Ricky T
His rallying cry “Wham to Dem!” is immortalized on the 2007 hit “Pressure Boom”. It has become as synonymous with Ricky “Ricky T” Joseph as that monster hit that took him from Saint Lucian stages to the Trinidad Soca Monarch finals and later Madison Square Garden in New York where he performed alongside Trinidad soca legend Machel Montano.
He now stands as the most successful Saint Lucian soca artiste with 19 competition wins – an unprecedented eighth Road March, six Power Soca Monarchs, three Caribbean Soca Monarchs and two Groovy Soca Monarch titles.
The Guinness Freestyle musical competition was the first Ricky T ever entered. After that he worked with Derek Yarde of Saint Lucian band, DYP on the soca song, “Mange Manman’w” which then led to “Container” and his work with Penn and Ace of Studio 758. Born on November 26, 1982, Ricky T first tasted commercial success with the 2006 soca hit, which also made him a Power Soca Monarch finalist and led to his first of four consecutive Road March titles.
“Container” would prove to be the warm up when one year later; Ricky T released “Pressure Boom”. With the song, he would place third in the 2007 Power Soca Monarch and win his second Road March title. Like a soca tornado “Pressure Boom” would also barrel him to Trinidad and Tobago where he remains the only Saint Lucian to have represented the country in the hyper competitive Power Soca Monarch.
“Pressure Boom” also brought him to the attention of Machel Montano who invited Ricky T to join his Trinidad tour and later his first concert at Madison Square Garden in New York, the first time soca music had been a headline act at that world-renowned venue. Ricky T would follow the success of “Pressure Boom” with the 2008 hit “Wheel and Come Again” with which he would win his first of three Power Soca Monarch titles, first of three Caribbean Soca Monarch titles as well as his third consecutive Road March title. He would also again represent Saint Lucia in the Trinidad Power Soca Monarch Final.
In 2009, Ricky T again won the Power Soca Monarch and Road March titles, this time with “Like a Jumbie”. One year later, in 2010, he would retain his Caribbean Soca Monarch crown with “Cya Stop It”.
Vowing early on in the 2011 Carnival season to win every single soca title, Ricky T would start his date with destiny with “Indian Girl” which secured him his first Groovy Soca Monarch title. Two days later he would win the Power Soca Monarch and Road March titles with “Mad Ting”.
Undoubtedly the most successful Saint Lucian soca artiste to date, Ricky T is also the most toured with concert appearances throughout the region and the wider world including Martinique, Barbados, Guadeloupe, St Croix, Canada and the UK as well as US states New York, New Jersey, Connecticut, Boston, Miami and Texas.
In 2012, Ricky T released “Mosquito” on the Stratosphere Muzic Riddim of the same name, and came second in the Groovy Soca Monarch and third in the Power Soca Monarch with “Everything”. That year he also released “Sofa” and “Chanting” alongside Mongstar, Q-Pid, Ambi and Mr Killa from Grenada.
Ricky T began his 2013 Saint Lucia Carnival campaign with “40 Days and 40 Nights” on the Stratosphere Muzic Riddim of the same name alongside his younger brother Ambi. He would also be featured on “Lucian Bacchanal (Oh Na Na)” on the Stratosphere Muzic Jump Over Riddim with Marie-Anne, the song that would later be chosen as the theme song for that year’s Saint Lucia Carnival.
Ricky T and Mongstar would also release “Junkie Bacchanal” on the Stratosphere Muzic Riddim of the same name. Months later he would unleash the power soca track “Mass Attack” on the Stratosphere Muzic Rampage Riddim followed by another groovy song, “Going Down De Road” on the Stratosphere Muzic Jump Over Riddim.
His repertoire would continue to grow when one week after he signed a deal to be the face of telecoms company Digicel’s 2013 Carnival campaign, Ricky T would release the power soca song “Plenty Mash Up” on the Stratosphere Muzic Rebirth Riddim.
On Saturday July 13, 2013 Ricky T was crowned the Groovy Soca Monarch with “40 Days and 40 Nights” and Power Soca Monarch with “Mass Attack”. Days later his power song “Mass Attack” was also named the winner of the Road March title.
Weeks later, Ricky T would sign with Saint Lucian record label Stratosphere Muzic. The label is owned and operated by producer Courtney “Curty” Louis with whom Ricky T had worked exclusively in 2013.
In late August 2013, the Saint Lucian Soca King left the island for New York to be part of a Saint Lucia government contingent to promote Saint Lucia Carnival during Labour Day activities there. The same night he arrived in New York, Thursday August 29, Ricky T closed down Caribbean Woodstock, an event that also featured other Caribbean artistes. Days later on Saturday August 31, he also performed at Carnival Mania, an event produced by noted American DJ and promoter Dahvid Levy and held at the renowned Barclays Center in Brooklyn, NY.
Ricky T would continue to perform throughout Labour Day 2013 including on Sunday September 1 at an event at the Saint Lucia House and on the Saint Lucia Truck during the West Indian Day Parade on Monday September 2, 2013.
Ricky T would return to Saint Lucia to work on the music video for his title winning songs “40 Days 40 Nights” and “Mass Attack”. In October, he headlined the annual Oktoberfest concert produced by the Windward and Leeward Brewery.
Months later, in December, he released “Christmas Day” on the Stratosphere Muzic Christmas Cock Riddim. Ricky T would also headline the Youthfest 2013 concert held in Vieux-Fort in December.
