By OSWALD T. BROWN
WASHINGTON, D.C. — On my recent trip to Nassau for the funeral of my late aunt Maria Elliott-Forbes, I stayed at SuperClubs Breezes, which has been my favourite place to stay whenever I am in Nassau for many years.
Aside from the very affordable rates and the excellent food offered by this all-inclusive resort, one of my favourite Bahamian Entertainers, David “Funky D” Ferguson, for more than 20 years has been the main attraction during the nightly entertainment at SuperClubs Breezes.
Nowadays, however, SuperClubs Breezes has been dwarfed by three behemoth hotels – Grand Hyatt, SLS and Rosewood — which comprise the luxurious $4.2 billion Baha Mar mega resort that officially opened in the Cable Beach area of New Providence in 2017.
Nestled in the structural shadows of these major hotels, locating the relatively small SuperClubs Breezes may be difficult to find if you are driving a rental car and have never lived there before because of the circuitous route leading to its front entrance that now exists because of changes made to West Bay Street as a result of the opening of the Baha Mar resort.
But once you arrive at SuperClubs Breeze, its well-trained staff – from the bellmen at the entrance, smiling front-desk clerks and waiters greeting you with a welcome exotic drink – the stage is set for an exciting and enjoyable vacation.
For me, however, the entertainment has always been the main magnet that has attracted me to SuperClubs Breezes over the years
As I noted in a previous article, I don’t think it is a secret to those persons who follow my posts on Facebook and feature articles I have written as a working journalist that FUNKY D is one of my favourite Bahamian entertainers – actually, he is one of my favourite entertainers world-wide.
Funky D was a banker before the lure of a better income encouraged him to become a full-time entertainer and, as I have noted, for more than 20 years he has been the star of the show at SuperClubs Breezes. He is a versatile, multi-talented singer who has a number of recordings of original Bahamian songs, but during his show his talent really explodes when he performs popular ballads by internationally known stars better than they do – although my personal opinion in this regard may be influenced by a tinge of bias fostered by my Bahamian pride.
One unfortunate aspect of Funky D’s long-term contract with SuperClubs Breezes is that Bahamians generally no longer get to see him perform unless at some special events away from SuperClubs Breezes, whose entertainment packages are provided primarily for their all-inclusive guests. Funky D’s contract with SuperClubs Breezes no doubt has also prevented him from “testing the waters” of the entertainment industry internationally.
Indeed, lack of international exposure has shackled the careers of many Bahamian entertainers to goal posts firmly planted in The Bahamas. Indeed, as I noted in one of my recent OSWALD BROWN WRITES columns, when Ronnie Butler died on November 19, 2017, at the age of 80 — bringing to an end more than five decades as one of The Bahamas’ top entertainers — interred with his human remains were a warehouse of missed opportunities for him to become one of the giants of the entertainment industry internationally if, in his prime, he had made the decision to venture beyond boundaries of The Bahamas more frequently to expose his immense talent to a wider audience.
The same was true of Ezra Hepburn, the multi-talented Bahamian superstar, who died in 2018 on June 18. During his early years as an entertainer, Ezra was primarily known a wonderful guitarist, but after establishing his own group, “Ezra and the Polka Dots,” as the lead singer and guitarist, his raspy voice over the years catapulted him to stardom among the galaxy of local entertainers. His “Stop the World and Let Me Off” runaway hit, which he recorded late in his career, is still one of my all-time favourite Bahamian songs.
I have always found it difficult to understand why there have been so many exceptionally talented Bahamian entertainers over the years who were and are so content to confine their talent to The Bahamas. Among other outstanding Bahamian performers that I am convinced would have become international stars had they had more exposure abroad are Mavin Henfield and Jay Mitchell, both of whom have fantastic voices as well as spectacular stage presence.
Several Bahamian entertainers, of course, did indeed expose their talent to the outside world-at-large, most notably “The Beginning of the End,” which made a big splash on the international scene in the early 1970s with their monstrous hit, “Funky Nassau”; Johnny Kemp, whose “Just Got Paid” was a big hit internationally in the 1980s; and more recently, Baha Men, with their big hit, “Who Let The Dogs Out.”
During my recent visit to Nassau, Alia Coley, a young lady that I had never heard sing before, put on an absolutely sensational performance during the SuperClubs Breezes show on Thursday, September 5, leaving me convinced that she likewise could have a successful career internationally if she developed a repertoire of original songs. She has the stage presence of a superstar, but the selection of songs she performed were mainly major hits by Gladys Knight and Donna Summer. Her renditions of their various hits were outstanding.
While I was sitting in the lobby waiting for my cousin Dr. Gerald Forbes to pick me up one morning, John Issa, Chairman of SuperClubs Resorts, whom I had met on several occasions, arrived for what presumably was one of his regular visits. I got the opportunity to chat with him briefly and told him how much I enjoyed staying at SuperClubs Breezes and the reasons why, including the entertainment provided by Funky D.
Being the successful businessman that Mr. Issa is, when I jokingly mentioned that he should “pay Funky D more money,” he simply said, “Spread the word.”
In complying with Mr. Issa’s request, in the aftermath of the devastation caused to Grand Bahama and Abaco in the Northern Bahamas, it is important that potential visitors to The Bahamas know that The Bahamas’ capital of Nassau on the island of New Providence and number of other Bahamian islands have not been affected by Hurricane Dorian and The Bahamas remains open for business.
I strongly recommend that you experience the joy of staying at SuperClubs Breezes.
