Lord Creator elated to be honoured in long adopted home
Published:Sunday | October 23, 2022 | 12:07 AMStephanie Lyew - Sunday Gleaner Writer
Any interview with veteran ska artiste Lord Creator will always touch on his love for Jamaica. Six decades have passed since he wrote and recorded Independent Jamaica, the song documented as one of the first on the iconic Island Records label founded by Chris Blackwell and one that marked the historic occasion of the island gaining its Independence from the British empire.
Now, in 2022, the entertainer hailed as one of the ska genre’s progenitors, introducing ska elements into local culture, was honoured for his contribution to the development of Jamaican music and community service. Lord Creator, born Kenrick Patrick, was honoured with the Order of Distinction in the rank of officer at the National Honours and Awards Ceremony held on Heroes’ Day, and he couldn’t he happier.
“This is a great feeling,” he told The Sunday Gleaner. “I’ve always felt great things in Jamaica because even before I came to Jamaica, I was involved in the music industry but never played an instrument. When I came here, I was motivated to play the guitar, but my hands and fingers used to hurt, [so] I put it down.”
Jamaica and Trinidad and Tobago both achieved independence in 1962. Jamaica gaining Independence on August 6, while Trinidad and Tobago, the land of the artiste’s birth, gained independence on August 31. The following year, Lord Creator recorded another hit with Vincent ‘Randy’ Chin titled Don’t Stay Out Late. Other hits included Big Bamboo, Little Princess, Jamaica Farewell, and Kingston Town, which the Grammy-nominated British band UB40 re-recorded in 1989.
With the success of the music he recorded here, the Trinidadian calypsonian formed ties with local musicians, producers, “and because I like it so much, I even married a Jamaican … I made her my wife,” he modestly shared while glancing across at Neseline Patrick.
“You have to be mine,” these were the words he used to win Neseline’s heart, she said as she reminisced on how the two of them met over 30 years ago at Hole In The Wall in Montego Bay, where she worked. His wife continued: “He came to purchase paint for his home. I had no idea who he was, and I was sceptical, but when I was younger, I used to hear his music but never knew who performed them. Later on, I would see an old Honda with the name Lord Creator on top of the hood of the car.”
She shared that Lord Creator was a charmer and would visit her at work with gifts. He continues to exude that energy said Neseline. Today, the two are “living happily in Golden Grove in Hanover. And I say living because it is not uncommon for persons to say that Lord Creator [has] passed. I often hear that my husband is not alive”, she shared.
Lord Creator suffered his second stroke in 2007. The first stroke occurred in the early 1970s. He also underwent surgery in recent times, said his wife, and because of this, requires the use of a wheelchair.
The two are still just as in love today,and Neseline couldn’t be prouder of her husband’s legacy. “What’s good about my husband is that he understands me, and I understand [him]. We don’t have any children together but have raised our families, and he has made an imprint on Jamaica and the music industry, and we are honoured he was able to receive the Order of Distinction honour,” she said.