Bandleader Choy Aming is dead
Former bandleader Kelvin “Choy” Aming is dead.
Aming, who was in his 80s, was a bandleader in the heady era of the 1940s when there were great bands like Bob Wilson and the Wilsonians, Sel Duncan, John Buddy Williams, Fitz Vaughn Bryan, Johnny Gomez, Tom Durham, Norman Tex Williams et al. That was a time when the presence of the United States marine base at Chaguaramas gave a boost to show business.
Port of Spain became one of the Caribbean flesh pots with lots of night clubs, particularly along Wrightson Road which was nicknamed, “The Gaza Strip”.
In this milieu Choy Aming formed his band in the 1940s. It was said that famed London bandleader Edmundo Ros, who was born in Port of Spain, played with his band.
Aming, a drummer, was usually introduced by the master of ceremonies, as “Choy Aming, his drums and his orchestra”..
In 1961, Aming opened a popular nightclub “Penthouse” on the top floor of the Salvatori Building, then the tallest structure in the country.
It was a successful venture which featured top local and international artistes but he left it in the hands of relatives and migrated to Bermuda where he also had successful entertainment and tourism businesses.
He will be buried on Wednesday.