Alison Amanda Hinds (born June 1st 1970) is a British-born Bajan soca singer based in Barbados.[1] Alison is often referred to as the "Queen of Soca" due to her significant impact on the genre.
Alison Hinds was born in London on June 1st 1970 and raised in Plaistow.[2][3] Both her parents were from the island of Barbados; her father was employed at the Ford's Dagenham plant.[2] At 11 years old, her parents divorced and she moved to Barbados with her mother.[2][4] She competed in the Richard Stoute Teen Talent contest in 1985, finishing third place.[5] She was a lead vocalist in the popular band Square One, joining the group in 1987, and recording several albums before leaving the band in 2004 to take care of her newborn daughter.[5][6][7][8][9] Hinds won the Barbados Song Contest in 1992 with the duet with John King "Hold You in a Song", the Road March in 1996 and 1997, and the Party Monarch competition in Barbados in 1997.[2][5][10][4][7]
Hinds lives in Barbados with her husband Edward Walcott Junior and her daughter, on a privately owned horse farm, which her husband manages.[2][4] She has her own band, the Alison Hinds Show, formed in 2005, with Hinds as the main singer and most of the other members of the band young dancers and musicians.[4] After returning to music with a vocal contribution to a remix of Kevin Lyttle's "Turn Me On",[11] She returned to the soca scene with the hit song "Roll It Gal", which praises women's independence in lyrics about Women's empowerment.[2][6][7][10] The song was a huge hit throughout the Caribbean and was released in the UK in 2007 to coincide with the release of her debut album. “Roll It” has been a popular staple in the Caribbean culture.[12][13] She also recorded a collaboration with Machel Montano for the remix of "Roll It Gal".[6]
Hinds' debut solo album Soca Queen was released in October 2007. Her latest album Caribbean Queen was released in 2010 and contains collaborations with Shaggy, Richie Spice, and Jah Cure, with whom she collaborated on the single "Team Up" in 2009.[14][15] She continues to tour worldwide and has performed at many of the West Indian Carnivals and festivals including Reagge Sumfest,[4] and the West Indian American Carnival in Brooklyn.[10]
^Kuss, Malena (2006), Music in Latin America and the Caribbean: An Encyclopedic History: Performing the Caribbean Experience v. 2, University of Texas Press, ISBN978-0-292-70951-5, p. 350.
