Book Review: My Island and Me

By Sir Henry Fraser

What an amazing autobiography by our amazing treasure of Barbados – Sir Emile Straker – musician, songwriter and lead singer of the world-famous The Merrymen. That’s the only way to describe this iconic, multi-talented living treasure who has charmed us all – Barbados, the Caribbean and the world  –   with his magical voice and songs for some 60-plus years. And he’s added to his many talents the telling of the enthralling story of his life with music and the wonderful Bajan musical ambassadors, The Merrymen, with his inimitable humour, in a book that you simply can’t put down.

We, his friends, have been waiting for this book for some time. When The Merrymen held their last concert and hung up their guitars, Emile promised he’d have time to work on his autobiography – but there was so much – the man has lived many lives! And when the double whammy of COVID-19 and Emile’s beloved wife Joyce’s illness reared their head, Emile’s last great performance had to be put on hold. It was the love, passion and dedication of Dean, Ray and Stacey, his loyal offspring, together with the help of other family and friends, the editing by John Roett of The Merrymen and the design skills of Christine Wilkie that brought this momentous work to fruition.

Emile’s story begins at The Corner House by Queen’s Park, which had been in his family since 1830. It was a typical traditional townhouse, with a shop front downstairs and a balcony overlooking the street, for the family to see the world go by, when they weren’t busy shaping it themselves in the shop. Emile writes with great fondness and poignancy of his childhood, of his parents and grandparents and siblings, and with his famous humour he tells the stories of games and pranks in Queen’s Park and elsewhere, including Harrison College.

But Queen’s Park was very special to Emile and helped to shape his love and knowledge of his island home and culture, and inspired many of his 500 songs! Surprisingly, although he was a really great whistler and a boyhood drummer on biscuit tins, he didn’t really get into music in a serious way until his early 20s, with the Purina Boys Steel Band. By this time he’d met the love of his life, Joyce Johnson, and he soon went off to Canada seeking a successful life for Joyce and himself. Although he had exciting times, narrow escapes with his life, numerous escapades, and he got into some serious music, it was Joyce who persuaded him that “it was better in Barbados”. So home he came and the rest is history, with the formation of The Merrymen.

I haven’t the space to summarise the amazing career of Emile and The Merrymen – the friendships and the fun they had, and their remarkable reception by huge audiences all over Canada, Britain and Europe. You must read it all for yourself. Everyone will recognise the song that inspired his title, My Island and Me. My own love and my wife’s love for the unique Merrymen music is satisfied constantly by their collection of ten CDs – A Lifetime of Music, with more than 200 pieces. And in his autobiography, Emile tells the fascinating stories of many of the songs, and provides the words of some 30 from the iconic Big Bamboo to Beautiful Barbados… it really is a feast. As Willie Kerr wrote in his tribute, “I consider Emile a national treasure”, and as Emile’s daughter Stacey Choat writes: “His love, his music and his magic will be with us forever.”

My Island and Me by Emile Straker is edited by John Roett.