Sanell Dempster

She’s tall, dark and svelte. Her husky voice, sexy outfits, and stage performances drive men to the edge. In fact they quite literally climb over each other to get close to her just so she might touch them or ask them to sing a note with her.

Many think, because this is her first hit (River), that she is new on the soca scene. Actually, Sanell has been singing professionally since 1991 when she started with the now defunct Taxi. Since then, she has done stints with Atlantik, Traffik and Sound Revolution.

Ironically, Sanell’s singing career began quite inauspiciously during her teenage years at secondary school. She was always enthusiastic to perform, however, she had one problem; she often forgot the lyrics.

"Once I practiced all night for a calypso competition and I was sure I would remember the lyrics but when I got on stage, I only remembered one verse and I sang it over and over," she said. "After that, I just left and went home."

Now, she has clearly gotten over her mental block and is on her way to becoming a soca star. Both Industry bigwigs and partygoers have already compared Sanell to Barbadian star Alison Hinds whose success over the last three years has cleared a path for other females in the soca arena. We need to remember though that Calypso Rose, Singing Francine and others have also made an impact on the soca scene but perhaps the time of the woman in soca has finally arrived.

She isn’t too fazed by the success of her first song. This shy lady who is nothing like the vixen she portrays onstage is content to sit back and savour every moment of her success. "I want to see how far this song would go," she said. "River" was written with her husband, Terry, a keyboardist and sound engineer. Together they went through a four month process of conceptualising, writing and recording the song.

The song has a catchy melodic line, some of which is borrowed from the spiritual, "When the Saints Go Marching In." "River" isn’t the only labour of love the couple has shared, they have a six-year-old son Jamol. "He likes music already," she said, laughing. "He sings in key and he really wants me to get him a drum set."

The frontline vocalist with Blue Ventures (one of Trinidad and Tobago’s top music bands) is the winner of the 1999 Road March crown with "River", her first solo recording.