Photo credits:  C. Brandon/Redferns

Thomas August Darnell Browder (pictured) is an American musician who was born in The Bronx, New York.

His mother was from South Carolina with Caribbean and Italian parents and his father came from Savannah Georgia. As he grew older, he chose to be known by his two middle names – August Darnell.

He began his music career in a band called The In-Laws with his brother Stony Browder in 1965. The band split while August studied for a Master’s degree in English.

But in 1974 they reformed as a new group – Dr. Buzzard’s Original Savannah Band. In 1980, August adopted the name Kid Creole after Elvis Presley film King Creole.

King Creole and The Coconuts are a multiracial and multicultural band and August wore zoot suits to dance on stage.

The Coconuts were a trio of glamorous female backing singers led by August’s then wife Adriana ‘Addy’ Kaegi – they divorced in 1985 but she stayed with the band.

Adriana was also the band’s costume designer and choreographer.

The band’s breakthrough hit was Tropical Gangster which got to number three in the UK charts in 1982. That same year, they had three other top ten singles – Stool Pigeon, Annie I’m Not Your Daddy and I’m A Wonderful Thing, Baby.

Kid Creole and The Coconuts continue to perform and make music.

In 2010 they toured Germany with The Night Of The Proms alongside Cliff Richard and Boy George.

Source: Kathy Giddins for New UK’s The Sun Newspaper