THE UNIVERSITY OF THE WEST INDIES – FIVE ISLANDS CAMPUS
CEREMONIES FOR THE PRESENTATION OF GRADUATES 2023
HONORARY GRADUAND SIR LEROY MACLEAN EMANUEL ‘KING SHORT SHIRT’
Born and raised in the Point area in St. John’s, Antigua, Sir Leroy MacLean Emanuel ‘King Short Shirt’, the‘Monarch’is described as a colossal of a calypsonian. He first entered the calypso arena in 1962 and, since then, has produced hundreds of quality calypsos, several for fellow calypsonians, and is known mainly for his cutting lyrical content, sweet harmony, and smooth melodious voice. King Short Shirt has won the Calypso Competition 15 times in Antigua and Barbuda and was the first to ‘three-peat’ in the annual competition 1964, 1965, and 1966. He took the Caribbean Calypso Competition crown seven times and has seven Road March Crowns under his belt. Some of his biggest hits include Tourist Leggo; Lucinda; Nobody Go Run me; Our Pledge; Lamentation; Star Black; Run Shorty Run; In Spite Of All, and so many more. He has been twice invited by the Prime Ministers of fellow CARICOM countries to their Independence celebrations: Belize in 1981, where he performed A New Beginning, a song he wrote especially for the occasion; and Saint Lucia in 2023.
Calypso may be his passion, but he has also translated his love of the craft and performing into businesses. In 1962, he opened Shorty’s Beach Bar and Shorty’s Glass Bottom Boats, followed eight years later by a record shop, A & B Record.
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