Ellie Mannette

Elliott Anthony "Ellie" Mannette (5 November 1927 – 29 August 2018) was a Trinidadian musical instrument maker and steel pan musician, also known as the "father of the modern steel drum". Mannette as a young child developed a passion for metal and tools for metalworking, and would become engaged in the evolution of the phenomenon of sounding steel. At the age of 11, he was a member of Alexander's Ragtime Band created by Alexander Ford. From about 1939 to 1941, he performed with his own band, the Oval Boys (the name taken from the oval sports pavilion opposite the band's rehearsal space).

After having visited the United States in the beginning of the 1960s to build up the US Navy Steel Band, he was invited to New York City to build instruments for an inner city youth program. This invitation had been carried out by Murray Narell, a New York social worker and father of Jeff and Andy Narell. At this time, Mannette tuned his instruments by ear. Eventually he learned about the necessity of concert pitch A440Hz and the use of strobe tuners.

Since 1967, Mannette had been building up several hundred steel bands all over the United States mainly in colleges and universities, but also for private institutions. In 1991, he was invited by West Virginia University to show interested students how to build and play steel pans. What was meant to be a guest-semester eventually turned into a longtime relationship called the University Tuning Project and later on the company Mannette Steel Drums.

“I always knew in my heart one daythat my work would find its way,I could not tell you how,there was no one there for me to show the waybut I figured it out.I figured it all through for all of you to see today.”~Ellie Manette

Mannette died on 29 August 2018, in Morgantown, West Virginia, United States, of kidney failure. He is survived by his second wife, Jacqueline Edwards, six children, four stepchildren, and many grand- and great-grandchildren. into a concave shape, thus having more space to place notes as well as achieving a better isolation between the different pitches. Mannette has developed many instruments of the steel pan family. His use of the whole tone scale on two resonance bodies has become a widely common standard.

Mannette developed his own unique skills and style over many years. Within the University Tuning Project at West Virginia University in Morgantown, West Virginia, US, he passed on his knowledge of pan building and tuning to many students, thereby ensuring that his experience is passed on to future generations of pan makers. which is the United States government's highest honor in the folk and traditional arts. In November 2000, he was awarded an Honorary Doctorate from the University of the West Indies and returned home to Trinidad, after a 33-year absence, to accept it. The same year he also received the Chaconia Medal Silver from his home country, for outstanding cultural achievement.