Cleve’s music store owner dies at 72

Cleve Calderon, founder of Cleve's One Stop Music Shop, has died.

Calderon, 72, started working in the music business at his cousin’s shop, Rhyner’s Record Shop at age 11. In 1994 he opened Cleve’s after giving up a career as DJ Nutcracker 2000. Since then, the popular music store continued to be the go-to place for music lovers to get local and international CDs and used records. The store remains operational on Frederick Street, Port of Spain.

Calderon’s daughter, Krisann Calderon, told Sunday Newsday her father was ill and in and out of hospital for about a month before he died at the Eric Williams Medical Sciences Complex, Mt Hope on Friday at 3.30 pm.

She said he and his family were prepared for the inevitable. “He was a very simple person. You tell him this is what it is and he just accept it for what it was. He was at peace.”

A notification was posted on the company’s Facebook page yesterday afternoon. It stated, “It is with great sadness we announce the passing of our founder and CEO. May he be remembered as the humble, kind, loving, generous person he was. Family and music was his life! RIP.”

Condolences poured in with customers expressing their loss. Many described him as a pleasant, humble, knowledgeable gentleman with a passion for music. One customer said Calderon would always try his best to get any CD they wanted, while another said he would often introduce them to new music.

Calderon left behind his wife, two children, stepdaughter and three grandchildren. Krisann said they were trying to “keep it together” but, to make things more difficult, Christmas was his favourite time of year, and his last granddaughter’s birthday was in the coming week.

She said people also described him as a music encyclopaedia – hum the song and he could recall the name of the song, the artist, and the year it was released.

“He was very humble, kind, gentle, generous, compassionate, the list goes on! He was a people person. Always willing to help people whether it was work-related, family-related, or just the average man on the street.”