Slinger Francisco, the legendary calypso singer better known as The Mighty Sparrow, died peacefully on September 27, 2026, in New York at the age of 91. His family confirmed the brief illness that led to his passing and said he was surrounded by loved ones.<\/p>\n
Born on July 9, 1935, in Grenada, Francisco moved to Trinidad as a child and grew up in the Laventille district of Port of Spain. The island\u2019s vibrant musical scene shaped his early love for calypso, a genre he would dominate for more than seven decades.<\/p>\n
His breakthrough came in 1956 with the hit \u201cJean and Dinah,\u201d a song that catapulted him onto the international stage. Over his career he amassed eight Calypso King\/Monarch titles and eight Carnival Road March crowns, and recorded classics such as \u201cDan Is the Man,\u201d \u201cCongo Man,\u201d \u201cSlave,\u201d and \u201cObeah Wedding.\u201d<\/p>\n
Prime Minister Kamla Persad\u2011Bissessar issued a heartfelt tribute, calling Sparrow a patriot and an ambassador of Trinidad and Tobago\u2019s culture, and noting that his music had become the nation\u2019s soundtrack.<\/p>\n
Beyond his artistic achievements, the family highlighted his roles as husband, father, grandfather, great\u2011grandfather, and friend, and mentioned his recent baptism into the Seventh\u2011day Adventist faith. Tributes across the Caribbean underscore his lasting influence on music, humor, and social commentary.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Calypso Legend The Mighty Sparrow Dies at 91, Prime Minister Pays Tribute<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":4864,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[62],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-4865","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-trinidad-and-tobago"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4865","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4865"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4865\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4864"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4865"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4865"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tringlobe.news\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4865"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}