By Telesha Ramnarine

TERRENCE Lavon Telford-Hicks, 25, was born to Guyanese parents in the United States of America (USA), but for all his life, he felt he never belonged there. His heart has always been in Guyana.
Perhaps it’s because of the stories his grandparents told him about Guyana, or his regular visits here that propel him to want to do something for the country through his music. “I never really felt American…if that makes sense. I’m a history freak. I love history. That drew me back also,” he told the Chronicle in an interview a few days ago.
The 25-year-old, also known as “TJ” and “Gadinelli” on stage, is currently focusing on becoming an international Soca artiste and is here this time around to perform with founder of Wildfire Entertainment Jonathan Beepat on the Golden Children Project for the upcoming Independence festival.
Gadinelli’s song, called El Dorado, which he will be performing on Independence Day, is already out there with fans providing positive feedback to the singer.
“This visit to Guyana is quite different, although I come here at least once a year. In the past it was just about pure fun and no work. But this time is different. Each day I have to keep focused on work.”
Commenting on his song, he said: “I wanted to do something for Guyana. I wanted to go deeper than the 50th Independence. I wanted to let people know about Guyana on the whole. I wanted to share that the country is much more than Georgetown. So in the song, I included Lethem, Bartica, Essequibo and so forth. I visited all these other places and stayed for months at a time in some of them. So I can connect to the song. Listening to it tells a story from beginning to end.”
Gadinelli, who still have lots of family members in Georgetown and Linden, started off singing R&B music but soon after found that this was not his passion. “I wanted to get more in touch with the Guyanese culture. I needed to reach out in some sort of a way. My focus now is international Soca with a Latin vibe.”

Breakthrough
Gadinelli said he got his breakthrough in music when he was just about 10 years old in a community center for youths in the USA. There, he began doing African drumming and realized that with this talent, he could do so much more.
He had entertained thoughts of becoming a teacher and football coach, among many others, but decided to pursue music in honour of an uncle, the now deceased David Telford, who was murdered back in the 1990s.
His uncle was an aspiring rapper but never got to see his career succeed. “So I wanted to help live out my uncle’s dream. He continues to live in his nieces and nephews,” he expressed.
Along with his music ambitions, Gadinelli intends to obtain a degree in Ethic Studies and a minor in Spanish, while pursuing his dream of marrying a Guyanese girl.