Reversal of fortune: Montserrat legend Errol Eid’s fascinating life is now defined by struggle

Errol Eid grimaces as he slowly reclines his aching and aging body onto a sofa. The simple process of lying down has become a chore. These days Eid feels every bit of his 75 years – plus a few more – as he struggles with mobility, propped up by two aluminum crutches and an abundance of pride.

“I take about five different medications and I’m still in pain,” says Eid, who suffers from rheumatoid arthritis, scoliosis and poor circulation in his legs.

His current residence – a “jungle” cabin in Woodlands, Montserrat – was provided as a temporary favor so he can have a roof over his head. The place, once owned by John Wall of the Plymouth business family, is a stone’s throw from the home of Cedric and Carol Osborne, Eid’s longtime friends. Eid visits the Osbornes daily to watch TV and enjoy good company. The couple has served as Eid’s unofficial caretakers as he awaits a Warden Assisted apartment in Lookout Village.

It is quite a downturn for the diminutive Eid, who once lived large. He was gifted with musical and artistic skill and a powerful family of business owners. But he squandered the fortune bequeathed to him by a doting mother. Today, health has superseded wealth as priority in Eid’s life as he tries – in more ways than one – to get back on his feet.

Talk to those who know him best and they say Eid is a virtual dichotomy – prodigal but personable, a flawed genius. Like a boy who never grew up Eid has been a benevolent beatnik, a happy hippie, a local legend. Even in his current fragile state a tinge of arrogance surfaces. Asked if he ever held a job in Montserrat, he retorts: “Why would I work for somebody when I have more money than them?”

Other times he shows a vulnerable side. He bemoans the fact that none of his family members across the Caribbean have phoned to check on his well-being.

Asked if it’s hurtful, he responds, “Well, naturally,” as he fights back tears.

It’s a far cry from a time when Eid and his family earned legendary status in Montserrat.

‘WE ARE NOT SYRIAN’

The Eid family story and its migration to Montserrat must begin with a clarification.

“We are not Syrian,” Errol says. “We are Lebanese. People confuse Syria and Lebanon all the time.” The confusion is understandable. The two countries were one nation until 1943. Errol’s paternal grandfather was the first member of the family to reach Montserrat.

Says Errol: “I was told that he was just passing through but the people were so friendly that he decided to stay. His English was not very good. Our family name is actually ‘Aide’ [pronounced Ah-Yeed]. When he told them his name they thought he said, ‘I Eid’ and they registered him that way. He sent for his children and they were also registered as Eid.”

One of those children was George Eid, Errol’s father. George’s brothers were John, Anthony (better known as “Hashie”), Emmanuel, Solomon and Faiz. Errol’s mother, Annie, was born in St. Kitts. She was a member of the Coury family that owns several businesses there. One of those businessmen – the late Leroy Coury – was also a well-known cricket player (spin bowler) for St. Kitts and Leeward Islands.

Annie moved to Montserrat and married George Eid. Their first child, Lindy Anthony Eid, was born in 1930. Errol says his mother then lost at least five children – some in childbirth, others shortly after birth. So when Errol was born in 1947 and survived, it was a profound blessing. And it explains why he was a child of immense privilege.

A BUSINESS FAMILY

At one point at least five members of the Eid family operated businesses in Plymouth. One of their first shops, run by George and John Eid, was located on Parliament Street at the future home of Royal Bank of Canada, across from the “Mary G. Pond” shop. The brothers were dubbed “Mooshay George” and “Mooshay John” (Mooshay means “Mister” or “Sir”).

The Eids were not just business owners. They were pioneers. Emmanuel opened the Rialto Theater, Montserrat’s first cinema. Lindy introduced Montserrat to the juke box in the 1950s. He imported dozens of them and placed them in bars and other establishments around the island, splitting the proceeds with the proprietors. Lindy also ran the “New York Store” on Strand Street. “Hashie” owned a variety store that was the main depot for fowl feed, notably “Grow-inna” and “Lay-inna” – the names literally explaining their purpose. Hashie’s son, Joseph Eid, also became synonymous with the store.

