first Melo Productions
event was “Ellie Matt & The G. I’S
Brass” out of St. Kitt’s & Nevis and
they performed at the Devonshire
Hotel in Downtown Vancouver in

1976! From there it just exploded
to: Jimmy Cliff, Damien and
Stephen Marley, Machel Montano,
Byron Lee & the Dragonaires,
Morgan Heritage, Inner Circle,
Shaggy, Skatalites, Toots & the
Maytals, The Wailers, Yellowman,
Beres Hammond, Burning Spear,
Chronixx, Mr. Vegas, Allison
Hinds, Ky-Mani Marley, Ziggy
Marley, Beenie Man, Luciano,
Tony Rebel, David Rudder, and
Third World . . . just to name a
few! In addition, we then began
yearly ‘special events’ with
Tropical Boat Cruises on board
the MV Britannia – Harbour
Cruises and our Glitz & Glamour
New Year’s Eve Galas at the Hilton
Hotel Metrotown and our Old
School Dances at the Croatian
Cultural Centre!

Melo Productions has
also embraced the public
eye by way of its carnival
band’s participation in
the North Vancouver’s
Caribbean Days Festival

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Parade. Why did you
decide to get involved in
this event?

I am a very proud Caribbean
person from the island of St. Kitts
& Nevis but have been called by
many persons “the Caribbean
Man representing all Caribbean
Islands”. It is my culture that
I live and breathe every day. I
wanted and needed to showcase
the beauty, the excitement and the
roots of Carnival to my Canadian
friends and audience.
It gives me great joy to bring
out and represent my Caribbean
Culture to my friends and the
people of British Columbia!