Calypsonian Alston ‘Becket’ Cyrus has been awarded an honorary doctorate from the University of the West Indies.
The Vincentian icon received the honour at the graduation ceremony at the Five Islands campus in Antigua and Barbuda.
Becket was conferred an honorary Doctor of Letters for his work as a Soca Artiste/Composer.
A welcome reception, as well as a motorcade for Dr. Alston Becket Cyrus is set to take place, from the Argyle International Airport (AIA) to Layou at 1 pm.
Becket has fostered an illustrious 47-year career with 28 albums; numerous award-winning singles; one movie soundtrack—‘Disco Calypso’, in the motion picture The Deep; five compositions featured in four American TV programmes including “Full House” and “The Tonight Show With Jay Leno”, and eight Road March titles, all to his credit.
He first came to the spotlight in 1975 when he was crowned SVG’s Calypso Monarch with two songs “Carnival History” and “Mass at Victoria”. In his long career, he has performed on stages across North America, Britain, Colombia, Spain and the Caribbean. He is also one of only a few calypsonians to be signed by a major record label: Casablanca Records in 1977, alongside artistes such as Donna Summer and KISS.
