Grenadian soca star Tallpree is ready to take the COVID-19 vaccine

loopnewscaribbean.com (Chrislyn Lashington) – Live events are now a thing of the past, so too are the cheques rolling in for entertainers like Tallpree who solely rely on the entertainment industry. Despite much public skepticism, he says he’s ready to take the Covid-19 vaccine as a way to get back to hosting carnivals and to mitigate his pre-existing condition. 

“Vaccine, I’m ready, I have nothing to hide. I’m hearing, you know, people talking about this is the way the government will keep a tab on you. Keep tabs on me, I ain’t got nothing to hide,” Tallpree says jokingly before getting more serious.

The cultural ambassador of Grenada reveals that he has asthma, making him particularly prone to experience severe illness if he contracts the Covid-19 virus. “I’m ready because I’m asthmatic and I’m one of the persons who don’t want to take the chances in going out there and contracting that virus because I’m more vulnerable than the average person.” 

Video: https://www.loopnewscaribbean.com

The multi-time Soca Monarch and Road March King says he will take the vaccine once it’s 95% safe in order to protect himself and his family. He believes that the more persons who take the vaccine, the sooner we can get back to regular programming. 

Tallpree’s signature event PreeDay would have celebrated its 10th anniversary in 2020.

The Carnival Wednesday all-nighter concert started in 2011 with headliner Machel Montano at the Grenada National Cricket Stadium with thousands in the stands. Now, as he sits in the empty stadium, his face lights up when talking about the memories of epic performances with his friends in the business like Blaxx, Patrice Roberts, Rupee, Alison Hinds, Voice and Benjai. 

The 9-time international soca monarch finalist contemplates the dread of not having Spicemas this year, forcing him to cancel PreeDay and the 2020 presentation of carnival band Lavish which he co-owns with his daughter, former National Carnival Queen Ebony Telesford. Tallpree, real name Wilt Cambridge admits that he has used his poker face to give the impression that everything is alright. 

“Well I’ll still have to smile…because even in the roughest time I don’t think people {are} supposed to tell by the read on your face. I have to have a poker face all the time.” He goes on to justify that generally in the entertainment industry, fans should not be privy to the fact that he’s having a bad day. 

Grenada implemented a state of emergency in March 2020 restricting movement and business activity. The entertainment industry took a hard blow.

“In general it is really tough, really really tough, not just for me, but for other people in the entertainment industry. I can speak as an artiste/promoter. In this day and age artistes survive mainly by live shows…de place dead, ain’t nothing live in that,” says the Grenadian lyricist. After some quick maths, he estimates that it will be up to 3 years of missing carnivals if 2021 Caribbean carnivals are a no-go. 

The father of nine reassures that the pandemic hasn’t brought all doom and gloom because he’s been getting much needed time with his five younger children. His sense of pride shines through as he describes his daily routine, “Good thing I have 5 little kids around, I have four that’s grown. I spend a lot of time with them. I get to take them to school, I cook, I clean, I do the whole works. I’m busy during the day and it feels good. I think that’s the positive for me…family time.” 

Of course, we took the opportunity after the interview to ask him if he plans on having more children, to which he answered that he doesn’t want to hit the double digits.

His youngest is three years old.

Source: loopnewscaribbean.com