At Lucian Carnival in July, it’s local singers and musicians especially who attract the spotlight — not just the well-known soca artists from neighbouring Trinidad & Tobago, Barbados, or St Vincent. And celebrated St Lucian singer, songwriter, musician, and cultural ambassador Teddyson John — who sings in Kwéyòl and English — adds a distinct flavour to the expanding palette of Caribbean music styles that feed Carnival music, diverse genres which are too often awkwardly reduced to the word “soca”.
John began his performing career as a child in church, playing drums and singing from the age of six. “I came from a musical family,” he says. “But I don’t know where we got it from, because my mum and dad don’t play any instruments! We’re trying to figure it out. Nobody reads music [but] we play everything. It’s a blessing talent that comes straight from the Father.”
That musical family includes his brother Francis, who is the co-founder of the important St Lucian Creole jazz (Kréyol djaz) band Bluemangó. In addition to early apprenticeships with St Lucian jazz artists Harvey Miller, Rob Zii, and Barbara Cadet, from 2004, Bluemangó was a launch pad for Teddyson — taking him to international stages on tours to Paris, Martinique, and French Guiana, among other regional spaces.
Back home, for singers in tourism-dominant isles like St Lucia, the hotel lounge circuit and cruise line cabaret shows have obvious allure — even more so for a crooner like John who could replicate the cadence and tone of R&B and pop icons.
“I was the entertainment manager at these hotels, including Sandals, Le Sport, Smugglers Cove — singing a lot of standards, Luther Vandross, Lionel Richie, Phil Collins, Michael Jackson,” John remembers.
His countryman and Nobel laureate Derek Walcott at one time railed against what someone termed “the neocolonial dynamics of tourism-related vocations” — calling the night club and the hotel cabaret “prostitutions of a tourist culture”. In time, his position evolved, and John is a living example of why that was possible: his development and evolution as an artist consistently engages his native Creole self — singing in the language of his homeland, while expanding how Carnival music is defined.
In 2007, taking a break from the cruise scene, John was lured into soca music by local producers Penn & Ace of the famed Studio 758, who knew that John had it in him to produce hits.
“I was kind of tricked into it. I didn’t really want to do it, but I just wanted to give it a go,” he recalls. “So I record the song called ‘Coming Down de Road’, and then the next day, I’m hearing the song pulling up on radio.”
This instant success was rapidly followed by calypso tent appearances and soca competitions. His concern that his “church people” would put him out for singing soca may have been appeased by his immediate success as a newbie: he won St Lucia’s first ever Groovy Soca Monarch competition in 2007 with “Coming Down de Road”.
He won it again in 2012 with “Land of Wine” before bowing out, instead turning his attention to developing his own annual U4RIA which he launched that same year. “The whole vibe was like a big, groovy concert,” he says of U4RIA.
Through the mid-2010s, he balanced recording, guest appearances in Carnival shows, and U4RIA — all while setting his sights on breaking into the Trinidad market. It was a powerful motivator for John.
“You can be big in your home,” he explains, “but unless you go through Trinidad, the mecca, people will not really know who you are.”
Bluemangó was a launch pad for Teddyson — taking him to international stages on tours to Paris, Martinique, and French Guiana, among other regional spaces
In 2016, it paid off with his hit “Allez”, which made a deep impression in Trinidad. Things changed for the better.
“Once I hit soca, it was no turning back,” he recalls. “I didn’t have a choice because everybody just wanted this guy: coming with fresh vibes, vocals on point. I was able to create a community of people that like what I do or look forward to music that I do.”
Moving forward — also a key theme of “Allez” — for John also meant bringing his authentic Lucian “Creolisms” with him, including in his song titles. It was something rarely heard in Trinidad, as John released “Allez”, meaning “let’s go”; then “Vent (Palé, Palé, Palé)”, meaning “talk” in 2018; and “Kité Sa” (meaning “leave)” and “Crème de la Crème”, both in 2019.
Then the COVID-19 pandemic hit, bringing both disruption and opportunity in terms of how soca, and St Lucian soca at that, could be delivered to isolated audiences everywhere.
“Our music is built so much around festivals and Carnival … Every other genre was surviving. People were putting out albums, performing for smaller audiences, more intimate audiences,” he says.
John recognised there were listeners with diverse tastes and sensibilities, and knew he also had to extend his reach to capture their attention. He envisioned comfortable theatre-style seating, where people could come and relax as opposed to jumping and waving in paint and powder.
He rearranged his soca hits as smooth jazz and island R&B gems, recalling his “voice” from early in career and, in 2020, launched a streamed concert and album called Caribbean Moscato, followed by Stripped — a full, live in-person experience in 2023.
Audiences would now listen to the music, to the lyrics, to the fresh approaches he was taking to Carnival music. Realising that St Lucia did not have the large performance facilities that existed in Trinidad, he launched Stripped to rave reviews in the 1200-seat Lord Kitchener Auditorium at the National Academy for the Performing Arts in Port of Spain, repeating it in 2024. It later had its St Lucia debut in May 2026.
“It can be the bridge that crosses over to the launch of the St Lucia Jazz & Arts festival in the future,” he says. “I feel Stripped can go all over the world.”
Now 44, John has a clear sense of who he is. “I’m a Caribbean artiste, not just a soca artiste,” he says confidently. “I call it Caribbean soul.”
He has toured as an opening act for iconic Trinidadian soca collective Kes the Band (aka KES) through a 12-city jaunt across major East and West coast markets in the United States, and has seen the global possibilities for his continued transformation and expansion.
Last May, John sang background vocals for KES and their front man Kees Dieffenthaller at one of NPR Music’s popular and influential Tiny Desk Concerts — proudly wearing his St Lucian flag bandana.
“Kees has never been afraid to share a platform,” says John. “I got the call from him back in April for me to come to Trinidad for rehearsals. It was all secretive. No-one could let the public know why I was in town until the launch of the show online. NDAs were signed, and there was a news embargo.”
Despite Tiny Desk Concerts not being a paid gig, John was aware that with 45 million YouTube viewers per month, his participation could lead to big things afterwards — while proudly showing “unity across the board, unity among islands”.
“I just want to be able to change the narrative,” he reflects. “You can just give a contribution and not feel like it has to be competition-driven or a Road March. The world don’t care about a Road March. I just want to be the change that I want to see.”
A proud St Lucian brand ambassador and Member of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire since 2017 (their British monarch remains St Lucia’s head of state), he notes he does not have an official diplomatic passport — yet. But this soca innovator will undoubtedly continue to embody and inspire much-needed growth and change in soca and Carnival music for many years to come.