Larry Armony (Alamoulou) grew up on the Caribbean island of Saint Christopher (St. Kitts) in a household in which music was always present. Like his mother before and his two sisters, he sang in the Anglican Church choir; his brother was well known locally as a singer and musician; and his father used every occasion to entertain his friends, family, or just himself by playing records from his diverse and extensive collection.

Composing came later in life. Having worked in amateur dramatic and musical theatre as a producer, director and drummer in earlier years, he decided at age 40 that the medium of Calypso allowed access to a larger and more ‘rootsy’ public. His experience in that arena, however, was mixed. In his words: “My lyrics were referred to dismissively as ‘poetry’ and the musical style as ‘ballad’, not calypso. Moreover, I didn’t always sing what the audiences wanted to hear.”