Music Career[edit]

He is the front-man of the soca band The HD Family, and is noted for his high energy, fast-paced,
and often unpredictable on-stage performances. In 1987 he was the youngest finalist to ever win
the Caribbean Song Festival. His career spans more than 30 years.[2]He now stands as one of the
most well-known soca acts in the world, using his leverage as an artist able to sell out
shows.[3] Recently he has moved to the Los Angeles area[4] and furthered his pursuit, saying: "I may
not be the one to bring it forth, but in the meantime, I have a lot of work to do in order for something
to happen." He is very well known in New York City, where he has had sold out concerts in Madison
Square Garden many times over.[5]Machel is a six time international Soca Monarch.[6]

Early Life[edit]
Montano was born in Carenage (Northwestern Trinidad), and his family moved to Siparia,
(Southwestern Trinidad), when he was very young.[7] He attended Siparia Boys' R.C.,
then Presentation College, a prestigious secondary school in San Fernando, where he was in
the choir led by Mrs Cynthia Lee-Mac.[7] Machel first shot to fame as a nine-year-old boy with the
song "Too Young To Soca" while he was still in primary school. In 1984, along with his older brother
Marcus and neighbours, the group Pranasonic Express was started and, in 1989, the band
became Xtatik. In April, 1986, at the age of 11, Montano appeared on the mainstream television
show, Star Search.[8] In 1987, he took part in the Trinidad and Tobago National Song Writers
Festival, and placed second with his song "Dream Girl". He also won the Caribbean Song Festival in
Barbados. Such a win made Machel the first Trinidadian and youngest contestant to win this
competition.[9]

Machel Montano HD - concepts[edit]

Machel (center) performing on stage alongside Zan (left) and Farmer Nappy (right)

The band developed and was re-invented by its leader Montano several times, including as The
Xtatik Circus, Xtatik The Road Marching Band and The Band of the Year, as part of his Zen battle to
keep his band and his performances fresh. Since 2007 they have been known as Machel Montano
HD (High Definition); Montano promotes the concept by saying that he is the first human being to go
HD.[10] He claims this characterizes the evolution of his music over the past 25 years and the highly
improved style in which his music is presented to his fans in radio format, television, and during live
performances.[10] He is part of a campaign in Trinidad and Tobago to promote safe driving - "Arrive
Alive". Part of the hype surrounding Montano since 2007 is his HD tour bus, a 20-year-old bus from
the Public Transport Service Corporation (PTSC) that was re-done and includes
a bedroom, bathroom facilities, flat-screen TVs, Internet access and expensive audiosystems. After
its debut in 2007, the bus was re-painted for 2008, the new images of Machel matching various
photos from the album artwork of his 2008 CD, Flame On. The bus featured heavily in his videos for
"Jumbie" (2007) and "Rollin/Blazin d Trail" (2008). In 2012 Montano won the Road March, Power
Soca Monarch and the Groovy Soca Monarch, thanks in large part to his business and personal
manager, James Walton. He won the Groovy Soca Monarch with his rendition of "Mr. Fete". In May
2012 he launched the music video to his hit single "Bottle Of Rum". Mr. Walton helped launch
merchandise, collaborations and reality shows to help catapult Montano's career to new heights.

Machel Montano performing at a fete at Brian Lara's house in Barbados (2008)

