Leeward Island Calypso Competition

Ellie Matt performing Saturday August 8th 2009

BASSETERRE, St. Kitts - WINNING his first Calypso and Road March titles in 1973, the name Ellie Matt will forever be synonymous with music in St. Kitts and Nevis and also the Caribbean region.

Ellie Matt has created history in the Federation by winning the National Calypso crown on 10 occasions and the Road March title seven times. He is also worldwide known for his illustrious career with the Group Impressions and Ellie Matt and the GIs Brass.

He was recently inducted into the Hall of Fame for the International Soca Awards [ISA] that will be hosted in St. Kitts for the first time on October 18.

SKNVibes spoke to icon, whose real name is Elston Nero and is presently residing in Maryland, about his induction into the ISA Hall of Fame and his battle with ESRD or End Stage Renal Disease that has tremendously affected his life.

Nero said he was first aware of his induction from reading the news online.
“I did not receive an official word about the award, however, it’s always good to be recognised by your peers and also the receiving public for one’s talent,” he said. “It is a good feeling, like everything else that you’ve been doing something and you get recognised for it, especially in these days when everyone feels the slightest thing is a diss.”

“I’m just so sorry that at this point in time I’m taken down with my kidneys not working and I’m not able to be as active as I’d like to be and participate in the music. I love soca music and I appreciate the award,” he added.

Nero has been battling ESRD for years and first thought he had kidney stones, but was told by a doctor six years ago that the problem was with his kidneys and he only had about 35 percent use of them. ESRD is when the kidneys permanently fail to work. Renal failure refers to temporary or permanent damage to the kidneys that result in loss of normal kidney function. There are two different types of renal failure - acute and chronic.

Nero said that he is receiving Dialysis treatment, which is a procedure that is performed routinely on persons who suffer from acute or chronic renal failure, or who have ESRD. The process involves removing waste substances and fluid from the blood that are normally eliminated by the kidneys. “Three days a week I go to take Dialysis…Tuesdays, Thursdays and Saturdays, and it’s four and a half hours long on the machine,” he said.

He said although he is receiving treatment three times a week he would still be available to travel and collect his award and leave on the following day. Nero said because of the disease and the treatment he recieves, he is unable to work and live a normal life. He is in receipt of a treatment known as Hemodialysis, where a special type of access, called an arteriovenous (AV) fistula, is placed surgically, usually, in your arm. This involves joining an artery and a vein together. After access has been established, one is connected to a large Hemodialysis machine which drains the blood, bathes it in a special dialysate solution that removes waste substances and fluid then returns it to your bloodstream.

Nero said he is disappointed that St. Kitts does not have the kind of equipment needed for the treatment required for his illness. “I hope the government will try their best to put a dialysis machine in place so I can come home and receive treatment there. Derrick Thomas, my friend is in Puerto Rico, is also doing dialysis and there are others; so it wouldn’t be for Ellie Matt alone but also to help others who are overseas and would like to come home,” he said.

Nero said the treatment is very expensive although the US Government gives assistance. He also conveyed his gratitude to those persons who have been making contribution to his health fund.

“I want to thank everyone who has contributed to my well-being monetary or otherwise. I want them to continue with their support and prayers because the condition is still there,” he said. “I would like to thank Sandra Wallace and her business partner for her contribution, and also the Carnival Committee and the calypsonians, Cable and Wireless and all those people who make contributions to my account, to my health. I want to thank everyone.”

“I appreciate the prayers, any well wishes and contribution. I’ll be in St. Kitts soon for a Tribute to Ellie Matt show and I am also planning on giving a little performance. I’m trying right now to get myself physically fit,” he added. Nero said he is supposed to have a kidney transplant, but because of his rear blood type [B positive] matching with an available donor is not an easy task.

“I’m looking for a volunteer who matches my blood type and it doesn’t matter if it’s a man or woman,” he said. “But they have to volunteer. I cannot ask them, our people (black) don’t give organ donations for some reason, just mostly the white people.” Apart from his kidney not functioning, everything else seems to be fine. He still possesses his sense of humour and has even created a jingle on his answering machine.

“I am a composer,” he said jokingly. “If it weren’t for my kidney you wouldn’t be talking to me right now, I would have been somewhere else performing. My music is internationally known and it puts an international demand on my services. Because people know of me and my ability, and they know my music, if they call me I got to go and I always go to the highest bidder.” He describes himself as a gifted musician, calypsonian, songwriter and composer. “Music comes natural to Ellie Matt,” he said. “I am fun-loving, a natural entertainer who likes to make everyone happy, loving father, loyal friend, God-fearing man, always happy, an extrovert.”

His song, Mocazema, has been a popular tune especially in St. Kitts and Nevis. Nero said the song came from his ability to put words and music to any situation. “I had what happened to Nu Vybes happen to me…three members of my band stayed and eight went the other way. Then there was a rumour that I robbed them and that I took money from them when I wasn’t suppose to,” he recounted. “That was what was going around and they had no evidence. I never been to jail, I was never locked up, so to accuse someone when you don’t have evidence is wrong…but when you are a celebrity people try to even the score with you.

“People just want to have something over you. If you are very popular and you can do something they can’t do they want to bring you down to their level. That’s why I say in Mocazema, ‘tek dat’. When I was small I use to hear them singing the song up and down the street, in Sagwa and Nega business, they can’t be like me or have my talent, so take that,” he explained. Nero said naming his favorite recorded songs is difficult but ‘Doctor in control’ and ‘Politics killing we’ are dear to him. “I believe I am a musician/composer then a singer, I don’t think I’m a singer but I have the ability to sing. What I like to hear, I don’t hear it in myself, I hear it in others but, at the same time, I can hold a note. First and foremost I am a musician! I am an instrument player as well but a musician first,” he said.

The musical maestro said he is trying to find a place where he is comfortable and would be able to play music on the side, where he can still earn a living until he gets a kidney transplant. He stressed the importance of people taking care of their health and declared that his illness originated from high blood pressure. “If your blood pressure is out of whack it affects your kidney, so people in St. Kitts should try and watch their salt intake, watch their blood pressure,” he said.

Nero has three daughters, Sharifa, Shauntel and Shaka. He said Shauntel recently graduated with her Bachelor’s degree from a University in England and owns a gallery in North Hampton. He also said Sharifa is a deigner and he is a proud grandfather of two.

Anyone interested in making a donation to Ellie Matt’s health can do so though Scotia Bank to account number 51263132.

By Suelika N. Creque
Editor-SKNVibes.com

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