Big voice, big dreams for Tavon

Tavon Boyce may not be big in stature but behind that childlike appearance is a talented young man with a big voice and even bigger dreams.

At the 107th Founder’s Day Barbados Boy Scouts Association (BBSA) service, the fourteen year old Combermere student captivated the audience with his soulful rendition of “He’ll Do It Again” on Sunday.

After his performance, Boyce spoke to The Barbados Advocate about his singing and his future career goals. He explained that his talent was discovered publicly at the age of seven. However for this scout, he started to sing from the time he was able to talk.

“My talent was discovered at a church function… We were at a retreat,” said Boyce.

Thereafter, he joined the school choir at Deacons Primary School and with the assistance of his music teacher, Ms. Shepherd, they participated in NIFCA. The first attempt was not successful. However Boyce noted that the second year the school participated, it won a Bronze award in 2015 and in the subsequent year, he and his classmates got a Gold award.

During his primary school years, around aged ten, Boyce also participated in the Richard Stoute Teen Talent Competition. Initially, it was a bit challenging but the scout started to see his hard work paying off as he came second in the overall competition in 2018. His pedestal has other accolades including NIFCA gold and silver awards for his performance of “Music and Me” by Michael Jackson and “Try It On My Own” by Whitney Houston in 2018.

Transitioning his talent from primary to secondary
The young singer also spoke about his transition from the primary to secondary school environment. He said that when Common Entrance came around, he was a bit uncertain as to what would happen to him and his new talent when he entered secondary school. Boyce said in first and second form at Combermere, people were now starting to be aware of his talent. He said he was a bit shy [even to this day] and he remembered he was the only child from Deacons Primary to pass for his new school.

Being alone [the only Deacons alum] at the school, Boyce said he wanted to keep to himself. However by second form, he had settled in and he felt comfortable to display his singing skills in the classroom.

“Teachers use to complain that I was singing too much…the word got around to the Music teacher and she, Ms. Smith, she entered me in NIFCA that year in second form but I only got so far as the semi finals,” said Boyce.

Talent in the family, dream of being entrepreneur
Boyce who has been recognised for his talent at a national level, knows that the credit for his skills must go towards his family. The Combermere student who started his career in the scouts movement in 2012 revealed that on his mother’s side, several of his relatives are singers.

However although singing is one of his greatest loves, Boyce said from young he always wanted to be an entrepreneur.

Highlighting the subjects that he is presently studying, Boyce expressed his desire to focus on the sciences, Biology, Chemistry, Physics in addition to Music, Principles Of Business, Technology, Principles Of Accounting and Spanish. His three career choices are to be a musician, a technical engineer and biochemist with the latter, he aims to find a cure for cancer and HIV/AIDS. As to his favourite things to do in scouts, he is all about being outdoors and the opportunities to use his innovation.

“I love adventure and the creativity,” said Boyce.