Hitman makes bid for chutney soca crown
Thursday, February 17 2011

TRINIDAD NEWSDAY - By RHONDOR DOWLAT -NEESHAN “Hitman” Prabhoo, 31, of Fletcher’s Road, Todd’s Road, Chaguanas, will be vying for the Chutney Soca Monarch title when the finals of the competition take place on Saturday night at Skinner Park, San Fernando. This is the sixth time Hitman has made it to the finals.

The singer’s most recent achievement came when he won the “Entertainer of the Year Award” at the recently held International Chutney Awards at the National Academy for the perfoming Arts (NAPA) in Port-of-Spain. He is also the holder of the Chutney Ambassador Award – the first artiste to receive this award.

This year Hitman is expected to give a grand performance at the finals of one of his three hits for 2011 – “Janu Mera Girl Just Leave That Man.” The song deals with the humorous aspect of a “bad man” and his girlfriend.

His other two hits for this year are, “I Love You More Than Rum” and “Iron,” which is a groovy soca track collaborated with the 2009 Soca Monarch of Guyana, Shelly G.

Hitman began singing film songs at the age of 16 as a hobby, until he tried his talent in chutney, producing his first and very successful hit “Don’t Hold Meh Back” in 1997. He took this song on a tour of the Caribbean and several other countries where chutney soca is enjoyed. Hitman did a few more songs which enjoyed a fair response, and then took a break from singing to concentrate on his personal life.

In October 2003 Hitman produced an album entitled “Another Hit by the Hitman,” which was released in May 2004. On this album features the biggest chutney soca tune of 2005 Carnival, “More Rum for Me” better known as “Listen Mr Chankar”. The song can also be found on a CD entitled “Trini Bashment”.

That song was followed up with subsequent hits like “Firewater”, which won eight awards at the 103 FM Hall of Fame Awards; “Bring D Rum” which won best Soca Chutney collaboration with soca artiste Ian “Bunji Garlin” Alvarez, also at the 103 FM Hall of Fame Awards; and “Pretty Girl,” a collaboration with Fito Blanko which won Best Soca Chutney at the International Soca Awards.

His other popular tracks include “Tell Me where You from Gyal”, “Best Friend”, “Daddie Oh Na Janie”, “Spanner” and many more.