Fay-Ann Lyons-Alvarez
First Lady of Soca Opens Up To Alicia Powell

I have known Fay-Ann Lyons as an artiste for a very long time.  However, she became a friend during my breast cancer journey.  She was one of the few persons outside of my immediate family and life long friends who kept me strong. When I got to know her, she was exactly the opposite than I thought she would be. I tease her all the time by saying, “ I don’t want everybody to know how nice you are because everybody will want to be your friend”. What defines our friendship  is the fact that we both have amazing faith in God and as such we can see the silver lining behind every dark cloud.

Driven is not the word to describe her. Fay-Ann has exceptional strength that is sometimes misinterpreted as being cold or abrasive. She is every bit of the First Lady of Soca, not only because she is the daughter of Super Blue, eight time Road March and six time Soca Monarch title holder, and the wife of four times Soca Monarch King, Ian Alvarez, aka Bunji Garlin. She sports her own claim to fame in the Soca sphere. She is the first female winner of the Power Soca Monarch in 2009. And the only artiste to win Power Soca Monarch, Groovy Soca Monarch, and People’s Choice (2009). She is the only female artiste to win the Carnival Road March  three times, including back to back in 2008 and 2009. Those are certainly a lot of titles in one family and hence they are now referred to as Soca’s royal family. And despite the fact that Soca music travels through her veins, she is an outstanding wife and mother. I continue to be amazed by her extraordinary song writing skills. But if you were to spend some time talking to her you would understand how her powerful mind works and why she is able to deliver the music that she releases year after year.

When she recounted the challenges she faced as a child and a teenager, some of which cannot be revealed in this story, I can only lift my hat to her and continue to be inspired by the strength of this self-made woman who put an abundance of faith in the Lord and carefully planned her life to succeed in spite of her circumstances.

Today, she has made it and she is enjoying every bit of her success. There isn’t anything she can’t give herself, with the help of her darling husband and on her own. She is a real example to young women born of less affluent means that whatever the heart desires, the mind can achieve with hard work. Though she never revealed any of her music plans or surprises for 2011, she did agree that a great way to start the year with a bang was to do our first ever swimsuit cover for Basia Magazine. And she looks fabulous!

Read the complete interview in Basia Magazine Winter 2010 issue.