Calypsonian Stan Seymour, popularly known as `Lord Necktie', has been delighting live audiences, both here and abroad, for decades with his singing, playing, and on-the-spot compositions. He is one of a long line of stars in the galaxy of local entertainers whose names became household words, among them his friends and mentors, the Talbot Brothers.

In fact, Mr. Seymour's association with the legendary entertainers stretches back to the days when he sang with Hubert Smith and the Coral Islanders, and the two groups had regular contact through gigs in the same hotels and nightclubs.

""I became very close with all of them and Blackie played a very important role in my early performance. I used to look to him for pointers," he says. "I remember Sunday nights at the Castle Harbour hotel. The Talbots never worked Sundays so Blackie would be in the audience, and he would let me know how I was coming along. I would also fish with Austin sometimes. We all became very good friends."

Small wonder, then, that when Eddy De Mello asked Mr. Seymour to make an album featuring the Talbot Brothers' music, he accepted with pleasure.

Thus it is that the CD, `Stan Seymour, Tribute to the Talbot Bros.', has just been released, and is now available in local music stores.

The album begins with a narrative recalling what the artist calls "the good old days" here.

"I talk about a lot of things that happened years ago, and how I first saw the Talbots during Cup Match at the Royal Naval cricket field. I went there by train, and that was a special memory."

It then goes on to include such Talbot originals as `Tattoo Lady', `Freckles', `Bermuda Affair', and `Bermuda Is Still Paradise' as well as original songs by Mr. Seymour, each of which is a special tribute to his late friends.

" `Golf Lessons' and `Bermuda Triangle' have a special significance because I composed and sang them at Blackie Talbot's 81st birthday celebration at the Castle Harbour Hotel," he says. `Tribute' is the third Seymour original, and its title is self-explanatory.

Referring to the new tribute CD, the popular singer says: "When Eddy asked me if I could do an album of the Talbot Brothers songs I said, `Let's go!' It was a good thing to be able to do this because it's a once-in-a-lifetime achievement to pay tribute to the Talbots."

It is also an important addition to the collection of recorded music by local artists, many of whom died without leaving any audio legacy at all.

Like his grandfather, James Seymour, before him, `Lord Necktie' not only sings, but is also a one-man band who plays harmonica, guitar and drums, the latter three of which form the music tracks on this album.

"I never heard my grandfather perform, but I've been told by some of the older Bermudians who remember him that I actually sound something like him which is really exciting," he says. "I never met him either, but I do feel close to him, and someone gave me a photograph a few years ago which I treasure."

Mr. Seymour's late father was a singer in a group, so music is clearly in his genes, but the greatest influence on his musical career was the late singer/guitarist Duke Joell, a member of the Four Deuces group, who was his neighbour.

"He was one of the greatest baritone singers ever in Bermuda, and from about age 14 I would sit outside his house and listen to him practise and sing. That gave me the feeling, `This is what I want to be'."

Later, when Mr. Seymour joined Hubert Smith and the Coral Islanders he took music lessons from Charles Berry, Norman Astwood and the legendary calypsonian himself, but there was another talent he developed himself: the ability to compose his own songs.

"I was always very gifted at poetry, and was always among the first three in my class in poetry at school," Mr. Seymour recalls. Later, that gift would be parlayed into his ability to create instant songs on topics fed to him by members of an audience."

Others have become legends, including the catchy `Diddly Bops and Gooseneck Handlebars', which became an hit both here and in Barbados.

"It was amazing. I never felt the song was anything special. I wrote it on a rainy day at home. The Merrymen heard the recording, and they in turn recorded it, and it was a not only a hit in Barbados but real big here. In fact, it's stood the test of time and is still good today."

Still very much a composer, one of Mr. Seymour's most recent songs is `Ode to the Goat' - a tribute to Bermuda's star footballer, Manchester City striker Shaun Goater, who is known to his fans as `The Goat'.

Like so many seasoned professionals with long careers, he has a limitless fund of memories on which to draw. He has not only travelled to North America and Europe promoting his beloved Bermuda, but also performed at Lord Blakie's tent in Trinidad. Here at home, he numbers Lord Mountbatten and Princess Margaret Rose among the listeners for whom he composed special songs.

"I sang for Lord Mountbatten just before he died, and for Princess Margaret I did a calypso, `Streakin' Rosie', which she got a kick out of."

Thrice-crowned `King of Calypso' in competitions, this multi-talented Bermudian is also an author and artist. He published `Bermuda Folklore and Calypso Poems', and together with his wife and fellow artist Margaret recently painted the mural of Horseshoe Bay on a pre-admissions ward at the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital.

"People like it because you feel like you are walking right onto the beach," he says.

As if all this were not enough, Mr. Seymour also has a full-time day job as the doorman at Waterloo House, where his friendly manner and colourful hat are very popular with visitors.

Reflecting on his many contributions to Bermuda's cultural history, he says: "It's good to be able to do some of these things. They always say, `If you can do it, don't say you're going to do it, just do it'."

Of the Talbot Tribute album, he adds: "Hopefully it will do well because it is does bring back memories."

Indeed it does.