Krista Henry, Staff Reporter

Linton - Contributed

This year Linton has begun to make his voice heard around the Caribbean with his debut as a solo artiste. Having sung with the groups Cornerstone and Sheer, Linton released his solo album Spirit, Life and Love in January. The album has been making strides in Barbados, as at this year's Barbados Music Awards Linton won Best New Artiste, Song of the Year for Cardiac Arrest (beating out Rihanna), Songwriter of the Year and R&B Song of the Year.

A singer, songwriter, producer and instrumentalist (guitar and keyboard), Linton is all about substance in his music. "My music is about spirit, self-evaluation, soul and true reality. My music is like a pepperpot of genres. I also have a soca, reggae, Caribbean flair to the soul," he said.

Influenced by music from an early stage, Linton grew up with two classically trained parents. "Music isn't what I always wanted to do; it grew on me. At home my brain was flooded with music from Nat King Cole, Al Green and then blended with Bob Marley, the Three Tenors and countless other great artistes. My parents listened to everything. After high school I went on to pursue a bachelor's degree in design and production. It was only as I was finishing up my BFA that an undeniable music bug hit me," Linton said.

According to Linton, while in art school he wasn't singing, he spent a lot of his time writing and producing other Bajan artistes' tracks. One day his boss at CRS Music asked him to sing and from then his career jump-started. In January of 2007 he performed at the Barbados Jazz Festival for the first time, in what his local media claimed was a "spectacular national live debut".

Major performance

"The festival was fun. I did it with some close friends of mine and it was my first major performance as Hal Linton the artiste," he said. Since then, Linton has landed a huge deal to perform at the Heineken Red Star Soul Tour in the United States from August to October. According to Linton, it was a huge honour and accomplishment, as the tour books the best in soul music, such as Angie Stone and Erykah Badu.

"At this stage of my life I am totally in love with the art of storytelling from life and spiritual experiences to love. For me, music is one of the most perfect mediums of expressing this passion that I intend to have as part of my life for years to come. So, as I strum my guitar and keyboard from the rhythm of my drums and pen to paper, I seek to give listeners a chance to see the world through my eyes," Linton passionately expressed.

Linton's album can be found at www.CRSMusic.com. He is being independently managed and hopes to get the chance to perform soon in the other Caribbean nations.