The Talbot Brothers, with their distinctive blended harmonies, were one of the Island’s top calypso bands during the 1950s and 60s who also won international renown.
Songs such as Bermuda Buggy Ride, Yellow Bird, and Bermuda’s Still Paradise, with their smooth harmonies and easy, swinging beats, earned the group a record deal with ABC Paramount Records, and helped establish Bermuda as a carefree, no-worries leisure destination.
The group that comprised brothers Austin (1905-1985), Archie (1906-1972), Roy (1915-2009), Ross “Blackie” (1918-2000), Bryan “Dick” (1920-1979) and cousin Cromwell “Mandy” Manders (1914-1990) made two appearances on The Ed Sullivan Show in the United States, appeared at the London Palladium—and entertained tourists in Tucker’s Town homes and in the Island’s top hotels.
They were charismatic performers whose music, wit, warmth and humour made them icons of Bermudian hospitality. Audience members who saw their hotel show often followed them back to the Leopard’s Club, or Clay House Inn—the Island’s top black-owned clubs—to continue the party. Tourism historian Duncan McDowall referred to the Talbots as Bermuda’s “number one entertainment draw”.
They were immensely popular with tourists during Bermuda’s boom tourism years—and they were a huge hit with local residents, too. The clientele in restaurants and hotels were white, due to Government’s official policy of segregation, but in practice, the Talbot Brothers mixed with Bermudians of all races, helping to break down colour barriers.
Parents Osmond and Mamie (Lambert) Talbot lived in a one-room cottage tucked away in Tucker’s Town Bay, an area that was then home to a mostly black community who mainly farmed, built boats and fished to earn a living. The Talbots also owned several horse and buggy stables. Osmond and Mamie had 12 children, eight boys and four girls.
During the early 1920s, the Bermuda Government decided to transform Tucker’s Town into a whites-only exclusive vacation venue, complete with world-class golf course, and some 400 families were compelled by legislation to leave their homes and land in return for alternative housing and cash. The Talbot family moved into a small cottage built for them in Harris Bay, Smith’s Parish.
Years later, in an ironic twist, The Talbot Brothers’ career success was to parallel the development of Tucker’s Town and Bermuda’s burgeoning tourism industry.
The Talbots began singing in the church, first at Wesleyan Methodist in Tucker’s Town, and later at Marsden Methodist, built opposite their new home at Harris Bay. Mamie played the organ at both houses of worship.
Archie formed a quartet that also included Austin, Roy and cousin Ernest Stovell. They sang at home, with Osmond playing concertina, and Mamie playing harmonium and a piano bought with the expropriation money. She trained them rigorously in four-part harmony and voice projection, telling them “your voice doesn’t go out singing by itself”.
Soon, Austin and Archie acquired guitars, Ernest a banjo, while Roy made a stand-up bass out of a pork sausage packing case, and a piece of fishing line. Over the years, members of the audience would sign the instrument, including baseball star Babe Ruth, entertainers Frank Sinatra and Bing Crosby, and world leaders Winston Churchill and Teddy Roosevelt. The original later went missing on a tour of the United States, and Roy fashioned another homemade instrument that became known as the “doghouse” or “Bermudavarius”.
Soon, the quartet was singing at Cup Match, while continuing to sing in church and at family picnics. Tucker’s Town, meanwhile, was becoming an enclave for the wealthy and well-connected, and the Talbots began to connect with the newcomers. Austin, and later Ross, drove them around Bermuda in their horses and buggies, while Archie worked on the new Mid-Ocean Golf Course for a time, and Ross eventually became a caddie.
The wealthy newcomers soon became aware of the Talbots’ singing ability, and one evening millionaire financier Ford Johnson asked the professional orchestra at Mid-Ocean to stop playing so that Archie could take the stage to sing. He duly wooed the audience of some 30 visiting millionaires.
Eventually, the group evolved with Ross on electric guitar taking the place of Ernest, and youngest brother Bryan and cousin Mandy joining to make the group a sextet.
When they began performing, the Talbot Brothers did so in jacket and tie—but it wasn’t long before they adopted the vibrantly colourful shirts and painted straw hats that formed their trademark look.
When the Second World War began, and the U.S. set up bases on the Island, the Talbot Brothers continued to entertain visitors—but this time, they were American, Canadian and British troops rather than tourists.
