Nostalgia Steelband was founded in 1964 by Sterling Betancourt MBE FRSA, who remained the band leader until 2004. 

However, the history of the band can actually be traced back even further, to 1951, when the Trinidad All Steel Percussion Orchestra (TASPO) left Trinidad and Tobago in July that year, to take part in the ‘Festival of Britain’. Stirling Betancourt was one of the twelve talented musicians selected to take part. 

After the tour of England and Paris, Sterling Betancourt settled in London - his tenor pan may actually have been the only pan instrument in Britain at that time. Together with Russell Henderson MBE and Mervyn Constantine, the trio became ‘The Russ Henderson Steel Band’ with their first gig at the Sunset Club in London’s infamous Carnaby Street. 

The band grew with the addition of brothers Max and Ralph Cherrie - as did their profile, with features in a number of radio broadcasts, cinema and television shows including The Saint, Danger Man, The Boy Who Talked To Animals and Upstairs Downstairs. 

The ‘Russell Henderson Steel Band’ also doubled as a Jazz band – ‘The Russell Henderson Jazz Quartet’ (Mervyn Constantine had by then left the group) and they played in West End clubs with Russell on piano, Sterling on drums , Max Cherrie on the double bass and Gigi Walker on trumpet. With the addition of Conrad Martinez as an accordion player – the then five piece certainly created a fantastic repertoire. 

A couple of decades on, having reformed itself following the band splitting (creating the birth of a then new band - Pan Nectar Steelband), Nostalgia Steelband went on the road with just a few players but kept the music and tradition alive. Fast forward to 1999, Nostalgia Steelband was registered as a company. In 2004 Dr Lionel McCalman became the new Band Leader following the departure of Sterling Betancourt. Lionel led the band for 16 years enjoying many carnivals and performances before he stepped down in July 2020 - see his bio and interview on our pan pioneers page. 

Now, over fifty five years later, Nostalgia Steelband’s legacy continues having performed at the Shanghai Festival of Tourism in China to an audience of over 200 million people, recording at the renowned Abbey Road Studios and performing in the opening ceremony of the London Olympic Games 2012, amongst many other amazing events. 

We are excited to see where the music takes us next under our new CEO and Band Leader - Marvin Barbé.