Galen Godet always knew that he would make it. Even when he was light years away from the acclaim that he dreamed of, scraping rust from oil tankers under the scorching rays of a punishing summer-time sun on his day job, he was writing, singing, and performing before millions, even if for now, they were disguised as un-seeing and un-hearing stones on the ground that surrounded him on the job site.
He performed anyway because he had always known something, that the right people in the right places would soon come to know. He had a gold-mine inside of him. And so Mr Godet's golden talent shimmered within him. It reflected off him onto audiences like the glint of a shiny new coin and, eventually, attracted unsuspecting international music industry producers and players like a gulp of fresh water in a desert of dime-a-dozen talent and creative monotony. But Mr Godet, 'Reddah,' to his fans, was a star long ago. He was just waiting for others to see what he knew had lived inside of him for as long as he could remember. Cranston McDonald, his business partner in a company formed in 2002 called CPR Entertainment, who has worked with him for 10 years, describes the multi-talented performer as a four for one deal. "Galen has four different things. He can sing, he can rap, he can free-style, he can chant. He has everything in one. He has four people in him because he can do four different things," says Mr. McDonald of the innovative artist who fuses these genres into one of his own making.
"That's what makehim," adds, CPR co-founder and partner, Tony Porter. Mr Godet's carefully honed versatility, last year, opened doors that he had only entered before in daydreams. After years of trying to break into the
international music industry, Mr Godet, 24, returned home a few weeks ago with the keys to a door that had been dangled in front of him so often in the past, only to be yanked away.
What he now has: a professional music video shot in Los Angeles with Panavision's Genesis Camera. Mr Godet is the first and only recording artist to have a video shot with this camera that camera that is used to shoot movies. He has four singles produced by famed composer, producer, international recording artist and Musical Director for the 2005 Grammy Awards, Patrice Rushen and producer, Mateo Laboriel, the son of Jazz legend, Abe Leboriel, who worked on Jamie Foxx's Unpredictable album. Mr Godet has also had his work circulated among the likes of Sony, Geffen, A&M, Epic and Capitol Records.
What he doesn't have: a smug, I've arrived- overconfidence. Everyone has a gold-mine Mr Godet talks calmly about scaling amazing heights to the international music industry after years of dreaming as if he is talking about getting an on a high school math quiz. He was confident about his inner gold-mine, but this gold-mine is something that he believes exists within us all. "I feel that everybody has something in them that they can dig up," he says.
"Everybody has a gold-mine in them; something that the Father just instilled in them to survive."
Over a decade- long quest to develop and share his unique talent, Mr Godet met a few miners along the way who realised the value of the talent that they had happened upon in him. At 13, his god-sister, recording artist, Lisa Davis Bonafide, encouraged him to do something with his ability. He did, joining an eclectic gospel group called C-Side that performed at churches and events around the island. When C-Side split, Mr Godet joined Ultimate Praise, a similar group, for two years, before venturing out on his own. The venture could have been a suicidal leap for an artist who had identified himself with groups for practically his entire early career. Then there were the voices of dissenters that swirled around in his head, whom he feared would question his faith in God for leaving the gospel groups that he had known. But Mr Godet had taken his direction from God.
"Through it all, it's not like I didn't go to Him and talk to Him about it," the artist says of his divine consultation. "I went directly to the Father and just stayed on my knees constantly and just learned to talk to Him throughout the day. I just learned basically to build a strong relationship with Him… If He was like go left, I went left."
Now a lone sojourner, but still in familiar terrain, Mr Godet played wherever he could. He played at clubs, private parties and other events. At the same time, he continued to work with his father, a job that he had held after graduating from St George's High School in 1999. While his mother, whose deafness had prevented her from ever hearing his music, had always supported him in his musical dream, both of his parents wanted him to keep his day job in order to be sure of a steady paycheck. Mr Godet juggled his music with work for a while, working on the job from 7:00 in the morning until noon and then working in the studio from 1:00 p. m. until 1:00 the next morning at times.
"When I got into the studio, time was never of the essence," he remembers of the late hours. Eventually, he dived head-first into full-time music. "I decided that I had to put my all into something," he says. Pushing his music full-time meant travelling between Freeport and Nassau, getting studio time wherever he could and making single after single. In Nassau, a producer friend of his, Jermaine Rolle of Ashanti Records, encouraged him and gave him free studio time.
Like nothing they ever heard: The business had become a tight squeeze on Mr Godet's limited budget as he made single after single… until last summer. After joining Mr Porter and Mr McDonald and signing on as an artist in CPR Entertainment, Mr Godet got discovered in a way that he would never have expected.
Mr McDonald handed his demo to Zane Zidell, one of the directors of the 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie, during its filming on the island. Mr Zidell phoned the artist from the airport days later ecstatic over his music. Mr Godet's musical mixture was original, containing an unabashedly Bahamian element, even within its blend of various international genres. That in itself was new.
The artist dared to talk about things that he knew, that he had really experienced growing up on Grand Bahama. He mentions Fox Hill prison and ZNS television in his songs, things that every Bahamian would know about, that would equally pique the interest of people outside of the country who were unfamiliar with the social landscape. Mr Godet was real. "Reality is a big thing to me," says the artist. "I don't like fakeness. All of my songs are my experience, (music) was always an invention for me."
Weeks later, interested producers, invited Mr Godet to come to California and work with them. He spent last September to February of this year making demos and his music video. In February, he got to the opportunity to go to the 46th Annual Grammy Awards. He is now waiting to hear from the major record labels that his work has been circulated to.
An artist with a message: While music has always been a passion of his, he feels that lyrics, the message, is just as important. The lyrics to his own music, contain a message that he wants to bring, especially to young people. Mr Godet feels that a lot of people his age are setting a bad example for younger people and he wants to counteract that trend through his own life and music. "I can only use my music and my words," he says. "I just really want to encourage the youth. We have to show them different. There are a lot of mature young people out there but there's no one willing to help them. The only ones willing to help them are the drug boys.
As someone who naturally draws younger people, Mr Godet has observed that, "the youth are wise but they're weak. They don't have anyone to guide them. We need real people who are willing to take the time to sit down and guide them. I just want to do what I could for the people."
Imbued with a desire to help others to achieve their goals, particularly in the music industry, Mr Godet, assures that now that his foot is in the door, he will leave it open for others to follow.
By: THEA RUTHERFORD, Freeport News Features Editor
