Caribbean

Mighty Sparrow, ‘Calypso King of the World,’ Dies at 91 After Seven-Decade Career

Slinger Francisco, the Grenada-born, Trinidad-raised performer known around the world as the Mighty Sparrow and for generations across the Caribbean as the “Calypso King of the World,” died Sunday in New York at age 91, bringing to a close one of the longest and most influential careers in Caribbean music. His family said Francisco died peacefully surrounded by loved ones following a brief illness; no more specific cause of death has been disclosed. Gov. Albert Bryan Jr. joined the outpouring of tributes Sunday, saying the Virgin Islands was mourning alongside the wider Caribbean. Government House described Sparrow as a storyteller and cultural giant whose wit, musicianship and social commentary helped carry a distinctly Caribbean art form to audiences around the world over a career spanning more than seven decades.  “Today, I join the people of the Virgin Islands and the entire Caribbean in mourning Slinger Francisco, our beloved Mighty Sparrow, the Calypso King of the World and the...