COVID helps Cavan to refocus on music

Winston 'Cavan' Lewis rose to national prominence back in 2004 when he won the first Digicel Rising Stars competition. Although not quite as popular as some of the competition's other winners, the entertainer refuses to give up on music.

Since winning the talent show, Cavan has worked mostly in the tourism industry, flexing his vocals on the hotel circuit and on popular cruise ship liner, Royal Caribbean, as a cabaret singer. These days, Cavan has been focusing on relaunching his career. According to him, the COVID-19 pandemic cut his time on the cruise ship short, but allowed him room to once again fall in love with the creative process behind the music. Now, he's ready to hit the ground running again.

LOVE FOR MUSIC

"When you're on the ship, you're working day to day and it's kinda difficult to create. Sometimes me try and me start write a verse or a chorus and everything just stop. Is like mi reach a writer's block or something. But since COVID start and me get fi deh home, as much as me nah earn, me creative juices start flow again and the love for music start come back. Mi start write songs, recording songs and stuff like that and me just ready to go back into things again," he said. "I am now going to try to put out new material, and where I'm at right now in my career, I'm doing gospel music exclusively. I'm promoting three songs right now, Sold Out, Journey and Thanks and Praise. I'll be looking to do videos for them soon."

Cavan believes that he has come a far way from 2004.

"Back then, I would consider myself a baby. I was just trying something. But coming to a stage like Rising Stars, it was the first time I really stepped out of my shell. That competition did really prepare me for the real world. Being out there nationally, it trained me for the moments I had afterwards," he said. "Coming out of Rising Stars where I've been in front of cameras, been in front of a live audience, I got used to performing for crowds. I knew how to interpret the audience, get them involved and build a vibe. I became a performer on that stage and just continued to grow from there. Even with interviews and stuff, Rising Stars was good training."

Still, Cavan says sometimes he can't help but wonder if he 'jumped the gun'. He told Weh Dem Up To that with the competition gaining massive national attention after 2004, he sometimes questions whether he entered 'too early'.

"Sometimes it flash across mi mind and me think, 'what if I did enter in 2006 or 2007 when yah get the cash prize and the competition did big big?' But for me, I find rest in the fact that I'm the first winner and everything started with me. If the show never good from 2004, then those other years wid di cash prizes wouldn't have been. If it wasn't a success back then, we couldn't a talk bout Rising Stars today, 16 years later. I played a very big part in that," he said.