Founder of NY’s Straker’s Records and Champion of Calypso and Soca Music, Granville Leonard Straker, Dies at 86

NEW YORK, New York – The family of Vincentian-born Granville Leonard Straker, pioneering Caribbean music producer, entrepreneur and founder of the Brooklyn, New York-headquartered, legendary Straker’s Records, died on Thursday and the age of 86.

Born on Sept. 12, 1939 to the late Irena Straker and Clement Straker, the family said Granville Straker became “one of the most consequential figures in the production, preservation and international distribution of calypso and Soca music.”

It said Straker’s entrepreneurial involvement in Caribbean music began before the creation of his record label.

Beginning in Brooklyn in the 1960s and expanding during the 1970s, t Straker established record retail outlets serving the growing Caribbean community, including his landmark Straker’s Records at 242 Utica Avenue in Brooklyn and on Nostrand Avenue, also in Brooklyn, with additional retail presence in St. Vincent and the Grenadines and Trinidad and Tobago.

“These outlets, together with his production and distribution network, helped connect Caribbean artists, recordings and audiences across the region and throughout the Diaspora,” the family said.

In 1971, Straker founded Straker’s Records in Brooklyn, “creating a platform for Caribbean artists at a pivotal moment in the growth of New York’s West Indian community.

Over about three decades, Straker’s record label released an estimated 600 to 700 albums, more than 1,000 12-inch records and several thousand singles.

The roster included generations of celebrated artists such as Calypso Rose, The Mighty Shadow, Black Stalin, Chalkdust, Lord Nelson, Lord Melody, Mighty Duke, Explainer, Winston Soso, Singing Francine and Machel Montano.

Straker’s impact was recognized throughout the Caribbean music community.

The family said Straker was much more than a record-label owner, stating that he served at various times as a producer, promoter, talent scout, distributor, businessman and cultural visionary, traveling throughout the Caribbean in search of emerging talent and giving artists access to professional recording and international distribution.

“His Brooklyn businesses became gathering places for Caribbean immigrants seeking the music and culture of home.”

At its height, Straker’s operation included multiple Brooklyn record stores, while Straker’s Records & Stereo became “synonymous with Caribbean music retail in New York.”

Straker’s work also helped connect the Caribbean with communities in New York, Toronto, London and elsewhere, “and contributed to establishing Brooklyn as a major center of Caribbean music production and distribution.”

However, the family said Straker was “much more than a pioneering figure in music.

“He was a beloved husband, father, grandfather, relative, mentor and friend whose determination, entrepreneurial spirit and devotion to Caribbean culture shaped generations around him.”