July 22, 1908-March 5, 2000
Known as the “granddaddy of calypso”, Sydney Bean entertained hotel, nightclub and cruise boat audiences for nearly 70 years. During his long career, he worked as a singer, guitarist and bandleader—and wrote lyrics for more than 300 songs.
Along with the Talbot Brothers, he was a pioneer in the entertainment industry that sprang up in tourism’s wake.
His long years in the industry, along with his colourful shirts, Bermuda shorts, and dynamic personality, made him one of Bermuda’s best-known music ambassadors.
Bean, the son of Inkle Sydney Bean Sr. and Edith Swan Bean, was born in Pembroke, but raised in Somerset, where the family moved shortly after his birth.
His mother played the piano and he obtained his earliest introduction to music, singing in the men’s choir at Allen Temple A.M.E. Church. He also sang at West End Primary School, where he received much encouragement from headmaster C. A. Isaac-Henry, who was an exceptional voice teacher.
Bean did not learn how to play an instrument until he was an adult, but he was heavily influenced by the calypso music he heard emanating from the homes of West Indian families who lived in his neighbourhood.
Attracted to performing from boyhood, he often skipped school to sing for sail boating tourists from the dock of the Summerside Hotel in Somerset—until his parents found out and put a stop to that escapade.
After West End School, he attended The Berkeley Institute but was forced to drop out and become the family breadwinner after both parents died within a month of each other in the summer of 1924. He found a job at Dockyard but never put aside his dream of being an entertainer.
His career began in earnest in 1928 at Elbow Beach Hotel when he started the Twilight Quartette with three other Allen Temple choir members. They performed “folk songs, plantation songs and spirituals”. The following year, the group found a home at Belmont Hotel.
In the 1930s, he learned to play the guitar and double bass and made appearances with several bands, including Berry Brown’s. He was a featured soloist in the band of Mark Williams, the leading bandleader of the day.
He then formed the Sydney Bean Trio which performed at hotels and private homes in Tucker’s Town. His trio was said to have “all the private parties covered.” Bean sang and played bass. The others members were guitarist Eddie Fough and Cecil Darrell, who played piano and accordion and sang. For many years, the trio performed for a Yale University rugby team on their annual visit to Bermuda.
With the outbreak of the Second World War and the establishment of two U.S. bases in Bermuda as a result, Bean did double duty, working in the Commandant’s office by day and entertaining base workers at night.
In the late 1940s, his trio expanded to become the Sydney Bean Band, with addition of Tab Bassett on saxophone, Melvin Dickinson on drums and singer Thelma Wilson Tucker. Joe “Solomon” Richards eventually replaced Cecil Darrell.
Bean’s band was highly regarded by local musicians as well as visiting name entertainers such as singer Arthur Prysock and noted bandleader, Woody Herman. It was the first local band hired to entertain tourists at Hawkins Island.
Bean also performed as a solo act and was one of the first local entertainers to work overseas. He sang at private parties in Philadelphia, Boston and New York. For nine months, he was the house singer at a Philadelphia restaurant where a then-unknown Bill Cosby was bartender.
The indefatigable Bean played at countless venues from Somerset to St. George’s. He was equally popular with local audiences, especially during the first part of his career, when he sang at Opera House shows and also at church concerts. His first group, the Twilight Quartette, did not disband until 1943.
The 1940s’ radio programme ‘Live from the Sea Horse Grill’, which was broadcast from the Imperial Hotel in Hamilton, was another avenue for his talents as was the U.S. base television station in St. David’s.
He also became known for his after-hours shows at Loyalty Inn, where fellow entertainers would gather to unwind on the way home from work. Bean, who was married three times, also performed with his former wife Olive Bean, who was a talented pianist.
“My former wife had a big impact on my music without even knowing it,” he told the Mid-Ocean News in a 1982 interview. “She played in my band and many times I was inspired to write certain songs because of her.”
Bean is said to have written the lyrics for more than 300 songs although few were ever recorded, because there was no financial incentive. He told an interviewer he regretted not composing the music for his songs, admitting he was too lazy.
Still, he kept up a hectic schedule entertaining well into the 1990s.
In the 1950s, he was hired as entertainer for tour boats operated by Kitson and Co. He was so successful he was promoted to cruise director, with responsibility for hiring other entertainers.
He regaled tourists—and his fellow entertainers—with his songs and stories. Return visitors, who were the bread and butter of Bermuda’s tourism industry, marvelled that Bean did not forget a face or a name. He also was noted for his dead-on impersonations of musicians such as Louis Armstrong.
Bean received several awards during his career. He was honoured by the musician’s union, the Bermuda Federation of Musicians and Variety Artistes.
He received a Queen’s Certificate and Badge of Honour in 1977, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the Bermuda Arts Council in 1990 and a Certificate of Appreciation from the Department of Tourism in January 1992.
In his later years, Bean lived at Greene’s Guest House in Southampton, moving to a rest home in the last year of his life.
Bean was survived by his son Dr. Wendall Beane, brother Charles Beane and sister Louise Simmons. A daughter Patricia Beane and another brother Alan Bean predeceased him. Musicians came out in full force to honour him at his funeral at St. Paul AME Church.
In March 2008, he was one of a number of pioneering calysonians honoured with a ‘Bermuda Troubadors’ commemorative stamp.
