"Bobby" In Trinidad, February 2004

LENNOX   "BOBBY"   MOHAMMED DATE OF BIRTH: 1943 PLACE OF BIRTH: San Fernando, Trinidad EDUCATION: Siparia Road CM School Mon Repos RC School Presentation College, San Fernando STEELBANDS: Gondoliers (1950s - 1961) Cavaliers (1961 - 1970s) SPECIALTIES: Player Arranger CAREER:                                        Mohammed learned to play the piano at a young age under the tutelage of his mother. He began playing cellos in Gondoliers Steelband in the late 1950s and later took over the responsibilities of arranging the band's music when its arranger left. Gondoliers received the Guinness sponsorship playing at Tavern on the Green in Port of Spain and were known as Guinness Gondoliers. However, the band split up and Cavaliers was born out of Gondoliers in February 1961. Cavaliers inherited the Guinness sponsorship and were called Guinness Cavaliers and Mohammed was appointed its leader and arranger. With pans tuned by Allan Gervais, Mohammed went on to lead Cavaliers to the Panorama title in 1965 becoming, at the age of 22, the youngest arranger and the first man of East Indian descent to accomplish this feat. He went on to take Cavaliers to the Panorama title again in the 1967. As a member of the Trinidad & Tobago National Steelband, he performed at: the MRA Conference in the USA (1964); the Commonwealth Arts Festival in London, England (1965); and Expo '67 in Montreal, Canada. The following is a summary of the Cavaliers record in the Panorama competition with musical arrangements by Mohammed: 1965 - "Mas" (Lord Melody), 1st 1966 - "My Brother, Your Sister" (Lord Kitchener), 2nd 1967 - "Sixty-Seven" (Lord Kitchener), 1st 1969 - "Mas in Brooklyn" (Mighty Sparrow), 2nd AWARD: 1992 - Trinidad & Tobago Humming Bird Medal Gold (for Culture) DIED: May 25, 2021, from kidney failure at the San Fernando General Hospital, Trinidad. Compiled by Ronald C. Emrit