“We believe Sparrow should be on everybody’s lips, like Bob Marley. Sparrow is absolutely as important as the greatest musical artiste of the 20th century,” US singer/songwriter Lane Steinberg, one of the co-founders of the Mighty Sparrow Rum Co, said in a phone interview with Newsday on June 17.The rum grew out of Steinberg’s professional admiration for the legendary calypsonian and, later, when he became one of his business managers.

Newsday featured the rum in a June 12 article.

The founders wished to share more and inform the public that Sparrow is one of the rum’s co-founders and owners.

US filmmaker Lenard Dorfman, another co-founder, said the contract Sparrow referred to in the first article was a distribution one. Sparrow then said he was waiting on a contract.

[caption id="attachment_1091451" align="alignnone" width="1024"] Mighty Sparrow and US singer/songwriter Lane Steinberg, one of the co-founders of the Mighty Sparrow Rum Co, performing at Lincoln Center, NYC. -[/caption]

Apart from the rum, Steinberg hopes this venture will revive interest in a possible biopic about the artiste’s life.

Giving a more detailed account of how the rum developed, Steinberg said he always loved Sparrow’s music. His musical background is rock and roll but, as a musician, he loved all kinds of music, he said.

He lived in Queens, New York, and knew Sparrow lived there as well. He always wanted to say hello, but wasn't brave enough.

“I sort of let the opportunity go, and then he got sick around 2012.”

In 2013, there were numerous media reports of Sparrow being hospitalised and in a coma.

“I felt terrible. I was hearing...he was in really poor health and I thought, ‘Wow, I never did that. I never knocked on his door,’” Steinberg said.

So after Sparrow recovered, he walked over to the calypsonian’s house one day and knocked on the door.

Steinberg introduced himself and showed Sparrow he was knowledgeable about old calypso, citing the work of calypso greats like Kitchener and Lord Invader.

They became friends and he would often visit Sparrow and talk about music.

[caption id="attachment_1091450" align="aligncenter" width="371"] US filmmaker Lenard Dorfman is a co-founder of the Mighty Sparrow Rum Co. -[/caption]

“One day I decided I would bring my guitar over, because he had not really been doing anything. I would say, Sparrow, at that point in time, people looked at him like he was old. They loved him, they respected him, but they did not expect any more music out of him.”

A lasting musical bond was formed.

But Steinberg also worked in the spirits business and, one day, when the developers of St Lucia’s Bounty Rum were hosting an event, he took the opportunity to ask for Sparrow to perform.

They agreed and he performed at the event, in Harlem. That was five years ago, Steinberg said.

“He loved it, (and) he was charged up about it. Then I found this core group of musicians (Sparrow included) and we started playing shows. We played in the Public Theatre in Manhattan, we played in Lincoln Cen