John Orpheus

About

The artist

John Orpheus is the musical identity of Toronto-based Trinidadian-Canadian author, broadcaster, and performance artist Antonio Michael Downing. Born and raised in south-central Trinidad, he moved to northern Ontario at 13 and later built his creative career in Toronto. His music moves between hip-hop, funk, soul, punk, soca, dancehall, and Afrobeats, often connecting Caribbean and African diasporic traditions with participatory live performance. After early releases including John Orpheus Is Dead, Goldchain Hennessey, and Goatlife, he issued Wey Ya Call Dat Ting? in 2019 and Saga King in 2021. The 2024 Get Right! EP brings Prince, Rick James, Parliament-Funkadelic, and 1990s hip-hop influences into what Orpheus calls the Whole School. His concerts have taken him to festivals across Canada and the United States and to the United Kingdom as an opening act for Liam Gallagher. Outside music, Downing is an author and the host of CBC Radio One's The Next Chapter, but his official artist material presents those identities as parts of one connected practice.