In the 1950s, the cream of the pan players on the island of Barbados formed themselves into The Barbados All-Stars. The whole band who were already friends and family, decided to move to England. In England, they settled in Bath, a location used widely by Caribbean immigrants before London. This group of friends and families, full of Caribbean music flowing in their veins, has stayed together and their children, now grown up, still play pan in the band now known as the Rainbow Steel Orchestra.

They settled into the UK life style and started attracting younger members in the likes of Toussaint Clarke. Over the years most of the original members migrated to Barbados or retired from playing leaving Hallam and Toussaint to develop  a new band with young recruits. Rainbow is now a professional steelband with ten players.

Over the years Rainbow has gained National & International recognition through playing for Royalty as well as touring Europe and the Caribbean. Rainbow was fortunate enough to be able to return to its Barbadian roots for a tour in 1984.

The current line-up includes the legendary Earl Rodney who has been with Rainbow since 1992, taking the Band to a new dimension in playing and arranging. 

This year, Rainbow celebrates its 50th anniversary and looks forward to achieving even more in the following fifty using their dedication, vigour and enthusiasm coupled with their performing skills to do so. They have produced a fiftieth anniversary CD which represents a selection of the most requested songs of their repertoire. The CD has ten tracks with a bonus track entitled, ‘Be Still My Soul’ arranged by Hallam.  The Band feels that the track is a testament to the skills and arranging capability of band leader, Hallam Ifill, and therefore dedicates it to the memory of past players.

Rainbow gives thanks to acknowledge the skill and support that they have received from Earl Rodney over the years. They would also like to recognise the contribution of past players near or far and thank Nick and Alex at Nam Studio for their time and hard work on this project. Special thanks goes to Hallam for devoting 50 Years of time, patience and dedication to UK Steel Pan. You can contact Rainbow by calling Hallam on 01225331952 or email him at rainbow@panpodium.com .