Kid Creole & the Coconuts - Tropical Gangsters

In the early 80’s, Kid Creole (August Darnell) and his musical group the Coconuts (which included Coati Mundi, Cheryl Poirier, Adriana Kaegi and Taryn Hagey) combined a number of musical styles from Latin and South America, the Caribbean and Trinidad with those of the big band era to create an entertaining sound.

This month marks the 30th anniversary release of their third studio album Tropical Gangsters (in the US it was released under the title Wiseguys). Though the album stalled at number 145 on the US Billboard Hot 200, it fared better on the US R&B charts (reaching number 43). Around the world, though, the record was a smash. It went to number 22 in Sweden, number 18 in Norway, number 9 in France, number 6 in the Netherlands and number 3 in the UK.