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Edric Connor (2 August 1913 – 13 October 1968) was a pioneering Caribbean singer, folklorist and actor who was born in Trinidad. He was one of the trailblazers of the calypso genre in the United Kingdom, where he migrated in 1944 and chiefly lived and worked until his death from ancylostomiasis in Putney, London, at the age of 55. ==Career== Edric Esclus Connor〔Stephen Bourne, ("Mogotsi, Pearl Cynthia Connor- (1924–2005)" ), ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2009.〕 was born in 1913 in Mayaro, Trinidad. He settled in England in 1944, making his debut on BBC radio two weeks later, in ''Calling the West Indies''.〔"Connor, Edric (1913-1968), in David Dabydeen, John Gilmore and Cecily Jones (eds), ''Oxford Companion to Black British History'', Oxford University Press, 2007, pp. 113-14.〕 In 1951 he was responsible for bringing the Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra - TASPO - to the Festival of Britain.〔(Notes, "(1954) Edric Connor & The Caribbeans – Songs from Jamaica" ), folkcatalogue.〕 In 1955, he recorded the first Manchester United Football Club song, "The Manchester United Calypso".〔Davy Collins, ("A history of the chants" ), FTB Pro, 17 August 2012.〕 That same year, he and his wife Pearl, whom he had married in 1948,〔 set up the Edric Connor Agency, representing black actors, dancers, writers and musicians, which eventually, in the 1970s, she ran under the name of the Afro-Asian-Caribbean Agency.〔Margaret Busby, (obituary of Pearl Connor-Mogotsi ), ''The Guardian'', 2 March 2005.〕 In 1963 they set up the Negro Theatre Workshop, one of the UK's first black theatre groups.〔(BBC 1Xtra Black History timeline )〕 Connor appeared on stage at London's Princess Theatre in 1956 in ''Summer Song'', the life told through the music of Antonín Dvořák, in which Connor was "given two of the show's most memorable moments in 'Deep Blue Evening' and 'Cotton Tail'."〔Adrian Wright, (''A Tanner's Worth of Tune: Rediscovering the Post-war British Musical'' ), The Boydell Press, 2010, p. 196.〕 In 1958 he became the first black actor to perform for the Royal Shakespeare Company in Stratford, playing Gower in ''Pericles'', having been recommended for the role by Paul Robeson.〔 Connor acted in a total of 18 films and was best noted for his role as Daggoo in ''Moby Dick.''〔("Movie Seamen" ), ''Jet'' magazine, 3 March 1955, p.61.〕 Connor also co-starred with Rita Hayworth, Robert Mitchum, and Jack Lemmon in the 1957 film ''Fire Down Below'', directed by Robert Parrish, playing the character Jimmy Jean, who was the third man on the "boat-for-hire" along with Mitchum and Lemmon. In 1952, with his band "The Caribbeans" (subsequently called The Southlanders)〔(Notes, "(1955) Edric Connor and the Southlanders – Songs from Trinidad" ), folkcatalogue.〕 Connor recorded a "groundbreaking LP of Jamaican folk music" entitled ''Songs from Jamaica''.〔("Edric Connor" ) Artist Biography by Bruce Eder. AllMusic.〕 This included the song "Day Dah Light", which portrayed the hard life of Caribbean field workers. The song was later recorded by Jamaican folk singer Louise Bennett in 1954, and was rewritten in 1955 by Irving Burgie and William Attaway. The version performed by legendary singer Harry Belafonte became popularly known as "Day-O (The Banana Boat Song)", reaching number five on the ''Billboard'' charts in 1957 (and would even be featured in the 1988 film ''Beetlejuice'', directed by Tim Burton), Connor's acting for television included roles in the espionage series ''Danger Man'': as the character Thompson in "Deadline" (1962, the final episode of the first series, which unusually featured an almost all-black cast), and memorably as opposition leader Dr Manudu in the series 2 episode entitled "The Galloping Major" (first aired on 3 November 1964). Connor directed the "Caribbean Carnival" event held in London's St Pancras Town Hall at the end of January 1959, organised by fellow Trinidadian Claudia Jones, and televised by the BBC.〔Ray Funk, ("Notting Hill Carnival: Mas and the mother country" ), ''Caribbean Beat'', Issue 100.〕〔("History: 1959 – Elements of Caribbean Carnival" ), Notting Hill Carnival '14.〕 He appeared on the BBC programme ''Desert Island Discs'' on 13 April 1959,〔(Edric Connor - Actor, Calypso singer ), ''Desert Island Discs'', 13 April 1959.〕 when one of his choices was "Deep Blue Evening", from the show ''Summer Song'', a track on which he was a soloist.〔("13. DEEP BLUE EVENING - Edric Connor 3:16" ), ''Summer Song''. SEPIA 1086.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Edric Connor」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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