In the early years several members of the family shared a home in Plymouth. The Eids were devoutly Catholic and would fill up the first two rows during service at St. Patrick’s Church in George Street.

In 1949, George Eid passed away. Says Errol: “Even though I was only two and a half years old I still remember seeing him lying in the coffin in our house.” After George Eid died, Annie married George’s brother John. Explained Errol: “The priest told my mother it was not proper for her to live in a house with a man and they’re not married.”

Annie and John ran a variety store at the intersection of Parliament and Harney streets. They sold flour, sugar and other dry goods plus a wide array of textiles. The store was downstairs and the residence upstairs. It was close to the old police station and across from Esso gas station and the public market. That is the home where Errol grew up and started his first business.

THE BOY WONDER

Errol admits he was a pampered child.

“My mother spoiled me,” he says candidly. “Anything I wanted I got.”

But he was also profoundly talented. By his early teens Errol could play several musical instruments, including the drums, guitar, piano and ukulele. He was self-taught.

There is a funny story about Errol’s mother once hiring calypsonian James “Tangler” Lee to teach Errol to play the guitar. Lee arrived at the Eid home for the lesson, but just minutes later he was seen walking off. Annie Eid asked Lee if the lesson was over so quickly. Lee replied: “Di li boy know more than me.”

One of Errol’s first bands was Blue Rhythms, formed around 1963. His fellow members included Justin and Lorenzo Cassell, both former calypso monarchs and the brothers of soca legend Alphonsus “Arrow” Cassell.

“We were a very good band,” says Lorenzo Cassell, who played trumpet. “I remember one year Laviscount Brass came down from Antigua and a lot of Antiguans came down for their show. When they heard our band they came to see us instead.”

Cassell not only recalls Errol’s talent with the guitar but also his frivolity with money.

“One day he said to me, ‘Let’s go to Trinidad to buy some instruments,’ ” Cassell says. “He went to his mother and she gave him about $15,000. When we got to Trinidad, Errol was walking around with the cash in his hand. I said, ‘Man, put that away!’ “

To illustrate how much $15,000 was worth in the mid-1960s consider that William H. Bramble, Montserrat’s Chief Minister at the time, earned $9,600 . . . a year.

Errol is asked if Cassell’s recollection is truly accurate – that his mom gave him a whopping $15,000 all at once. He quickly issues a correction: “I think it was more.”

Errol, who later formed a steel band called The Flaming Recoils, was also artistic. He designed winning costumes for several Queen Show contestants, including Rose Willock (1965), Florence Allen (1966), Daisy Kirnon (1967) and Leona Tuitt (1968).

“I won Best Costume about six times,” he says. “My mother told me to drop out and give someone else a chance. Designing came natural to me.”

By the way, Errol is also known as “Briggs” – a nickname he got from his friend Desmond Taylor. “One day I was at his garage and I was walking all around the shop. He said to me, ‘Who are you, Mr. Briggs?’ ” Errol says it was likely a reference to Briggs & Stratton, the company that produces engines for power equipment.

ERROL’S DISCO

In the mid-1960s Errol converted a storage room at the back of his mother’s store into a nightclub he called Errol’s Disco. He traveled to New York and Puerto Rico to purchase the lighting and sound equipment. The club also featured a live band. The entire venture was bankrolled by his mother.

Already possessing a knack for decoration, Errol turned the disco into a hot spot that drew patrons from around the region. It featured a popular section called “The Dungeon” in which light was projected only up to knee level, leaving the rest of the room dark. “The Dungeon” became a den of hedonism. “A lot of craziness went on in there,” Errol says.

John Wilson, who grew up in the Plymouth area and was a longtime proprietor in town, recalls the disco.

“It was amazing,” Wilson says. “Errol used ordinary things like egg cartons to decorate. He had strobe lights. His disco was comparable to anything in the region.”

Errol was creative. For instance, when the DJ played the hit song Dizzy by Tommy Roe, the strobe lights would create an effect that actually made the patrons dizzy.

