Susan Maicoo's hit Trini Christmas has arguably been a staple of the festive season every year but the singer's contribution to parang was furthest from what her loved ones remembered during her funeral service on March 29.
Instead, she was revered for her growing love of Jesus.
Delivering tributes, her cousins and sisters all shared fond memories of her and her beautiful voice. Her husband Rawle and children all focused on her transition to gospel music and dedication to Jesus.
Maicoo's first recording was in 1986 with Come on ring those bells. According to her husband's eulogy, read by her son Rodney, she began dreaming songs and lyrics for gospels in 1996.
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"She would get up immediately in the night hours and write outlines or record tunes on a small recorder. Susan went on to record over 30 gospel songs on three CDs."
He said her music was written by others and he believed her ability to compose her gospel songs was an act of God.
In his eulogy, Rodney also recalled how his mother would come up with new gospel songs after "hearing" it in her head like divine revelation.
"Does anyone know the song Jesus I need you? So mummy wrote that song...I suppose on paper she wrote that song but what happened is she woke up one night and she heard music playing and she could not figure out where the music was coming from.
"So she went and she listened outside, she asked daddy, 'Where is that music coming from?' but then afterwards she realised the song was actually playing in her ear and when she started to hum it, she realised it was a completely new song. It wasn't the melody alone, it was the full song. The melody, verse, chorus, bridge – all of the lyrics as well. I don't know about you, I've written songs in the past. It's not easy you know. That's amazing. That's how mom got all the songs for her three gospel CDs. They were all given by the Lord."
While she was mostly known nationally and internationally for her parang, he said he never heard her sing the genre in person, only gospels.
"I have no memory of hearing my mom sing a parang song. Personally, I have no recollection of it I was either too small or by that time things had already changed. I have only heard my mom sing gospel music and songs to Jesus. That's all I know. I've heard her (parang) on the TV just like everyone else but never live."
He credited his mother's devotion to gospel music which she would religiously listen to in the car while dropping him and his sister to school for awakening his love for Jesus.
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"It was then that I knew something inside me came alive listening to those songs in the car. Something inside my spirit came alive, a spark that was dormant from the day I was born, a passionate desire for the Lord and a passionate desire to be with the Lord that came from those days mummy had this same desire and that desire just grew and grew and became more passionate until her last days."
He said his mother loved Jesus and would always speak about how she wished she could meet him.
"Mummy loved worship. She loved singing for Jesus. She loved him, loved him so much."
Similarly, Jessica, Maicoo's only daughter, said the best gift she ever received from her mother was that of worship.
"Mom was the one to force me to sing in the choir and with her. She knew I hated it but it did not matter because she always said that God gave me a talent and she was determined that I be better than her.
"Even now in my despair when it seems as though our backs are against the wall, a song always rises within us all because...we learnt this from mom."
The singer died at the Port of Spain General Hospital on March 23, at 62, having been readmitted with a relapse of sepsis. She was discharged from the San Fernando General Hospital on March 14 after a six-week stay.
The funeral was held at the Victory Tabernacle, Guapo Road, Fyzabad. Maicoo was buried at Apex Cemetery.
The service was officiated by pastor Garvin Thomas and Barbara Singh.
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