Arrow obituary

Caribbean singer of Hot Hot Hot, the 1986 World Cup anthem
Alphonsus "Arrow" Cassell obituary
Arrow performing at a Haiti Relief concert this year. Photograph: Wayne Fenton/AP

During the 1970s, calypso mutated into soca (soul calypso), a more rhythmic and dance-orientated musical style. Outside the Caribbean, the best-known soca anthem has been the exhilarating Hot Hot Hot, sung by Arrow, who has died of cancer aged 60.

He was born Alphonsus Cassell in Montserrat, one of nine children in a musical family. His brothers Justin and Lorenzo both won the island's Calypso King contest, under the names Hero and Young Challenger respectively. Alphonsus took the title at the age of 13 and chose his stage name in honour of the Mighty Sparrow, the foremost Trinidadian calypsonian of the postwar era. Arrow went on to become the Montserrat Calypso King three more times. He became known outside his home island while he was still at school, after performing the calypso Invitation to the Caribbean at the Caribbean King of Kings contest in Antigua. He made his first recording, Dance With Me, Woman, in 1972. He soon moved to Trinidad and recorded the album The Mighty Arrow On Target, which showcased his emergent up-tempo soca style.

This made him well-known in the Caribbean, but it was not until a decade later that Hot Hot Hot brought him international recognition. Arrow's ebullient recording became a signature song of the Notting Hill carnival in west London. Arrow himself appeared at Notting Hill in 1988 and 1989. The song was repeatedly played on sound systems and pirate radio stations and became a mainstay of dance clubs all over the world. It reached its greatest audience when it was chosen as the official anthem of the 1986 World Cup, held in Mexico.

Hot Hot Hot is estimated to have sold more than 4m copies in various versions, including a 1994 remix that reached No 38 in Britain. Several others have recorded the song, most notably Buster Poindexter, alter ego of David Johansen of the New York Dolls.

The Mighty Arrow, as he was often billed, toured widely in the 1980s and 90s in the US, Europe and Japan. Both Hot Hot Hot (in 1984) and Long Time (in 1985) were minor hits in Britain, where Island Records, owned by Chris Blackwell, sought to capitalise on Arrow's success by issuing annual albums timed to coincide with the carnival season in the Caribbean and Britain.

Arrow's 1988 album Knock Dem Dead included the song Groove Master, which was included on the soundtracks of the films Casual Sex? (1988) and The Mighty Quinn (1989). The song incorporated elements of hip-hop and typified Arrow's willingness to include sounds and rhythms from other cultures and genres. As early as 1975, he had been influenced by zouk and merengue, and he later drew on house and rap music.

Despite his global reputation, Arrow remained very much a citizen of Montserrat, where he set up a record company and a store, Arrow's Manshop. He recorded more than 20 albums and in 2000 was awarded the MBE for services to Caribbean music.

He performed at the opening ceremony of the 2007 cricket World Cup and decided, owing to illness, that his 2008 concert at the Montserrat Cultural Centre would be his last. However, he came out of retirement to perform at a Haiti Relief event at the same venue this year.

He is survived by four children and two grandchildren.

Arrow (Alphonsus Celestine Edmund Cassell), songwriter and singer, born 16 November 1949; died 15 September 2010