NEW YORK, Sept.15, CMC – As the Calypso King of the World, the Mighty Sparrow, remains in a comatose state in a New York City hospital , Brooklyn Borough President, Marty Markowitz, and Trinidad and Tobago’s New York Consul General, Rudrawatee Nan Ramgoolam, have urged the public to offer prayers for the legendary calypsonian.
“I pray for a speedy and full recovery for my dear friend of over 30 years,” said Markowitz, who often jokingly refers himself as a “Trini Jew from Tunapuna.“He is the true calypso king of the world, a proud son of both Grenada and Trinidad and Tobago,” he said in a statement.
Markowitz also described Slinger Francisco – best known as the Mighty Sparrow, as “a storyteller extraordinaire, who has delighted audiences across the Caribbean and beyond, including Brooklyn, where he has performed on summer concert stage for 31 successive years.
Ramgoolam, whose consulate general recognized Sparrow on August 30, with a Lifetime Achievement Award, noted that it is an “exceedingly difficult time for Sparrow’s family.
“Let us focus our energies on praying for both him and his family and allow the family to continue to take care of their loved one…..should there be any further developments, Richard Francisco (Sparrow’s son) has promised to inform the consulate general in New York and we, in turn, will issue an official release to reflect same.”
Richard, who received the Lifetime Achievement Award, on behalf of his father told reporters that the calypso superstar “is resting comfortably, and he’s alive and well. “The family wishes to thank the public for their prayers”, he said.
Last week, the family confirmed that Sparrow is in a coma in an unidentified New York hospital.
Sparrow, who has been performing for more than four decades, has been having health challenges for the past three years.
These include undergoing surgery in 2010 to treat an incarcerated right inguinal hernia that had caused him to cut short performances in Trinidad and Tobago and in the United States, because of excruciating pain while on stage.
The Grenadian-born Francisco, 78, has been hospitalised for complications caused by diabetes more than once, but has continued to perform both in Trinidad and Tobago and in the US.
Affectionately called “The Birdie”, Sparrow, who migrated to Trinidad and Tobago before he was a year old, was honoured by the fishing and rural community of Grand Roy, St. John’s, Grenada last year.
