Singer and musician Barefoot Man has marked his 50th year of writing songs and performing in the Cayman Islands.
Barefoot Man, whose real name is George Nowak, grew up in North Carolina, US, and began his music career in junior high school at around 14 years old, singing mainly country music.
“I’ve always enjoyed writing songs more than singing,” he told the Compass. “As I grew older, I realised singing for a living was better than having a 9-to-5 job.”
In his younger days, Barefoot Man recalled getting gigs “was easy… with no responsibilities”. He said he was fortunate his music took him all over the world; “all I asked for was a hammock, food and beer. I was cheap but had too much fun.”
He added, “Once the audience started enjoying my original songs, I figured I had something there.”
His lively mash-up of calypso and island-style country, combined with humorous anecdotes and off-the-wall innuendos has led him to record some 20 albums and produce nearly 200 songs, including his favourites, such as ‘No App for That’ and ‘The Horse’.
He has gained both local and international recognition for his contributions to music, including the Cayman Islands National Heritage Award, the National Heroes Day Award and the Stingray Tourism Award.
Across his 50 years of entertaining, the 74-year-old has performed for various audiences in Ireland, Switzerland, France, Canada, Germany, US, Bahamas and most of the Caribbean. He has collaborated with local performers Andy Martin and Sea n ‘B, and Grammy award-winning artist, Paul Overstreet.
His 1982 record, ‘Big Panty Woman’ graced the British charts in the 1980s. His music extended to the big screen when his original song ‘Money, Money, Money’ was featured in the 1993 film, ‘The Firm’ featuring actors Gene Hackman and Tom Cruise, something he said was “a career highlight”.
He recalled performing for the Royal Ball back in the 1970s when then Prince Charles visited Cayman as a navy officer. Another memorable moment was “performing for 50,000 people at the Gasparilla Festival of the Arts in Tampa, Florida, US with Tiny Tim and the Temptations in the 1980s”.
He has seen the music industry in Cayman change over the years, saying, “it seems young musicians and songwriters are coming out from everywhere nowadays”.
His hope is that local music will be given “the same respect and airtime” as international artists.
Barefoot Man said he’s most proud of his “house on the beach built from writing songs, his wife, Regina, five children, and four dogs”.
And when it comes to his music, “looking out at an audience of hundreds, even thousands who are singing along to the songs I wrote”.
When asked if he ever thought he’d still be performing 50 years later, he said, “never, it’s been an amazing run”.
While he is “basically retired”, he said he will “dust off his guitar from time to time to perform at various local events”.
His latest album, ‘Like Father, Like Son’, features his son, singer and songwriter Nicholas George.
For more information on Barefoot Man, go to his website.
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