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Guyanese Song Bird Yonette Hooper

From GT to NY and back

Yonette HooperMusic lovers who know Guyanese history would reflect on the “good old” 1960’s when Eddie Hooper’s crooning abilities saw many relationships blooming way beyond ‘Passing Memories’ through his musical genes that have flowed to his children. One of them is the popular Cid Hooper of ‘We linking fame’ and her siblings.

The Hooper name has its place in history as proof that the Guyanese music industry, though a sleeping giant, will one day awaken.

One of the many Hooper children, Yonette, is keeping the family’s musical abilities current and Guyanese will get a chance to experience her in action on Saturday April 17, next, at Thirst Park, then again on April 25 at the National Cultural Centre for the Guyana Music awards.

At present headlining her own band MYSTIKAL VYBES out of NEW YORK, with her new album TUNE-UP soon to hit the streets, she says that she believes that the Guyanese music industry is on the precipice of rebirth.

Her achievements are many, including placing second in the Miami Soca Monarch 2006 and over all ‘winner’ of the female Category.

To many she is best described as a ‘Guyanese to the bone’ singer, song writer and above all a Dynamic Entertainer.

Also known as Mystique, her musical career began during her period of studying in Leeds, Yorkshire, United Kingdom where her Major was Health Science.

The former female lead singer for Cannon Balls band out of Guyana, De Untouchables and the G/T Ninja out of New York, was also the former Band Leader Of Triad Cross Over All Girls Front Band out of New York.

She is at present the female lead singer for “D”NuCFN Band based in Jamaica, Queens, New York and does her stuff accompanied by a very talented Piano Player called MIDAS. Together they are dubbed MYSTIQUE & MIDAS: a super combination.

She sees herself as a “singer with a difference,” having been in the arena for quite some time, performing with a number of well known groups in the Caribbean arena.

She also did her share of opening acts for well known Jamaican, Barbadian and Trinidadian artistes.   Still doing what she loves, she has and still tours Canada, England, Barbados, Trinidad, Suriname and the USA.

“I’m very serious with my music, and once I hit the stage I’ve been told that I have keep hearts pulsating,” she says.

Her new single is ‘Rudeness’ and she sure is promising Guyanese music lovers some of that when she touches down next month for the historical Guyana Musical splash followed by the Guyana Artistic Music awards.

Simply put, Mystique lives for music, and in some loving way she has created her own world which makes her happy to be who she is; an entertainer and a true lover of the art. Putting it mildly she says, “Sometimes it’s not all about how much money one can make from this business, but its how you threat it that makes you inspirationally rich and everything else follows”.

She just thanks God for blessing her with such a great gift.

Music flows through her veins from her father Eddie Hooper who is best known for some of Guyana’s most popular songs like Take Warning, Passing Memories, Where are Your Friends Now, Sweetest Black Man and LiL Gal among other hits.

He also played guitar with Tom Charles and the Syncopators back in the days and also served as a lead singer in the band.

He passed away in 1996 in the USA.

Yonnette and her older sister were introduced to the stage by their father as children headlining the children Broadcast to Schools programme on Guyanese radio back in the days. They also performed with him on his many cross country tours in their home land.

During her stay in England, she was involved with a group called The Mandelas.

Her music coach was Ms Geraldine Connor, who predicted that one day she (Yonnette) will be a very good singer, known to the world.

When asked about the group, ‘Mandelas’, her reply was, we toured the United Kingdom as a musical group entertaining every age, colour and race.

She also performed with the Kuffdem group that included actors from across the Caribbean.

On completion of her Btec Health Science at Thomas Danby College in the UK, she attended Leeds Metropolatan University to under take her BSc Honors in computer science, after leaving England in 1995, the road she took was Music: which is in her heart, body, soul and mind.

By Mondale Smith

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Liquid Honey ignites fire to win preliminary round of Miss Bootilicious 2010

Liquid HoneyThe excitement was electric and the vibes were purely pulsating last Saturday when the twelve ‘Bootilicious Ladies’ faced off at the Club Ice Sports Bar for the 2010 Miss Bootilicious title.
Though it was just the preliminary round from which four contestants were eliminated, the ladies each tried to outdo the other with ultra sexy choreography, and some definitely taught the female audience new tricks on enticing and keeping their male partners, entertained, satisfied and overjoyed at home.
After the steamy show of ‘ultra sexiness’, it was ‘Liquid Honey’ who copped the top spot, followed by ‘Venom’ and ‘Ultra Slim’, and ‘Miss Licklicious’ who both placed third. In fifth position was the sweet sexy ‘Sugar Momma’, followed by ‘Miss Boombastic’, ‘Miss Volcano’ and ‘Superwoman’ all of who will go to the semi-finals in this month-end at ‘Club Sky Seven’, 8 Pere Street, Kitty.
‘Electra’, and ‘Lady Pressure’ were also eliminated from the first round. The eight semi-finalists will be performing at the ‘Co-co-cobanna Nightclub’ on Saturday night to the delight of many Berbicians.
After an electrifying opening introduction by the MC, Promoter and Pageant Coordinator, Alex Wayne, things kicked off with delegate #1, Exciting Estaleen who failed to please the crowd with her luke-warm presentation. She made way for the suave ‘Juicy Fruit’ whose sauciness worked well with the audience but somehow failed with the judges since she too was eliminated.
Next to come was a crowd favourite ‘ Ultra Slim’ who displeased her fans with an almost vague presentation which lacked her usual sexiness. Some said she was distracted by her mother who was present in the audience, and has been hounding her down like a ‘scary god-mother’ since the contest began.
Miss Boombastic represented for the ‘big girls’ and taught the audience many innovative ways in which a ‘big curvy woman’ can still be sexy and creative. ‘Miss Volcano’ who entered the completion only a few days before show night dazzled the audience with some indeed provocative moves as she seduced her school teacher whose intention was to teach arithmetic. Much more was expected from ‘Miss Liculicious’ who seemed distracted, but she has noted that the others will have to look out for steamy surprises coming their way in the next round.
‘Sugar Momma’; seemed ‘stuck up’ and did not deliver her ‘horny nectar’ like she did at rehearsals and many said she was very nervous on stage.
Each contestant displayed sexy choreography as they enticed, controlled, seduced or ‘made a mess’ of the rippled male models who appeared on stage. Mark well the men had a few surprises of their own too.
The climax of the show was centered on performances by the first and second place winners, ‘Liquid Honey’ and ‘Venom’ who battled fiercely for the title. Many believe that ‘Venom’ should have won since her moves were sizzling and sensual, not to mention her mind boggling choreography with two males on stage.
She was all coy, then dominant, then sexily manipulative, before flowing nicely in the moods of sophisticate, irresistible, pulsating and most have been a mouth watering morsel for the male audience.
‘Liquid Honey’ a professional exotic dancer was suave and used her stage experience to her advantage. Her moves were electric and throbbing as she played havoc with the minds of the audience. The ministrations of her male model ‘Fabian’ who acted the role of a man caught in the feverish throes of ecstasy while being dominated by his seductress, most have been the factor that sealed the deal for the two who left the stage to resounding applause. The models and contestants were all trained by the Promoter, Alex Wayne who is a professional runway model, dancer and vocalist.
‘Miss Bootilicious Rewind’ will kick off at Club Sky Seven at a date to be announced in the near future.

Go to www.guyanalive.com for Miss Bootilicious Pics

By Alex Wayne