Exuma (musician)

Born in Tea Bay on Cat Island, Bahamas, McKay and his mother Daisy Mackey moved to Nassau. He grew up there in a small house on Canaan Lane, shared by Ma' Gurdie, an older woman who McKay said "danced so well". "When I sing, I can still see Ma' Gurdie's beautiful moves". As a boy, McKay and his friends caught and sold fish to buy movie tickets. Watching the films exposed them to Sam Cooke and Fats Domino and other American blues singers, who they would imitate. McKay moved to New York City at the age of 17 to study architecture. He "promptly ran out of money". Friends give him an old guitar and knowing three or four chords, he started practicing old Bahamian calypsos. Homesick for Nassau, McKay began writing poetry about Ma' Gurdie and Junkanoo. These poems became the basis for McKay's "Brown Girl in the Ring" (later a hit for Boney M), "Rushing Through the Crowd" and other Exuma songs. McKay did not complete his architectural studies. ==Musical career==

Manhattan and Greenwich Village, and early recordings as Tony McKay (1960s) Nassau friends living in Brooklyn took McKay to Greenwich Village, introducing him to hootenannies in neighborhood cafes. During this time, McKay also performed at Cafe Wha? and The Bitter End. McKay often performed with well known musicians and comedians in small Greenwich Village clubs and bars. "I started playing around when Bob Dylan, Richie Havens, Peter, Paul and Mary, Richard Pryor, (Jimi) Hendrix and (Barbra) Streisand were all down there, too, hanging out and performing at the Cafe Bizarre". Founding Exuma (1969) In 1969 McKay launched the group "Exuma" (named after a group of Bahamian islands) with his then-partner and lifelong friend Sally O'Brien. He enlisted several musician friends, forming his backup band, the Junk Band. The band included O'Brien (as Sister Sally), Bogie, Lord Wellington, Villy, Spy Boy Thielheim, Mildred Vaney, Frankie Gearing, Diana Claudia Bunea (as Princess Diana), and his good friend Peppy Castro (Emil Thielhelm, lead singer of the Blues Magoos). He soon gained the attention of Blues Magoos manager Bob Wyld. Wyld recommended McKay to Mercury Records and convinced the record label to sign him. Exuma and Exuma II (1970) In 1970 McKay, recording as "Exuma" and accompanied by a band with the same name, released two albums. Both featured full cover artwork painted by McKay. Mercury Records released McKay's first album Exuma, produced by "Daddy Ya Ya", a pseudonym adopted by Bob Wyld. Wyld produced the first six of Exuma's albums. Singles released from that lp were "Exuma, The Obeah Man" and "Junkanoo". Describing his process of musical creativity, McKay said "I try to be a story-teller, a musical doctor, one who brings musical vibrations from the universal spiritual plane through my guitar strings and my voice. I want to bring some good energy to the people. My whole first album came to me in a dream". McKay's second album Exuma II had two singles released, "Damn Fool" and "Zandoo". McKay also garnered recognition for his song "You Don't Know What's Going On", which was featured on the soundtrack of John G. Avildsen's 1970 film Joe. The Barclay record label distributed Exuma's Mercury Records releases in France, Holland, Switzerland and Belgium. The second album, Exuma II, featured performers were: Tony 'Exuma' McKay – lead vocals, guitar, ankle bell, & Sacred foot drum; Daddy Ya Ya – backing vocals, bass, attar & elephant bells, & marching drums; Yogi - backing vocals & junk bells; Spy Boy Thielheim – high harmony congas, cabassa, & Sacred sand; Lord Cherry - congas & whistle; Lord Wellington – congas; & Princess Diana & Sister Sally O'Brien (bass drum)– backing vocals & whistles. McKay painted, using chalk pastels, oil paints and water colors, during his music career. He created the cover artwork for many of his albums, beginning with the first in 1970. Musicologist Julian Cope said McKay's album covers were "adorned with Exuma's own fantastic paintings... transforming human faces into their respective animal spirits". Do Wah Nanny, Snake, Reincarnation, and Life (1971–1973) McKay left Mercury Records in 1971 to sign with Buddha Records' subsidiary Kama Sutra record label, through which he released the albums Do Wah Nanny (1971), Snake (1972), Reincarnation (1972), and Life (1973). Founding Inagua Records, and Junkanoo Drums stage production (1975–1977) Seeking greater artistic freedom, McKay's recordings were not released on a major record label for the rest of his career. By 1975 he had founded Inagua Records, his own record label through which he would self-release a number of records. In 1977, McKay created Junkanoo Drums, a musical stage production that showcased a dozen of his songs. McKay used the production to weave a story told by a "Grand Deacon". At each show's conclusion McKay would lead the entire company in a carnival procession around the audience in the park. The New York Times critic Robert Palmer said that the show "has no plot or overall theme", but instead "consists of a series of original songs by the Bahamian singer, songwriter and guitarist Exuma, but the songs have been elaborated into theatrical sketches, with 40 dancers, singers and musicians participating." New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival (1978–1991) Hearing of McKay's success performing Junkanoo Drums, New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival producer Quint Davis tracked him down by calling the Bahamian Embassy. Davis invited McKay to perform at the 1978 Festival. Penny Sausage, Street Music, Universal, and Rude Boy (1979–1986) In 1979, Exuma released Penny Sausage through his Inagua Records label. This was followed by Street Music, issued through Nassau Records. By the 1980s McKay had moved to New Orleans and was a regular at the New Orleans Jazz & Heritage Festival. He also performed regularly at the Old Absinthe House, a popular venue on Bourbon Street in the French Quarter. These nights often became jam sessions, as McKay would play songs that were not in the set list, attracting accomplished musicians, such as Bill Wyman and members of Bob Dylan's band. ==Artistry==

