Elizabeth "Lady" Montano shares insights in the 40-year long career of her son Machel Montano in the biography she has written, King of Soca.
It is set for release in June.
The biography is the signature achievement for the businesswoman, who describes herself as "the ultimate insider" to Machel's stardom in the music industry.
King of Soca is the debut publication of the first-time author’s very own EESM Publishers imprint. It covers the evolution of Machel – the man and artist – over four decades. From her extraordinary vantage point, Montano details the characteristics of and stories associated with the various eras of Machel’s artistry. She shares the highs and lows of her son’s journey against the backdrop of his "ever-evolving interior world shaping his outer expression," states a release on the biography.
[caption id="attachment_949048" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Machel Montano's One Step Ahead from 1994. -[/caption]
The book is based on Montano’s 2018 MPhil dissertation – The making of Monk Monte: Creativity and Commodification in Trinidad and Tobago Popular Culture. At first, Montano was tempted to build on it for a PhD, but decided against the academic route when she understood that her intention was to make it accessible to everyone.
An educator by training, Montano has viewed storytelling as a vital part of knowledge sharing, which she deems essential to growth and development. King of Soca therefore embodies a comprehensive record of the music history of 47-year-old Machel which, according to the former "momager", is not well known, and much less so among the nation’s youth.
Even with the solid foundation of her 2018 thesis, it has taken Montano two years to bring the work to fruition. Commenting on the process, she says, “I started writing the book itself in 2020, at the start of the pandemic when everything was shut down and I was in Toco. I thought I would finish it quickly because it was all in my head and I simply had to adapt my master's dissertation. However, once it ceased to be an academic project, the possibilities for what I could include were now suddenly endless.”
Montano’s enduring desire to document her son’s story is manifest in her compulsive collection of Machel memorabilia, which in 2015, constituted a full exhibition at the historic Boissiere House in Port of Spain. She admits to her relentless pursuit to preserve evidence of all aspects of his life since what she describes as “his miracle birth” in 1974, and more so from 1982 when he officially entered the entertainment arena.
Her vision for the project was clear: “I was always able to see what the book would be like. I was disappointed when I could not include all the pictures, anecdotes, imagery and other special things I wanted in my dissertation. So seeing the book actually taking shape really created a renewed vision of what it would be like. I’m really thankful to the various teams working with me to bring my words to life.”
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