georges alan cav born in new york city on february 27 1966 an american of haitian descent is the lead singer of the kompa band zinhis mother was writer yanick jean his father was poet writer and art director syto cav cav spent most of his adolescent years in haiti often accompanying his famous father on his tours of the caribbean martinique guadeloupe ste lucia france the united states and canada surrounded by people who loved the arts and born to writers it was natural for cav to follow in their footsteps during his adolescence alan frequently played guitar belting out soulful and heartfelt words and melodies that to many audiences seemed beyond his age cavs performance debut happened when an actor in a play fell ill and he was asked to sing the song la personne the enthusiastic audience reception crystallized for cav the desire to have a musical career and alan cav became a household name in haiti in 1987 he met with alex abellard and eddy saintvil to audition and cav was quickly signed for the group zin the group released their first album o pa in 1989 more than two decades later zins guitaristsongwriter eddy st vil keyboardist and leader alex abellard and its 11 band members remain popular with sweet ballads and traditional haitian kompa grooves mixed with the sound of reggae rhythm and blues and zouk cavs voice sometimes characterized as seductive considerably aided the success of the bandcav is a prolific songwriter with a catalogue of songs and unreleased recordings in english french and haitian creole when once asked what inspires him he answered simply life and people he said he would prefer to be remembered as writer and composer as it takes not just talent but passion aspiration discipline and hard work to write songs and release an album he is a soughtafter performer in the frenchcaribbean communitycav has performed and collaborated with other wellknown performers in zouk kompa french and caribbean music such as malavoi mario devolcy tanya saintval haddy njie roy shirley and les tnors du zouk in 2001 he launched his first solo album se pa pou dat which was an enormous success this album seems to transcend barriers of language and cultural sound with its melodies popular in japan africa and south america even though listeners may not understand the words he continuous to have a solo career and has released five solo kompa albums