Kid Creole & The Coconuts

Born in the Bronx on August 12, 1950, Thomas Darnell Browder, who performs under the alias August Darnell, launched the In-Laws alongside his brother Stony Browder, Jr. in 1965. He obtained a master’s degree in English and worked as a teacher before returning in 1974 to play bass, sing, and write lyrics with his sibling in Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band, whose sound fused disco with big-band and Latin elements. Their 1976 self-titled debut reached gold status and included the Top 40 single “Whispering/Cherchez la Femme/Se Si Bon,” though later releases proved far less commercially viable. Darnell turned to outside production and songwriting, co-writing Machine’s 1979 chart entry “There But for the Grace of God Go I” and collaborating with James Chance and additional artists. In 1980 he joined Ze Records as a staff producer and adopted the Kid Creole persona—drawn from the Elvis Presley movie King Creole—fronting a revue that featured the three-woman vocal group the Coconuts under Adriana “Addy” Kaegi plus vibraphonist “Sugar-Coated” Andy Hernandez, known as Coati Mundi and formerly of Dr. Buzzard.

Kid Creole emerged as a satirical, zoot-suited Latin counterpart to Cab Calloway whose numbers, such as “Mister Softee,” portrayed him lamenting his own shortcomings while the Coconuts scolded him in reply. The debut Kid Creole & the Coconuts album, Off the Coast of Me, appeared in August 1980 on Antilles, an Island subsidiary, through Ze distribution; critics praised its witty words and eclectic styles, yet sales remained modest. After Ze arranged a licensing deal with Sire, a Warner Bros. imprint, the follow-up Fresh Fruit in Foreign Places surfaced in June 1981. It briefly entered the charts, and Coati Mundi’s dance track “Me No Pop I” reached the U.K. Top 40. Structured as a concept album tracing the Kid Creole character’s Odyssey-style quest for a figure named Mimi, the record received a stage adaptation at the New York Public Theater. Darnell extended the narrative on his third album, issued in Britain as Tropical Gangsters in May 1982. The ensuing British tour propelled the band to stardom: the LP climbed to number three, while “I’m a Wonderful Thing, Baby,” “Stool Pigeon,” and “Annie, I’m Not Your Daddy” each entered the Top Ten and “Dear Addy” reached the Top 40. In the United States, retitled Wise Guy, the album charted modestly and “I’m a Wonderful Thing, Baby” appeared on the R&B survey, though the act retained only cult status.

During 1983 Darnell oversaw side projects for the Coconuts (Don’t Take My Coconuts) and Coati Mundi (The Former Twelve Year Old Genius) before issuing the fourth Kid Creole album, Doppelganger, which concluded the Mimi saga. The set charted in Britain, where “There’s Something Wrong in Paradise” reached the Top 40, yet it failed to register at home and underperformed relative to its predecessor. Kid Creole & the Coconuts nonetheless sustained an engaging concert presence marked by inventive visuals, opening doors to screen and television work. They appeared in the 1984 feature Against All Odds and contributed to later productions including New York Stories (1989), The Forbidden Dance (1990), Identity Crisis (1990), Only You (1992), and Car 54, Where Are You? (1994). Granada TV in Britain broadcast the made-for-television film Something Wrong in Paradise, drawn from the Mimi cycle, in December 1984.

After a band member’s divorce in 1985 fractured the original lineup—the Coconuts formed Boomerang while Andy Hernandez appeared in Madonna’s Who’s That Girl? (1987)—Darnell continued alone, performing at the Montreux Jazz Festival and releasing the fifth Kid Creole & the Coconuts album, In Praise of Older Women and Other Crimes, which failed to chart. The sixth effort, I, Too, Have Seen the Woods (1987), likewise stalled commercially. The group joined Barry Manilow on “Hey Mambo,” featured on his Swing Street album that reached the singles chart. Darnell then wrote the off-Broadway musical In a Pig’s Valise, which enjoyed a twelve-week run. Reconfigured with former Dr. Buzzard vocalist Cory Daye, Kid Creole & the Coconuts returned in 1990 on Columbia with the seventh album Private Waters in the Great Divide; it included “The Sex of It,” a Prince composition that hit the British Top 40 and American R&B lists. The follow-up You Shoulda Told Me You Were… arrived a year later.

Throughout the 1990s the act toured worldwide and issued most recordings outside the United States. To Travel Sideways and Kiss Me Before the Light Changes first appeared in Japan, gaining domestic release on an independent label in 1995. The Conquest of You emerged in Germany in 1997; an American edition on Fuel 2000 planned for 1999 never materialized. Stateside engagements included Atlantic City and Las Vegas. Kid Creole starred in the British musical Oh! What a Night, which played the West End from August to October 1999. A live album of the same name, blending Kid Creole hits with selections from the show, appeared in 2000. The studio set Too Cool to Conga! followed the next year. A full decade elapsed before Kid Creole resurfaced with 2011’s I Wake Up Screaming on the Strut label.