North Stars Steel Orchestra

Additional info below posted with special permission from the BestOfTrinidad.com by Ronald C. Emrit - check link for potential updates

1964 (At the Rock Garden, Port-of-Spain)

This St. James steelband was formed in 1950 by a collection of panmen who left the Harlem Nightingales Steelband after a dispute with its elders. The name of the band was taken from the 1943 American movie "The North Star" which starred actors Dana Andrews, Anne Baxter, and Farley Granger. North Stars' most celebrated panmen were its first leader, Anthony Williams, who was selected to tour England with TASPO in 1951, and lead tenor-pan player, Herman Johnston, who left the band to form the West Side Symphony Steelband in 1963. In addition to being the band's leader, Williams was the tuner and arranger. North Stars won the Panorama competition twice and the Steelband Music Festival twice. The band became inactive in 1972, but regrouped in 1995 at its former home on Brunton Road in St. James. North Stars finished among the top three steelbands in the following significant competitions:

YEAR EVENT RESULT SELECTION ARRANGER 1962 Steelband Music Festival 1st Voices of Spring (Johann Strauss) Anthony Williams 1963 Panorama 1st Dan Is the Man in the Van (Mighty Sparrow) Anthony Williams 1964 Panorama 1st Mama Dis Is Mas (Lord Kitchener) Anthony Williams 1965 Panorama 2nd Hold on to Your Man (Lord Kitchener) Anthony Williams 1966 Steelband Music Festival 1st Poet and Peasant (Franz Von Suppé) Anthony Williams

Compiled by Ronald C. Emrit