Linkz riding a wave of popularity with Tombstone

Mandella Andel McDonald is one of five entertainers from Grenada who are in the finals of the International Groovy and Power Soca monarch competitions.

Known as Mandella Linkz, the finalist in Friday's Groovy competition is currently riding a wave of popularity with his current hit Tombstone. When the diminutive singer arrived in Trinidad recently and was met by EJ Granger, one of the lead singers with the Prisons Band, at Piarco Airport. They headed straight to the TT Prisons Band room in Arouca.

Linkz started singing in Grenada in 2011 and in his short career he has gathered several awards. In 2015 he won a award for the Best Reggae Song with Mi Luv U. The next year he came second in the Groovy Soca Monarch in his country. Last year he placed fourth in that competition and made it to the finals in the Pan American Song Contest, placing eighth with a song entitled Richness.

Last year he was also awarded the title of the Best Jab song in Grenada for Tombstone.

Linkz said he sings for his living and it takes care of him and his family. He has four children, with another one on the way.

This is his first time in the International Soca Monarch competition.

Watching Mandella Linkz perform at the prison band room gave an indication of how powerful he is as a performer. He simply explodes when he takes the microphone and starts to sing.