The Desperadoes Steel Orchestra emerged from the fusion of three different Steelbands from Laventille in Trinidad. The name of the group was chosen from the movie Desperadoes starring Glenn Ford which was shown in Port of Spain at the time. Despers were led by Rudolph Charles since 1961 until his death in 1985. Charles invited several pantuners like Bertie Marshall and Lincoln Noel to create the best possible orchestral effects. The orchestra has worldwide appearances and has performed at The Royal Albert Hall in 1972, Carnegie Hall in 1987, and along with the classical singer Luciano Pavarotti in Barbados in 1996. Mr.Raymond "Artie" Shaw was the first musician to conduct Desperadoes Steel Orchestra at their performance for Queen Elizabeth at the Royal Albert Hall in London. Dr. Pat Bishop conducted their performance at Carnegie Hall in NYC. Desperadoes have also toured some of Trinidad & Tobago's motherlands, such as Africa, India, China, England and Grenada. Desperadoes has qualified for the most Panorama finals,45 of 49, was a finalist for 36 consecutive years 1976 through 2011, has the highest winning percentage(1)victory every 4.9 years, has won every entered competition, and has a total of 24 combined victories, from 1965 to 2011. Desperadoes is the only Steel Orchestra where consistency has been maintained over the last 50 years, hence the term, finest Steel Orchestra ever. You can learn more about the winning Steel Orchestras in Trinidad & Tobago, and New York's, Brooklyn Panorama from the book, "400 Questions & Answers on Pan from 1960 to Present," by Ian Franklin.