On December 16, 2022, Francine "Singing Francine" Edwards died at her home in New York. On February 6, at a memorial service held at the St Mathias Anglican Church, Barbados, poet and storyteller Miguel Browne was among those who paid tribute to her. The following is an edited version of his eulogy.
The words of Woman’s World, from the 1976 album Yours Truly, epitomise the role that the late Singing Francine played in championing the cause of the female voice in calypsodom.
Outnumbered by her male counterparts, her entry into the calypso arena in 1971 helped to define the era as one in which the female voice fast established itself as equal. And she did just that.
Singing Francine and Calypso Rose (Linda McCartha Monica Sandy-Lewis) were the principal standard-bearers of the movement in the 70s and 80s. One could not mention one name without mentioning the other.
According to Francine, in a 1991 interview, “We dug the foundation and built the bridge across which so many females are crossing today. I am proud of that.”
Singing Francine entered the calypso arena after years of singing chorus in the calypso tents with the popular March of Dimes, led by Nap Hepburn. It was on the urgings of Blakie (Carlton Joseph), who led the Victory Tent, that Francine began her solo career as a calypsonian after he tore up her "chorus contract," in his true warlord style.
Francine’s clear and crisp voice had already taken her to first place in the 1964 Scouting For Talent television series organised by the late Holly Betaudier, singing Never, Never, Never by Shirley Bassey. But that was with ballads, not calypso.
But Blakie was sure Francine was equal to the task. For she also recorded the calypso Bogus Contractors the year before, on the flip side of the ballad When You Get to Phoenix, a reply to Glen Campbell’s hit song, which also made it to the local hit parade. Blakie’s encouragement, with help from Bomber, who wrote her early calypsoes, gave birth to one more calypsonian. The soubriquet of "Singing," given to her by ace arranger and musician Ed Watson, became a template for the many females who answered her call to enter the calypso arena.
Singing Francine quickly carved out a niche for both herself and the female voice. In just her second season in 1972, she sang her way all the way to the Calypso King finals with Carnival Fever and Happiness. She placed third, with only Kitchener (Aldwyn Roberts) and Sparrow (Slinger Francisco) standing between her and the title. In so doing she set the record as the first female to come closest to winning it.
She repeated the feat in 1973 with Mr Carnival and Equal Rights, and in 1975 she broke her own record when she placed second to Kitchener with St Peter Say and It's A Shame, from the pen of Winsford Devines. That April, she won the Calypso King of the World title in St Thomas, US Virgin Islands.
In five seasons Francine proved the female voice was equal to those of her brothers. For her achievements she was awarded the Hummingbird Medal (Silver) in 1975.
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