Errol’s club was lucrative but he lacked financial discipline and prudence. Like a typical young man he treated himself with toys.

“At one time I had about six or seven cars,” says Errol, who also fancied motorcycles. “I had a speedboat. I went to Trinidad and had it specially built. I bought the hull and they fixed it up. I used to drive the boat from Montserrat to Antigua in 50 minutes. I used to drive it to other places like Guadeloupe and St. Kitts.”

As for his schooling, Errol attended St. Augustine Catholic School and then the Montserrat Secondary School. In 1964 he attended Marathon High School in the Florida Keys while residing with a family friend. During his senior year at Marathon he visited Montserrat for Christmas and never went back. That marked the end of his formal education.

Change came about in the early 1970s. Errol rented out the disco, and when Lindy opened a nightclub in Gingoes called Jerry’s Drive-In (later Maximus), Errol sold all his musical instruments to Lindy, allowing his brother to have a live band. It was the era of local bands such as Calibre Nine, Aquarius, Libra One and Livewires.

“A lot of the instruments the bands used in the 1970s were my old instruments,” says Errol, who has also been generous in sponsoring instruments to local musicians over the years.

ERROL LOSES HIS ‘ANGEL’

During the 1980s Errol continued his life of luxury and privilege. He sported a ponytail and a six-pack. He hung out at Air Studios, the beach and other popular spots, hobnobbing with expatriates and locals alike.

“I never worked,” he admits. “Anything I wanted I would go to my mother, even for food.”

In 1993, Annie Eid suffered a leg injury and was placed in traction at Glendon Hospital. Her situation took a turn for the worse when she fell off her bed one day. She developed gangrene and passed away April 14, 1993. The matriarch was 86 years old.

“My mom was an angel,” Errol says. “She used to go to church seven days a week. She almost lived there. She was kind to everybody.”

Years earlier, Annie bought houses in Old Towne for Errol and Lindy.

“My mother had the first two houses in Old Towne,” Errol says. “I sold one to a Canadian. I got about $500,000 for it. I got way more than I expected.”

That half-million is now history, as is the speedboat and other items Errol acquired during the height of his wealth. The volcanic eruption in the mid-1990s also destroyed what was left of the Eid businesses and properties in the Plymouth area.

In the late 1990s Errol relocated to Jost Van Dyke in the British Virgin Islands. He teamed with local club owner Foxy Callwood, touring and playing music. “I was there for 15 years,” Errol says. Foxy played the guitar and sang, and Errol played keyboards. They played many yacht clubs, including Nantucket and Marblehead in Massachusetts.

Errol later spent time in London and could often be found at Ridley Market with fellow Montserratians.

EMBARRASSMENT OF RICHES

Errol has lived a carefree lifestyle for decades. He raced cars, raced motorcycles. He has been married twice. The first union – to a Canadian expat in the late 1970s – lasted only three weeks. “She started talking some nonsense so I divorced her,” he says casually. His second marriage is still ongoing – technically. His wife and step-children reside in Birmingham, UK. Asked why they are apart, Errol – who has no biological children – simply says: “Well, they don’t need me now.”

Despite Errol’s capricious existence, his friends say there has been one constant. He has always been down to earth.

“Even when I was rich I would hang out with poor people on the streets,” Errol says.

He also has a wry sense of humor. Errol was once busted in Montserrat for planting marijuana on his property and fined $2,000. Livid, he paid the entire fine in coins.

“I paid them in ha’pennies and pennies,” he says. “They wanted work to do . . . so I gave them work. I used to be disgusting like that. If you did something to me I would react.”

Errol is the last surviving member of the Eid business dynasty from Plymouth. Lindy died in 2017 in a nursing home in the UK. Much of the family wealth is gone. It is a sad realization for a once-affluent clan.

Now pained and penniless, Errol relies on the charity of old friends for survival. He also depends on government assistance. Due to his physical condition driving is not recommended. His derelict car is up for sale.

He is asked if he has any regrets.

He utters a defiant chuckle.

“None,” he says.

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Editor’s note: This story was published March 7, 2022. Errol Eid died June 11, 2023.