BASSETERRE, St. Kitts – THE passing of one of St. Kitts’ most celebrated artistes, Kevin Donovan a.k.a. Masud Sadiki has left an impact on family, friends and the entire federation along with the music world.
Months before his passing, he had formed a band along with his long-time friend and business partner Hakeem ‘Ragga Redz’ Samuel called ‘Limitless Band’.
Samuel had been featured on Donovan’s albums as a musician or singer.
A band, he had told this Reporter, he was very proud of and would take the music scene by storm. He confidently said that he had put together some of the Federation’s most talented singers and musicians, some of whom many have not even had heard.
Now that Masud is gone, Samuel’ who in the past preferred to stay behind the scenes is now Band Leader and managing its affairs.
His friendship with Donovan had spanned over 20 years and after the 2008 Hurricane Omar which destroyed the building where they both lived, Samuel’s family had lived with Donovan for several months.
“I prefer to be the behind the scenes, but we rise to the occasion when it is required. Masud would usually represent a thought that we both had business or music wise. You done know he was deep with a lot of energy and a lot of vision and ideas,” he said.
He said that the band has been doing okay although not at the stage they hope to be as they have high expectations but they are growing.
The vision for the band when it was formed was not to be just be ‘a cover band’ but one that records original music.
Very soon, they will be recording original music, but in the meantime, Samuel said they regularly play out and have two steady gigs where they perform every Wednesday evenings at Sprat Net and every second, third and fourth Sundays at The Docks.
Along with playing the role of Band Leader, Samuel is also the Bass player the other members are Ariel Peets and Dijon Webbe who are both keyboardists and Errol Richards is the drummer.
There is a total of four vocalists who can sing any genre of music, Isean Samuel, Torriano Samuel, Veshawn Bolus and Paige Thomas.
“I always try to motivate the guys, so whenever they may have problems they can come and talk to me. I would take the burden for everyone else,” he said.
Samuel said that the day Donovan passed the band had a gig to perform that night.
He said they were messaging each other and has kept the messages to this day.
“It was nothing much, just simple text in terms of what time we would leave as we were waiting to set up.
“We did not play again, only until the Sunday because we already had a booking, basically we kept moving forward and used the energy he had,” he said.
His passing is not one Samuel wants to talk about; Donovan was the closest person he had lost like that but he thought he handled the death well.
He said that for the first few days learning of his friend’s death there were tears and denial. In terms of any signs that that would have been his end, Samuel said there were no obvious ones.
“The thing with signs you wouldn’t really see them until the after effect maybe when you look back at a picture or so you just never expect someone like that to go out like that either. It doesn’t seem real to me, but you got to have a lion heart still, so you got to move on.
“I deal with stuff differently being rooted in spirituality. I think that everything serves its purpose. There is always an upside to something and I can’t say what it is up to now so just gotta move on,” he said.
“The band is going good; everyone is committed and we have a good relationship; everyone lively and motivated with a humorous energy,” he said.
The band can be contacted for bookings by calling 667-0483, 664-7158, 665-3111
