Burning Flames

Burning Flames are an Antiguan soca band from St. John. Their music is influenced by calypso, reggae, ragga, funk, and zouk. Biography The band formed in St. John in 1984. The original lineup included three brothers — Toriano "King Onyan" Edwards (vocals, guitar), the multi-monikered David "Bubb-I/Krokuss/Lord Satellite/Natural Rampler" Edwards (vocals, bass), and Clarence "Oungku" Edwards (vocals, keyboards) (just like with George Jones of Barbados' soca band Square One (band)} — along with their nephew, drummer Rone "Foxx" Watkins. The three brothers had previously worked together as buskers, and Clarence and Toriano played in Arrow's backing band. The band won their first Antigua Carnival Road March title in 1985 with their song "Stiley Tight", which was issued as their debut single in 1986. They went on to have international success in 1989 with "Workey Workey", which was also later covered by Byron Lee & the Dragonaires. Burning Flames was hugely influential in bringing about the modernization of soca in the Eastern Caribbean, and in turn being a huge influence on the evolution of soca in its country of birth, Trinidad and Tobago. The advent and utilization of the drum machine, digital sampler, electronic drums and other emerging music technologies and techniques in soca was almost single-handedly popularized by the quartet. Indeed, their outsize influence on soca songwriting, live performance, music production and arrangement, and their seminal and innovative use of drum machines and synthesizers cannot be overstated. The Burning Flames sonic DNA can be heard in the soca of bands and artists throughout the Eastern Caribbean, Barbados, and even Trinidad and Tobago (1985 to 2000s). The band signed for Mango Records in 1991, releasing the album Dig. They won the Road March title on five occasions between 1991 and 1996, and in 1997 Toriano Edwards embarked on a solo career as King Onyan, going on to win four Calypso Monarch titles, eventually leaving the band.