He would begin 2014 with the release of “Jiggle It” featuring Marie-Anne, a song on the SocaSunshine Riddim produced by French based DJ Fly. Months later, in March 2014, Ricky T would also release “What is Going on?” on the Stratosphere Muzic Friendship Riddim, a video medley for which he was also featured.
In April 2014 Ricky T released “More Rum” on the Stratosphere Muzic Truck Horn Riddim and closed the soca segment of the Opening of the 2014 Saint Lucia Jazz and Arts Festival, performing after Saint Vincent Soca King Skinny Fabulous, Trinidad Groovy King Kerwin DuBois and Grenadian Soca Artiste Mr Killa.
In May, Ricky T would continue his work in the studio, getting ready to defend his triple crowns releasing “Rahhhh” off the Stratosphere Muzic Mad People Riddim and “Nasty Pressure” on the Stratosphere Muzic Pretty Bounce Riddim as well as “In Di Middle Of Di Road” where he is featured alongside Nicole David.
In 2015, Ricky T hosted his first concert series dubbed “Soca Explosion: Ricky T and Friends”. The show featured soca heavyweights from Trinidad Iwer George, Shurwayne Winchester, Denise “Saucy Wow” Belfon and Mr Killa from Grenada alongside a host of Saint Lucian artistes including Superman HD.
That year he also worked with a number of regional artistes namely Shurwayne Winchester with whom he released “Bad Company” as well as Nayee from Dominica on “Whole Day” and a remix of Trinidadian/Grenadian Skinny Banton’s “Saltfish”.
Ricky T would also again collaborate with Q-Pid, this time with “Wom Ek Coke” years after the two released “Shake” in 2011. That song would be one of two Ricky T with his “Ah Cya Breathe” competed with in that year’s Groovy Soca Monarch.
And while he failed to secure a place in that competition, he would win the Power Soca Monarch with “Perfect Storm” alongside Superman HD. The song would also win the Road March title and take Ricky T to the stratosphere of 17 titles won – the most in Saint Lucia’s musical history.
Also added to his musical repertoire in 2015 was “My Own Thing” on the Stratosphere Muzic Pomme Canel Riddim and “My Life Is Mine” on the Minor Productions Output Riddim.
Ricky T hosted his second annual “Soca Explosion: Ricky T and Friends” in 2016. The show, which was called “The Icons”, featured The Mighty Sparrow out of Trinidad as well as Baron, Becket from St Vincent and Invader from Saint Lucia with whom Ricky T released “Legend” in 2016. His other releases that year included “6 Blocks of Ice”, “Now” and “Don’t Walk Away” with Trinidadian Sean Caruth.
Ricky T did not win any competitive titles in 2016. He finished Saint Lucia Carnival with a second place spot in the Power Soca Monarch competition with “All Hell Break Loose” – his second collaboration with Superman HD with whom he also released “Dangerous Winer” in 2016. But little did Ricky T know that “Freaky Girls”, the song he competed with in that year’s Groovy Soca Monarch competition, the one that failed to curry favour with the judges would become his biggest commercial and critical success to date.
“Freaky Girls” features Eempey Slicker and continues to break records in the UK, New York and Miami where it dominated these area Carnivals. Ricky T has also been touring across the globe in support of the song that has also landed him a semi-final spot in the International Soca Monarch in Trinidad.
In early 2017, Ricky T was featured on Trinidad Chutney artiste Hunter’s “True Rum Drinker Remix” and performed alongside him at the Chutney Soca Monarch finals in Trinidad, the first Saint Lucian to do so. Ricky T would also perform at a number of events for Trinidad carnival including Army Fete, Ladies Night and the first ever Binge Cooler Fete.
On February 21, the eve of Saint Lucia’s Independence, Ricky T released “Sweet St Lucia” – a song he said was an Independence Day present to his country. He would also return home from his stint in Trinidad to perform the song and others at an Independence Day concert called “Best of Saint Lucia”.
Ricky T continued the Freaky Girls Tour he began in 2016 into 2017 with bookings in all corners of the globe including the US, UK, Guadeloupe, Canada, Martinique, Bermuda, Antigua, St Kitts and Barbados. His label has also released a “Freaky Girls Remix” with Jamaican reggae superstar Jah Cure as well as “Sully” and collaborated on the power soca song “Drunkard” with the Studio 758 team of Penn and Ace with whom Ricky T tasted early success in his career.
In April 2017 Ricky T was made part of the Bacardi Major Lazer aspiring Caribbean artiste campaign designed to generate studio time for the chosen talent. He is alongside other artistes from around the Caribbean including Jamaica, Barbados and the Dominican Republic in a list that also includes a DJ and reggae artiste.
On July 16, Ricky T won his sixth Power Soca Monarch and eighteenth (18) competition title with Drunkard. Three days later, his song Sully won his eighth Road March title and took his overall number of competition wins to 19.
It was a fitting end to a season wracked with controversy over the speed of Sully, a song released at 150BPM but slowed down to enter the Groovy competition where Ricky T eventually placed fourth.
The two titles were a fitting end to a Lucian Carnival season packed with bookings for Ricky T who performed at Epic Wednesday from the Events Company St Lucia, Cooler Fete, U4Ria, Brazen, Remedy and Outrageous Sexy In Black.
His Freaky Girls Tour also continues with confirmed bookings into 2018 and includes Soca On The Seas in October where Ricky T will perform alongside soca stars like Bunji Garlin, Faye Ann Lyons and Allison Hinds.
A son, father and brother, Ricky T is one of the most toured artistes to emerge out of Saint Lucia whose success in competition remains unmatched.
