Prayers are in order for revered kaiso composer Leroy Calliste. Better known as the Black Stalin, the calypso singer was taken to a hospital Monday after suffering a stroke in Trinidad.
Although details are sketchy, it is understood that the veteran entertainer was taken to San Fernando Hospital a few hours after he performed at a charity show in south Trinidad, Sunday night.
According to reports, relatives said the 73-year-old Rastafarian, entertainer complained of experiencing severe pain to his back when he was returning home after performing at the inclusive fundraiser hosted by the St. Andrew Anglican Church in aid of its building fund.
No definitive diagnosis has been issued and doctors are now performing tests to determine the exact cause of his condition.
The beloved singer who often performed at the pre-Labor Day concerts at Bedford-Stuyvesant Restoration Center in Brooklyn during a period Herman Hall and Dawad Philip collaborated with a Big Tent feature has a big following in Brooklyn and Queens.
Born Sept. 24, 194 Black Stalin “became Dr. Leroy Calliste on Oct. 31, 2008, when he was conferred with an honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies, St. Augustine, for his tremendous dedication and contribution to calypso music and culture in Trinidad and Tobago.”
He has won the Calypso Monarch competition on five occasions and was crowned Calypso King of Kings in 1999 for his mega hit “Black Man Feeling to Party.”
Allegedly he has limited mobility and a speech problem.
A spokesperson for his family said “all indications point to a stroke.”
