Your Ultimate Guide To Barbados

Red Plastic Bag

An incredibly talented man with a consistent spate of winning tunes and a personality of utter humility amidst his ever-increasing popularity. Red Plastic Bag, has habitually taken the calypso monarch crown in Barbados for what seems like time and time and time again. This habit got started when he won the first five (5) calypso competitions that he entered.

Born Stetson Wiltshire in the rural parish of St. Philip in Barbados, his early exposure to any kind of music began when he started to sing in the Bayfield Youth Group. Further exposure and a love for calypso came about as his father was a fisherman in the Bayfield fishing village and he would spend a lot of time there listening to the fishermen sing folk songs. This level of contact with the fisher folk in the community opened up and widened his scope of the realities of life and how they braved the deep blue all in an effort to provide for their families. Their struggles and life set a tone for him in getting deeper into the art of calypso as he saw the chance to use this art form as a tool to convey any message that he saw fit to convey at any given time.

Red Plastic Bag began performing in 1979 but throughout the mid 80s is when he embarked on a professional career. His unique and catchy fusion of reggae and soca has made him quite a hit in Barbados and the Caribbean. By the time the 1990s came around his "Ragga Ragga" tune had served well in propelling him into the international limelight. The popularity of this tune would have grown by leaps and bounds and eventually became so popular that it was recorded in seven (7) different languages.

Red Plastic Bag's work is filled with such creativity that it continues to reach out to not just the people of Barbados but the world at large. His unique style has enabled him to develop quite a loyal following. A large support group of fans can be seen waving anything red that they can put their hands on whenever he performs against other calypsonians at the Pic O' de Crop Semi-finals and Finals held at the National Stadium. You can almost be guaranteed that the whole of St. Philip comes out to the National Stadium to support him.

Red Plastic Bag, truly Barbados' Calypso King in every sense of the word.