Chantel is a sweet girl’s name, of French origin, which is associated with ‘song’ but an older meaning links it to a mountainous area and means ‘rock’, so the omens are good for Chantel McGregor, because that is just what she does. With her long blonde hair and a taste for evening dresses, it’s hard to believe your eyes as you listen to her crank out a Blues riff full of pain and passion or explore the delicate corners of a guitar line, but we’re lucky that she’s one of the talented young folks who make sure our music stays vibrant and relevant for new generations.
Born in Bradford, England at the end of the 80s, Chantel was brought up in a house where her parents would crank up Led Zeppelin and Free on the stereo, and when her Dad got tired of his three-year-old detuning his guitar, he got her a half-size instrument of her own. That meant she had five years playing behind her when she became the youngest graduate of the local ‘Rock-school’ and four years later she joined her first band. Even at that age (twelve) she knew where she wanted her career to go and after some astonishing grades in her technical studies, enrolled in a music Degree at Leeds University. Chantel was leading her band all over the country while still studying hard: she won a first-class Honours Degree and an Outstanding Musician prize, but demand from her audience for an album had to be put on hold, because all her compositions were copyright to the college. An album was first thing on the agenda when she graduated and in 2011 she released ‘Like No Other’ and the within months she won Young British Blues Artist of the Year.
Fresh out of college in 2011, this is one of Chantal’s own compositions;
Chantel McGregor Discography
It’s hard to keep the excitement and buzz about the ‘potential’ of such a young talent from swamping any comments about the product, so I strongly recommend you listen to some samples and judge for yourself.
LIKE NO OTHER
Songwriting is one of Chantel’s biggest strengths, but her album and live set show her appreciation of classic Blues-rock acts like
Fleetwood Mac,
Hendrix, Steve Vai and
RobinTrower. Her interpretations of some of their best-known work goes way beyond the idea of a ‘cover’ and into the realms of extending the art, and she sings with the commitment of a woman who has seen the dark side of the world. She hosted a Guitar Masterclass session at the BBC in 2012 to inspire young players, and also won British Blues Award for best Female Vocalist, an honour she won again the following year and added Best Guitarist too. Another Best Guitarist Award in 2014, British and European touring, and upcoming Festival bookings show a star on the rise. There’s a new album getting out (Lose Conrtol), and pretty soon everybody’s going to hear about this unassuming young woman, because she’s a major talent and she’s building on foundations of pure rock.
