[1] Lord Kitchener, one of the most important figures in the later development of calypso, acknowledged Growler as one of his influences.
[3] In 1936 he entered the Carnival calypso contest in Besson Street and placed 2nd to Lord Caresser (Rufus Callender).
Growler made his recording debut for RCA Bluebird in 1937 with a calypso entitled 'In the Dew and the Rain'; the recording was not released, but Growler re-recorded the song for Decca in 1939, and this is the version that often features in compilations of classic calypso today.
In the same year, during which World War Two began, Growler recorded 'The Diamond Ring for Emaline', in which he fantasized about marrying a German woman called Emaline who would be given away as bride by Adolf Hitler; but at the same session he also recorded 'Hitler Demands', an unequivocal condemnation of Hitler and the Nazi regime, and the following year, 1940, the calypso 'Nazi Spy Ring', which condemns the German dictator as a 'cold-blooded murderer' and 'worthless barbarian'.
Growler continued to appear in calypso tents throughout the war, but contracted an illness during a tour of British Guiana in 1944.