Just before the end of the war, the manager at Elbow Beach Hotel invited the group to play one Wednesday night on a trial basis. Their performance was a resounding success, and soon the Talbot Brothers were playing every Wednesday night at Elbow, and on other nights at the Island’s other top hotels—Bermudiana, Hamilton Princess and Inverurie. They were also kept busy at the annual student parties during College Weeks, and continued to play at private parties, greet cruise ships, and played on the tarmac at the newly-constructed airport at Kindley Field.
When the war ended, the tourist trade resumed—and the Talbot Brothers were again front and centre. By then, they were veteran calypsonians. “We liked calypso music, and we found it was attractive to visitors,” Roy said. “We could ad lib on calypso songs, so if someone spilled a drink or burnt their finger on a cigarette, we’d put it right into the song. We were good at ad libbing because we could rhyme well. Bermuda at the time was all calypso, and it was a natural fit for us.”
By the 1950s, the Talbots were able to quit their day jobs to concentrate solely on their music. They had been hired for occasional private gigs overseas, but in 1950 a booking agent hired them for a six-week stint at the Club Norman in Toronto, Canada. Soon, the Talbots would begin a 20-year tradition of leaving Bermuda annually during the tourism off-season to travel to Canada or the U.S., playing gigs for wealthy patrons on the country club circuit, many of whom would make special trips to Bermuda to see the group perform again. While playing in the U.S., the Talbots met many of the famous stars of the time—Bing Crosby, Frank Sinatra, Duke Ellington, Lauren Bacall, Humphrey Bogart, Sammy Davis Jr., and Nat King Cole among them.
When they toured overseas, the Talbots had their own press agent who sent out postcards informing country club members where they would be performing. “Everybody came looking for us,” Roy once said. “We got a lot of cards … people sent us birthday cards.”
They were invited to appear on The Ed Sullivan Show—then a staple of American pop culture— in 1952, and were invited back in 1953. “They’re not good,” Sullivan told his live audience and millions watching on television. “They’re great.”
“It was a historical, unforgettable and unprecedented international achievement for us to be on the famous Ed Sullivan Show,” Roy said. “It was really exciting. We played for all those people there, and we had a tremendous roar from the audience. The room was really beautiful, and jam-packed. Ed Sullivan was very pleasant, and said he had heard a lot about us and was happy to have us on the programme. He later wrote us a beautiful letter asking us to perform on his show again.”
They played at the prestigious London Palladium in 1960, appeared on the Good Morning America television programme with host Arlene Francis, and played a three-month gig at London’s Mayfair Hotel. “The London Palladium was our favourite venue,” Roy said. “It was a terrific situation, and the sound system was beautiful. We came around, and these guys were setting up in the afternoon, balancing out the sound to perfection.”
They also played and sang for world leaders; when the Big Three conference was held in Bermuda in 1953, they were asked to entertain for British prime minister Winston Churchill, President Dwight Eisenhower of the United States and French Prime Minister Joseph Laniel.
The Talbot Brothers appeared in films shot in Bermuda—Bermuda Affair and Atomic Nightmare— and were the subject of articles in Time, Life, Look and Holiday magazines, as well as major newspapers in the U.S., Britain and Canada.
They also released numerous records—and, in their spare time, played for the Cleveland County cricket team. They would also play for a cedar cup against the white sons of Bermuda’s Front Street merchants who were home for their college break. The matches are thought to be among the first integrated sports events during that period.
The Talbot Brothers were also a featured attraction of the Bermuda Department of Tourism’s marketing efforts, particularly in the northeastern United States, where they played at country clubs during Bermuda’s tourism off-season, travelling at their own expense to do so.
All the while, they remained true to their roots as entertainers. “We’ve always tried to project kindness and consideration of others above ourselves,” Archie said. “We endeavour to reach people with warmth. Our aim is always to show the audiences that they come first to us.”
The Talbots continued their tours of North America until 1970. In 1972, Archie,the second eldest of the brothers, died in 1972. In 1973, nephews Rodney and Ryan Tucker joined the group, which became known as The Talbots and they continued to perform until the early 1980s. In November 1979, the Department of Tourism honoured the group by holding a week-long series of activities in recognition of their role as musical ambassadors for the Island.
Dick died in 1979, Austin in 1985, and Cousin Mandy in 1990. Ross “Blackie” Talbot, in whose honour the Ross “Blackie” Talbot Charity Golf Tournament was established, died in 2000.
Roy Talbot was the last surviving member. His death on May 15, 2009 was reported in The New York Times, an indication both of the group’s international renown and of the passing of an era.
In 2008, the Talbot Brothers were honoured by the Post Office in a Bermuda Troubadours stamp issue—and in 2010, they were inducted into Bermuda’s Music Hall of Fame.