Xtatik's music[edit]
The band includes foreign influences such as from its Venezuelan percussionist Ernesto Luis
Gutierrez, Shawn Mitchell, bassist from Grenadaand musicians from Barbados.[citation needed] Kernal
Roberts, son of the late calypsonian Lord Kitchener, has taken up the role of Xtatik's drummer and
musical director.
Montano was instrumental in the promotion of soca music in the United Kingdom on the BBC's black
music digital radio station BBC Radio 1Xtra, where he co-presented the International Sounds of
Soca show for four years with DJ Slic.[11] He has released many successful singles, with and without
Xtatik, during his career, such as "Big Truck" (Xtatik's most successful single, which won the Road
March title in 1997), "Outa Space" (with Beenie Man), "Music Farm" (Xtatik), "It's Carnival"
(with Destra), and his more recent back-to-back Road March title wins: for 2006, "Band Of The Year"
(with Patrice Roberts), and in 2007 "Jumbie".
His album Flame On, released in February 2008, featured collaborations with some of the most
esteemed artistes in calypso, such as David Rudder on "Oil and Music" and the Mighty Sparrow on
"Congo Man". These two collaborations were well-received all around, especially "Congo
Man". Flame On also includes Clamydia with other well-known artistes from various genres including
soca, reggae, rap and reggaeton. Examples of these partnerships can be heard on the following
tracks: Patrice Roberts on "Rollin", Shaggy on "Wining Season", Buju Banton on "Make Love" and
finally Lil Jon and Pitbull on "Defense (The Anthem)".
On Flame On Machel Montano's right-hand man Kernal Roberts was involved in the writing of eight
out of the 13 tracks.
In Trinidad's Carnival Road March Competition for Carnival 2008, Montano's song "Blazin d Trail"
placed third.

2013–14 media[edit]
On 20 January 2013 Machel Montano released the official video for the single "The Fog" from his
16th solo album, "Machelements". On 27 January 2013, Machel then released another video for his
single "Float". Two days after another visual was released for his song "Happiest Man Alive". Other
songs that were followed by immediate visuals are "Epic", taking two months to create and release,
and "Ministry of Road", taking less than one month to follow up on.
Only in recent years has Machel began to take advantage of social media, using social media
platforms such as Facebook, Instagram (machelmontano), My
Space, YouTube and Twitter (@machelmontanohd). Machel has been able to expand and create
music outside of his respected field by collaborating with various artists outside of the Soca Genre.
One genre of music Machel took interest in most recently (2014) is electric dance music (EDM).
Collaborating with well-known EDM artists, Major Lazer and Diplo, the three artists created an
original sounding EDM song with a Soca vibe, called "Sound Bang" (released 9 January 2014).
In November, 2014 Machel Montano won a Soul Train Award for Best International Performance for
the song "Ministry of Road (M.O.R.)". Montano’s win for “Ministry of Road” is the second consecutive
win at the Soul Train Music Awards for Soca Music.

International Soca Monarchs[edit]

The International Soca Monarch competition is an annual contest between various competing Soca
artists. Within this competition there are two sub-categories which contestants can place in. One of
which 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, Machel won his first Soca Monarch
competition (from Power Soca Monarchs) for his performance for the song "Advantage". In the years
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. Machel 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. Machel set a new record by winning the 2014 Power Monarch, becoming the first
artist/ performer to win a total of four titles.[12] He won the title again in 2015 with his hit song "Like Ah
Boss".[13]

Discography[edit]

Patrice Roberts (left) and Machel perform at UWI Splash in Chaguaramas, Trinidad.
Machel and his band perform in front of a live audience at a fete

Solo albums[edit]
 Too Young to Soca?
 Soca Earthquake (1987)
 Dr. Carnival (1988)
 Katch Ya! (1989)
 Breakin Out! (1990)
 One Step Ahead! (1991)
 2000 Young To Soca (2000 Re-Edition)
 The Xtatik Experience (2005)
 B.O.D.Y. (2006)
 The Book of Angels (2007)
 Flame on, released as Wining Season in the United States (2008)
 Heavenly Drum (2009)
 Album 34 (2010)
 The Return (2011)
 Double M (2012)
 Going for Gold (2012)- Machel Montano and Friends
 Machelements (Volume 1) (2013)
 Happiest Man Alive (2014)
 Monk Monte (2015)
 Monk Evolution (2016)
 G.O.A.T (2019)
Xtatik albums[edit]
 X Amount Ah Sweetnesss (1992)
 Soca Style Hot (1993)
 By All Means (1994)
 Loose Yuh Waist (1995)
 Men At Work (1996)
 Heavy Duty (1997)
 Xtatik Live (1997)
 Charge (1998)
 Any Minute Now (1999)
 Here Comes the Band (2000)
 Same High (2001)
 On the Cusp (2002)
 The Xtatik Circus (2003- as "Xtatik Band 5.0")
 The Xtatik Parade (2004)
Guest Appearances[edit]
 14. "Can't Let Go" (with Boyz II Men) on (Collide)