Though T’rez Hepburn was an entertainer, mother and dear friend to many like myself, she was also a teacher.
My grandmother once told me that to educate is not necessarily what you can give to someone, but what you can pull out of someone (even though it is their natural and God-given talents).
It was a few short years ago when I became captivated and mesmerized by T’rez Hepburn’s performances.
I saw her command of the stage and felt the positive energy both she and her music emitted.
As a result, I wanted to be on that very stage like her.
I had seen T’rez many times at the Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre supporting her son, Elrich, who was a member of Club Monica Athletics.
After a gig at Q.E. Sports I approached her and told her how great her performance was and that I would like to perform Bahamian music also.
At that point it was as if she had an epiphany. She stopped everything she was doing and introduced me to Funky D and Stileet, and then gave me her contact information.
As time progressed I told her, “I don’t think I can write a song, can someone write it and I just perform it?”
She could have said yes, but instead she told me, “It’s best if you write your own material, so go and try it and get back to me.”
After several weeks of going along with her to shows, relaxing with her and family at the “Sugar Shack,” the title for a song dawned on me: “I Need A Phone Card.”
She then introduced me to Dillion “D-Mack” McKenzie, a musician and producer, who became responsible for producing “Phone Card.”
After the production, T’rez was able to get me a gig at the Independence Day Tattoo at Fort Charlotte.
Most artists, especially of her stature, would put a new artist on stage either before or after their own performance, but not T’rez.
In the middle of her show, she stopped the music and gave a full bio of me, and then allowed me to come on stage to debut my single to an audience that she had already made eager and excited.
She made it possible for that crowd and The Bahamas at large to hear me and more importantly to hear Bahamian music.
Because of her keen encouragement to pursue an interest in Bahamian music, I credit her mentoring as being the single factor responsible for my achieving the prestigious Ministry of Tourism’s Cacique Award – on my first try – in the secular division, at the tender age of 17 years old.
I am proud of T’rez and grateful for the role she played in my life.
T’rez Hepburn was an educator. She was able to pull me out of a crowd of observers and on to the stage.
She pulled out of me the desire to do music, the desire and will to write my own material and in the process was responsible for allowing me to gain a wealth of experience and knowledge.
She was my “mentor par excellence” and I am both proud and grateful for the role she played in my life.
Though T’rez Hepburn has left us, she lives on through her music and strong influences on those around her.
My most sincere condolences to her son, Elrich, and her entire family.
May she rest in peace and rise in glory, singing the songs we all know and love.
K.C. Wallace-Whitfield
The Bahamas
september, 2012
