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Guyanese Song Bird Yonette Hooper
…from GT to NY and back
(By Mondale Smith)
Music lovers who know Guyanese history would reflect on the “good old” 1960’s when Eddie Hooper’s crooning abilities saw many relationships blooming way beyond ‘Passing Memories’ through his musical genes that have flowed to his children. One of them is the popular Syd Hooper of ‘We linking fame’ and her siblings.
The Hooper name has its place in history as proof that the Guyanese music industry, though a sleeping giant, will one day awaken.
One of the many Hooper children, Yonette, is keeping the family’s musical abilities current and Guyanese will get a chance to experience her in action on Saturday April 17, next, at Thirst Park, then again on April 25 at the National Cultural Centre for the Guyana Music awards.
Yonette Hooper
At present, headlining her own band, MYSTIKAL VYBES out of NEW YORK, with her new album ‘TUNE-UP’ soon to hit the streets, she says that she believes that the Guyanese music industry is on the precipice of rebirth.
Her achievements are many, including placing second in the Miami Soca Monarch 2006 and over all ‘winner’ of the female Category.
To many she is best described as a ‘Guyanese to the bone’ singer, song writer and above all a Dynamic Entertainer.
Also known as Mystique, her musical career began during her period of studying in Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom where her major was Health Science.
The former female lead singer for Cannon Balls band out of Guyana, De Untouchables and the G/T Ninja out of New York, was also the former Band Leader Of Triad Cross Over All Girls Front Band out of New York.
She is at present the female lead singer for “D”NuCFN Band based in Jamaica, Queens, New York and does her stuff accompanied by a very talented piano player called MIDAS. Together they are dubbed MYSTIQUE & MIDAS: a super combination.
She sees herself as a “singer with a difference,” having been in the arena for quite some time, performing with a number of well known groups in the Caribbean arena.
She also did her share of opening acts for well known Jamaican, Barbadian and Trinidadian artistes. Still doing what she loves, she has and still tours Canada, England, Barbados, Trinidad, Suriname and the USA.
“I’m very serious with my music, and once I hit the stage I’ve been told that I keep hearts pulsating,” she says.
Her new single is ‘Rudeness’ and she sure is promising Guyanese music lovers some of that when she touches down next month for the historical Guyana Musical splash followed by the Guyana Artistic Music awards.
Simply put, Mystique lives for music, and in some loving way she has created her own world which makes her happy to be who she is; an entertainer and a true lover of the art. Putting it mildly she says, “Sometimes it’s not all about how much money one can make from this business, but its how you threat it that makes you inspirationally rich and everything else follows”.
She just thanks God for blessing her with such a great gift.
Music flows through her veins from her father Eddie Hooper who is best known for some of Guyana’s most popular songs like Take Warning, Passing Memories, Where are Your Friends Now, Sweetest Black Man and LiL Gal among other hits.
He also played guitar with Tom Charles and the Syncopators back in the days and also served as a lead singer in the band.
He passed away in 1996 in the USA.
Yonnette and her older sister were introduced to the stage by their father as children headlining the children Broadcast to Schools programme on Guyanese radio back in the days. They also performed with him on his many cross country tours in their home land.
During her stay in England, she was involved with a group called The Mandelas.
Her music coach was Ms Geraldine Connor, who predicted that one day she (Yonnette) will be a very good singer, known to the world.
When asked about the group, ‘Mandelas’, her reply was, we toured the United Kingdom as a musical group entertaining every age, colour and race.
She also performed with the Kuffdem group that included actors from across the Caribbean.
On completion of her Btec Health Science at Thomas Danby College in the UK, she attended Leeds Metropolatan University to under take her BSc Honors in computer science, after leaving England in 1995, the road she took was Music: which is in her heart, body, soul and mind.
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