Rudder began singing at the age of 11 with a group called The Solutions. In 1977, he joined the brass band Charlie's Roots and began charting his musical career.

"An entertainer to me deals with the surface and an artist goes below the surface to bring things to the surface."

David became an apprentice to the late Ken Morris, a master craftsman known for his copper work and carnival designs. He still paints today and in fact he sees himself more as an artist rather than an entertainer.

It was the influence of the Shango and Pan yard that was to actually colour his music. The chanting of the Shango Baptists continues to be at the heart of many of his songs, though his musical tastes in the past had leaned towards jazz. Other influences include the African music of Yossou N'Dour, Salif Keita, Mory Kante and Alpha Bondy.

He has often been described as a pensive, self-contained individual; a person who, wrote Trinidadian columnist - Wayne Brown, "...has acquired the notion of singing as a king of self-sacrifice, involving surrender of personality and of the singer dissolving to become at once a symbiotic extension of the audience and the anguished medium of the song, a voice of the mercy of a Baptist testifier."

In the early days, Rudder acquired a reputation as a back-up singer in the calypso tent run by Lord Kitchener, one of the great legendary calypsonians. For years, he worked behind the scenes in calypso tents and studios, watching the action. In the meantime, he made a living as an accountant with the Trinidad Bus Company.

Rudder's first big break came when Christopher "Tambu" Herbert, lead singer with Charlie's Roots, fell ill after an exhausting tour of Guyana and suggested his friend Rudder as a temporary replacement. Rudder stayed on as a co-lead singer, and built a reputation for his scintillating performances.

Long before Rudder established himself in the calypso arena, he was known as one of the few band singers who wrote all his own songs. His popularity flowed from his obvious talent and from the radically different image he cultivated of himself as a singer. He did not take a calypso name, did not drink (alcohol) and rarely fraternized with the other calypsonians.

The Mighty Sparrow (calypso's most successful monarch) speaks of David: "He lives clean. He is the heir apparent of the monarch supreme. He gives good interviews and handles himself well."

David, along with Charlie's Roots, produces and performs for the Carnival productions of, what is arguably, the most innovative and controversial Carnival artist ever - Peter Minshall. Minshall's designs have been used in many major events, the most notable being the Barcelona Olympics of 1990 and most recently The Atlanta Olympics in 1996. Over the years Rudder's music has become intertwined with the yearly Minshall's theatric bands.

Rudder spends much of his spare time reading or relaxing with his children, who he regularly brings on stage. His first son Khafra, named after the first black Pharaoh of Egypt, was born in December 1984, almost exactly a year after the death of Rudder's father, an oilfield worker in La Brea in South Trinidad. His second son Isaac was named after the best friend of the character he played in the TV series, Sugar Cane Arrows.

www.davidrudder.co.tt