tap/click for bioIn 1988 he joined Eclipse Steel Orchestra and played his first Panorama with them a year later aged 11. However, as much as he enjoyed playing, he did not feel the environment was one he could be involved in so, at the age of 13, he decided he no longer wanted to play. Fortunately, that didn’t last long and he has since played with Ebony, Pan Vibrations, Pantonic, Stardust, CSI, Croydon and London All Stars. He was the Arranger for Pantasia Steel Orchestra who, until their demise, were regular participants in the UK National Panorama Competition.
A familiar participant in competitions, Chris entered and won the Junior Solo Panist competition in 1995. He has also won the Pan Explosion ensembles competition four times - three times with Pantasia and once with Pan Nation. He has taken his schools’ steel bands to events such as the Croydon Music Festival, which he has won on numerous occasions, and has been successful in getting through to the finals of the Music for Youth Festival, performing at the finals in the Royal Albert Hall.
In 2009 Chris founded Pan Nation Steel Orchestra where he now runs three groups – children, juniors and adults. They all perform regularly at events around the UK and on the continent. The band has the distinction of being the only “official steel band” supported by a football club.
Chris proactively encourages young people to arrange - developing their musical knowledge and understanding of orchestration, as well as building a pool of arrangers for future generations of panists.
In November 2018, Chris was involved in the benefit concert hosted in celebration and remembrance of the late Ken ‘Professor’ Philmore. He arranged two of the seven pieces performed by the band on the night.
Although he is regularly quoted as saying it’s the young musicians in the bands who are positive role models, in 2018 he was nominated for a Community Heroes Award for his unwavering work in local communities.
As a Steel Pan Tutor with Haringey Council, he works with hundreds of children, young people and adults every week, instilling the highest standards of performance, musicality and technical ability in all. His repertoires are varied and grounded in the cultural traditions of the art form. It is for this work that Chris received the BAS Outstanding Achievement Award in 2018.
