First-time groovy soca winner Michelle Sylvester finds joy in gospel music

She thought she was doing well. She thought she was enjoying life. But one Saturday night, Michelle Sylvester realised she was wrong.

In 2005, Sylvester became the first artiste to win the Groovy Soca Monarch competition and was riding high with her song, In My Bed. She had great friends, a hit song, was making money with her music, and travelling to the US to perform.

One night, in 2007, she left a lime in Diego Martin and was driving to the east when she started crying.

“To me all was well but something inside was missing. That night, heading home, I just started to feel empty. I had money, I had my car, my home, things nice, I’m liming, I have gigs lined up, but I just broke down crying. Nothing happened to cause it. I just broke down in the car just like that.”

So she decided to go to church the next morning.

She said Helen Batson, mother of soca star Nadia Batson, had invited her to her church many times but only went once to a retreat. On Sunday morning she went to that same church, not knowing the time of the service, to find it had just started. She sat in the back and, after a while, the pastor instructed the congregation to close their eyes and pray. He walked through the crowd, touched her on her shoulder, and asked if he could pray with her.

“He told me to come in front, that he would take off his mic and pray with me. He started to pray and said all kinds of things. The one thing, the only thing I remember was him saying was, ‘God doesn’t want you to go back.’ Well I start to cry in the people church more. And that was the beginning of my current journey. That’s how I got saved.”

That story is the basis behind her newest song, Safe on the Inside, with ten-time Calypso Queen, Denyse Plummer who also graduated from mainstream music to gospel.

Sylvester told WMN she met the song’s writer, Bj’orn Pierre, after the filming of a virtual concert, Back to the Heart of Worship, at the end of 2020. They got to chatting about their lives and they exchanged numbers.

Two days later, Pierre called to tell her about a riddim he had, the Blossom Riddim. He had planned to write a song for himself but that did not materialise so he wanted to write a song for her to sing instead. And he wanted it to be personal so he asked her to share her testimony in detail.

She loved the first verse, and was ready to sing it but he wanted it to be a duet with Denyse Plummer.

“I thought it would be perfect seeing that we are both women in the industry, we both have the story of being out there singing on all the different stages, travelling and all of that. Our story could be nice in song together.”

She contacted Plummer who was hesitant about working with an unknown songwriter. But, Sylvester shared the demo of her verse and Plummer was sold on the idea. Pierre spoke to Plummer, got her testimony and “brought it to life in song.”

When Sylvester heard Plummer’s part, she was insistent that they do a music video.

“I didn’t want our story to be just another song on another riddim. First, Denyse and I doing a collaboration together, I think that’s something to go down in history. And then from both of us coming from where we came from (soca and calypso) and where we are now (gospel).”

Sylvester’s co-worker, Junior Lett from W107.1 FM, suggested having other former calypsonians that are “on the inside, in The Kingdom” in the video as well. They contacted several, and, on the day of shooting at the Queen’s Park Savannah in Port of Spain, Christopher “Tambu” Herbert and Morel Peters, better known as, King Luta showed up.

“They heard the song and said it would be a hit. They were happy to support us and be a part of it.”

Although she knew it was a great song, and she and Plummer got the approval of two of the greats, Sylvester did not expect that the song would be as popular as it is.

“You want your music to play and be loved but this one, this is all God. We didn’t do any promoting or anything. It just happened naturally. Everybody, and I’m not just talking Christians or believers, everyone across the board loves this song. I didn’t expect it to be that way but hip hip hooray! Thank you!”

She said she knew of people abroad sending the song to people in TT. She believe the video helped propel it to popularity because it is fun and people enjoy it.

Sylvester recalled that she did not record any music for a few years after her “encounter with God” as she was learning the Scriptures and building a relationship with God.

When she was settled, she started releasing gospel music and continues to work on more projects.

At present she is a radio announcer at W107.1 and hosts the morning programme on Monday to Friday from 8 to 10 am.

She said about a year ago she was unemployed. She sent out resumes and prayed for a job but nothing was panning out. Then, one day, she got a phone call and was offered the job.

She had never thought about being a radio announcer before, but she enjoys it. She looks forward to getting out of bed every morning to be herself, making people laugh, raising issues for discussion, having fun, as well as being involved in her first love, the music and the entertainment industry.

“That was all God.”

To other artistes who want to move away from secular music she said, “Don’t be afraid.”

She said some artistes are afraid to lose their fan base, lose popularity, or think gospel may not be fun, or they may not make as much money. To them she said, “The song says it all.”

She encouraged everyone to trust in God, because if they do that in the way God asks them to, life, and the world would be different and much improved.

“We feel that God is this person with a big sledgehammer to just beat you down if you don’t do certain things. Just like everything else there are consequences to your actions but with God it’s so much more than you can’t do this and that.

“This song is really to tell you, you’re safe on the inside. It’s a fun place to be, and things are happening. We are believers and look at us! We’re doing a lot of good things and we have peace, we have joy. It’s a good thing.”

\\\