Exuma, the Obeah Man persona Creating an image and a persona that fit his music, McKay drew upon his Bahamian memories of the "Obeah Man". Bahamian life was rooted in West African tradition. McKay was a knowledgeable practitioner of bush medicine. He specialized in herbal remedies, especially the "mystical cerasee vine" (Bitter leaves or Momordica charantia), which he collected in Nassau. "I grew up as a roots person, someone knowing about the bush and the herbs and the spiritual realm. It was inbred into all of us. Just like for people growing up in the lowlands of the Delta Country or places in Africa." Musical collaborations Over the years the group Exuma played or toured with Patti LaBelle, Curtis Mayfield, Rita Marley, Peter Tosh, Toots & the Maytals, Sly and the Family Stone, Steppenwolf, Black Flag and the Neville Brothers. George J. 'Duke' Clemmons, Jerry Congales, Chuchlow Eliebank, Alfred "Pee Wee" Ellis, Alan Glover (Akinjorin "Juice" Omolade), Earl Gordon, Bill "Hutch" Hutchinson, Carl Jennings, Dave Libert, Bruce "Weasel" McDonald, George Porter Jr, Alfred "Uganda" Roberts, Ricky Sebastian, Kester Smith, Babatunde Olatunji, Michael O'Neil (as Ouimungie Pappa Legba), Bernard Purdie, John Russo, Victor Sirker, Michael Sklar, Dennis Taylor, David Torkanowsky, Earl Turbinton, David Lee Watson, Jacob Watson, Stanley Wiley (Kasa Allah) and Al Zanzler. ==Community and charitable efforts==

McKay and Exuma were a continual presence in charitable efforts across America, performing concerts and sharing receipts with various organizations. In December 1972, Exuma performed a free concert to support the Black Expo held at the Americana Hotel in Manhattan as well as a concert at Columbia Artists Management Inc. (CAMI) Hall to benefit East, a music club in Bedford-Stuyvesant. ==Personal life==

Marriage and family In 1974 McKay married Inita Watkins in Manhattan. McKay fathered many children, including Shaw, Gavin, Kenyatta Alisha, and Acklins. Acklins and Kenyatta Alisha are vocal artists, carrying on their father's tradition of entertainment. Murder of wife and son McKay's estranged wife Marilyn "Sammy" Mackey (née Guse) and their first son Shaw were murdered by Fritz Montalalou on May 10, 1972, at 217 Avenue A in Manhattan. Married in 1962 and separated from McKay for a year, 32-year-old Mackey suffered a slashed throat and a chest wound. Their nine-year-old son was stabbed once and later died in Bellevue Hospital. Their eight-year-old son Gavin, who had been sleeping in another room, called the police after the murders. Montalalou was convicted on two counts of murder and sentenced to two consecutive life terms. and killed the two in revenge for Mackey having called the police after Montalalou had assaulted his ex-girlfriend who lived across the hall from Mackey. ==Later life and death==

In the late 1980s, McKay suffered a heart attack in New Orleans. Bahamas Tourism Officer Athama Bowe recalls visiting McKay in hospital. "His skin was coated with olive oil and candles were burning all over the room for 'the sperrits'. He was mixing modern medicine with Obeah." McKay spent most of his time writing songs, painting, and fishing, McKay died in his sleep in 1997. ==Legacy==

Influence on other artists Aspects of McKay's "Obeah Man" persona influenced other artists, notably singer Nina Simone. Converting McKay's "Obeah Man" into "Obeah Woman", Simone assumed the role of "priestess" in her cover. Her live performance was recorded on her album "It Is Finished". The song begins with drumming by Babatunde Olatunji and Simone asking "do you know what an "Obeah Woman" is?" She continues, altering McKay's lyrics: "I'm the Obeah woman, from beneath the sea / To get to Satan, you gotta pass through me"... "they call me Nina, and Pisces too / There ain't nothin' that I can't do". Simone also performed two additional McKay songs during the live recording, "Dambala" and "22nd Century". McKay's art is still offered in art galleries in the US and the Bahamas. ==Awards and honors==

In 1974 McKay was invited by the Queen Julianna of the Netherlands to perform for her along with the Edwin Hawkins Singers. ==Discography==

• Exuma (1970) • Exuma II (1970) • Do Wah Nanny (1971) • Snake (1972) • Reincarnation (1972) • Life (1973) • From Africa To America To Junkanoo To Armageddon (1976) • Penny Sausage (1979) • Street Music (1979) (Later reissued in 1989 as "Rude Boy") • Universal (1982) ==References==