Profile Courtesy DominicaNewsOnline.com February 7th, 2013
One of the most unique voices in Dominica’s music and the Caribbean by extension was born and raised on the nature isle. He is a self-taught guitarist, singer, songwriter and producer.
RUFF & REDDY
“The man with the Golden Voice” as he was first called, led and fronted for over ten years one of Dominica’s musical bands – the Ruff & Reddy band. The band recorded some of the Caribbean’s finest tunes and released one of the hottest records in the Eastern Caribbean, the Ruff & Reddy Sunshine Christmas album of 1999, one of six of the band’s recorded albums. The band is known in Dominica and the French West Indies for its hit song Roll and Shake and its version of Amio, one of the biggest hits coming out of Africa in the eighties originally sung by Babe Manga from the African Continent.
RECORDING
The singer/songwriter has also composed and recorded some of Dominica’s most inspirational songs like his infectious “Just Be”. His first solo album included hits like I “Am Yours” and “Flex It”. The Ruff & Reddy band recorded six albums all of which Daryl composed, authored and co-arranged. Among his strong points that truly make him a unique talent in the Caribbean is the texture of his voice, his mastery of his singing and his multi-lingual ability. Daryl’s primary language is English but has recorded songs in French, Spanish and French-Creole. He is a high-energy performer who is very good at capturing hearts with his ability to transfer emotion to his audience.
CALYPSO CAREER
In 2001 Daryl entered the Calypso arena as The Bobb and has since been a finalist for eight out of the last twelve years being in the arena. The Bobb took two years off from the competition in 2008 and 2009 in protest of the treatment received by the judges who frequently placed other Calypsonians who made mistakes in their lyrics before him after delivering flawless presentations of his songs on stage. In 2006 he was not selected at the Semi-Finals to go to the Finals and in 2011 he repeated his last verse as a fourth verse and was penalized. This year Daryl prepares to present his best combination of songs since entering the competition in 2001 according to the singer.
EDUCATION
Daryl is a graduate of the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine Trinidad where he was trained in the business of music and events management who graduated with a postgraduate diploma in Arts and Cultural Enterprise Management. Daryl recently returned to his homeland from a Cultural Industries Study Tour to England, Germany and France with the hope of finding opportunities for Dominican artists and bands to record and perform in Europe. The tour was sponsored by Caribbean Export Development Agency and other affiliated international donor agencies.
BUSINESS
Prior to his studies, Daryl registered a private limited entity in the Commonwealth of Dominica to manage his career and to conduct other businesses primarily in the services sector. His company is called Seventh Silver Star Inc and is the parent company of a list of other services that the artist is developing on the island. He is currently working to expand the business with a number of creative ideas that are suitable for the Dominican and Eastern Caribbean markets.
Aside from Seventh Silver Star Inc is Neo-Xpression, a new entity that Daryl is part owner of that provides services in Graphic Designing, Photography, Website Development and Hosting, Branding and Film.
INSPIRATIONS
Mr. Bobb is very passionate about quality singing. He is moved by spirited and breathtaking performances by instrumentalists and singers who make proper use of the vocal cords. Daryl believes that with effort and determination in one’s endeavors, the human being can achieve anything he sets his mind to.
Daryl is motivated by the showmanship and overall quality of product of a number of male and female international artists like Lionel Richie, George Benson, Whitney Houston, Mariah Carey, Air Supply, The Bee Gees, Earth Wind and Fire, Cool and the Gang, Smokey Robinson, Celine Dion and Michael Jackson – Mr. Bobb grow up listening to these artists and so, carries a little of each of them in his professional character.
LIFE’S MOTTO
Daryl’s motto is “Working With The Heart” and in the artist’s own words he explains, “One should work towards his or her aspirations with deepest fervor for there is only one way that the human being can achieve that and that is if the Heart is intimately involved in the process.” – Daryl Bobb