The Tribune

By RASHAD ROLLE

Tribune Staff Reporter

rrolle@tribunemedia.net

HUNDREDS gathered at Christ Church Cathedral on Saturday to say goodbye to Cleophas Adderley, the iconic Bahamian composer and choir director who died on July 5.

The Bahamas National Youth Choir, whom Mr Adderley directed for many years, performed throughout the service.

The choir’s celestial sounds consumed the cathedral, with such songs as “Pride in Our Native Land”, composed and arranged by Mr Adderley, reminding them of what was lost when he died of pancreatic cancer at 62.

“The man I knew was always happy,” his wife, Françoise Brooks-Adderley, said. “I am happy he is relieved of the pain he was feeling here when he was sick.”

She described their marriage as “mystical, magical, meaningful and effortless”.

She invited the audience to close their eyes and visualise Mr Adderley “conducting up there in heaven” as he did so often here on earth.

Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis remembered Mr Adderley as an “extraordinary Bahamian and native son”.

“Though his voice may have been halting and his body infirmed, his remarks upon receiving the Bahamian Icon Awards’ Lifetime Achievement Award revealed a vibrant and courageous spirit; one grateful to God, and grateful for his Bahamaland, which he loved with all of his heart, body and soul,” Dr Minnis said.

Mr Adderley, whose family encouraged having something to fall back on besides music, earned a law degree from the University of West Indies. He practised law for 14 years and was director of culture in the Ministry of Youth Sports and Culture in 1993.

He founded the Bahamas National Youth Choir in 1983 at the invitation of the late Sir Lynden Pindling. The choir was revived in 1990.

For 27 years after that, Mr Adderley selected and trained hundreds of young Bahamians.

He had two children: Cleophas Leon Alexander Adderley III and Deisha Russell.

He was awarded the Lifetime Achievement Award at the Bahamian Icon Awards on June 17 for his contributions to nation building through youth development.

Mr Adderley wrote the first Bahamian grand opera “Our Boys,” which was the first opera to have been written and performed in the English-speaking Caribbean.

He is the last son and eighth of nine children born to the late Cleophas E Adderley, former member of Parliament, and Helen Bailey Adderley, a seamstress, pianist and organist and daughter of the late R M Bailey.

• See Editorial on page 4