Machel Montano is one of the Caribbean’s most successful artistes. With his unique blend of soca and dancehall, Montana has risen to the upper echelons of Caribbean music.
Machel is synonymous with soca music. Entering the industry at a young age, he has grown alongside the artform. While he matured as an entertainer, soca grew in an intensely competitive way that only pushed him to improve and is now known across the globe as the facilitator of fête-the soca king.
With a lifelong mission to put soca on the international map, Machel Montano has pioneered the evolution of the genre throughout his 34-year career.
Born November 24, 1974, in Port of Spain Trinidad, Machel was destined to be great from a young age. His career began in 1982 at age seven; at age nine he formed his band, Prasonic Express. Montano’s debut album Too Young To Soca released in 1985 was an instant hit which earned rave reviews and standing ovations at live performances.
One of Machel’s earliest and greatest achievements was his May 1984 appearance at Madison Square Gardens in the Felt Forum in New York City at the age of nine. He was billed as a support act for the Mighty Sparrow and other top Calypsonians.
In April 1986, Machel appeared on the popular television show, Star Search, bringing soca music to US national television. The next year, he took second place in the Trinidad & Tobago National Song Writer’s Festival with his song Dream Girl. In 1987, at the age of 12 he was the winner of the Caribbean Song Festival held in Barbados – the first Trinidadian and youngest to ever win this prestigious contest.
In 2008, Machel was awarded three titles, including the Bob Marley Award Entertainer of the Year at the International Reggae and World Music Awards (IRAWMA) at the historic Apollo Theatre in New York. That year he also received an award at the first annual BET J Virtual Awards for the Best Caribbean Artiste of the Year.
In January 2010, Machel became the first soca artiste to receive a headlining spot at the Jamaica Jazz and Blues Festival. That same year, the soca king made history as the only two-time recipient (2008) of the Bob Marley Award for Entertainer of the Year at Martins International Reggae and World Music Awards (IRAWMA). In May 2010, Machel, as a special guest artiste for the U.S shows, went on a 5-week tour with international recording artiste, Pitbull in his Mr. Worldwide Carnival tour.
After being absent for Trinidad and Tobago carnival in 2010, Machel returned in 2011 for “The Return” concert at the National Stadium. His return to the competition was nothing short of spectacular and he emerged as the Power Soca Monarch Champion 2k11 and also won a prize for best presentation. The climax for Machel was his victory in Road March, his song Advantage was the most played song to cross the stage on carnival Monday and Tuesday.
The International Soca Monarch competition is an annual contest between various competing soca artistes. Within this competition there are two subcategories in which contestants can place. One is the Power Soca Monarch, a competition for upbeat songs, while the International Groovy Soca Monarch is for soca songs of a slower tempo. In 2011, Montano won his first Soca Monarch competition (from Power Soca Monarchs) for his performance of the song Advantage.
In 2012 and 2013, Machel won back-to-back times in both sub-categories for his performance of his songs “Pump Yuh Flag” and “Mr. Fete”, in 2012 and, “Float” and, “The Fog”, in 2013, winning TT$2 Million each time. He also won the Power Soca Monarch in 2014 for his song “Ministry of Road ”, however he was dethroned by Kerwin Du Bois and his hit song “Too Real” in the Groovy Soca Monarch category. Montano set a new record by winning the 2014 Power Monarch, becoming the first artiste/performer to win a total of four titles. He won the title again in 2015 with his hit song “Like Ah Boss”
In May 2011, at the 30th Anniversary of IRAWMA, held in Port of Spain, Machel secured six awards: Most Outstanding Stage Personality, Best Male Calypso/Soca Entertainer, Best Caribbean Entertainer, Most Outstanding Show Band, Best Soca Band and The King of Soca Award.
In October 2011, Machel was nominated in the “Best Caribbean Performance” category for the song “Bend Over” at the 2011 Soul Train Awards. Other nominees included Rihanna, Vybz Kartel, Movado and Kes.
In 2014, Montano took an interest in electric dance music (EDM), collaborating with EDM artistes Major Lazer to create EDM song with a Soca vibe, called “Sound Bang”.
In November 2014 Montano won a Soul Train Award for Best International Performance for the song “Ministry of Road (M.O.R.)”. His win for “Ministry of Road” is the second consecutive win at the BET Soul Train Music Awards for Soca Music just after Bunji Garlin won in 2013 with Differentology.
Montano made his movie debut with Badozee (2016), which was filmed entirely in Trinidad and Tobago. He stars in the movie as a soca singer who falls in love with a businessman’s daughter.
On 21 January 2019 Montano released the single “The Road“. The song features R&B artiste Ashanti.
On February 14, 2020, Montano married his longtime girlfriend Renee Butcher (now Renee Montano) at Trinidad’s Red House, the first such wedding in 20 years at the country’s seat of parliament.
Machel is also the only soca singer to get married on Valentine’s day and the second male soca singer in the English-speaking Caribbean to get married after Lil Rick of Barbados.
