Who Is Don Chandler???
I am a Bass Player and producer born and bred in the U.K.
I remember playing along to songs on my dads acoustic guitar as young as 5 years old. I received my first bass at 11 years old and could already play most of my favourite songs.
I had become addicted to buying vinyl records at this young age and became a Roots Radics nut, learning all the Flabba Holt bass lines.
I got to find out a friend at school's big brothers had a soundsystem and would spend many evenings at his house going through the Studio One and Treasure Isle records and learning the original names of the Riddims and bass lines.
Touring Years
After playing in many local bands an opportunity to go on tour with Mighty Diamonds and Frankie Paul came knocking. This tour is where I would learn the real art of reggae bass as I would get to watch some of the greatest bass players in Reggae history every night playing with the other acts on the tour. Familyman with the Wailers, Bagga Walker with the Gladiators, Danny Axeman with Bunny Wailer, Mikey Fletcher with Shaggy, Frank Burt with Buju Banton.
On return to the U.K from this tour I would be presented with opportunities to tour and perform with Freddie Mcgreggor, Max Romeo, Johnny Clarke, Horace Andy, Michael Prophet, Pablo Moses, Willie Williams, Prince Allah, Fred Locks, Luciano, John Holt, Alton Ellis, Christopher Ellis, Mikey Dread, Tamlins, Black Uhuru (with and without Michael Rose) Linval Thompson, Pinchers, Courtney Melody, Admiral Bailey, Wayne Wonder and many more.
From 2004 to 2017 I would go on to tour with a few artist outside of the reggae genre. U.K pop star Craig David and appear on T.V appearances with Mariah Carey, Phil Collins and Lionel Richie.
In 2008 I joined UB40 featuring Ali Campbel. While on the UB40 tour I started to take production seriously and with the power of technology would work on music while on the road.
Grammy Winning Producer
When the opportunity to put forward some songs for an upcoming Morgan Heritage album came knocking, I grabbed it with open arms and my first major productions became part of the Grammy Award winning Album "Strictly Roots"
In 2017 I once again was nominated for a grammy with the Morgan Heritage Album Averakedabra and Nominated once again in 2018 for the Black Uhuru album as the world turns.
New Horizons
After 10 years on the road with Ali Campbels UB40 I decided it was time for new challenges, hence I commited musician suicide and left my comfortable gig with no new gig to move on to. The very next day after leaving I managed to secure a room for my studio and started my new life as a non touring musician.
The Covid nightmare of 2020 forced me in a direction I would of never ventured. I have always had a passion for teaching and noticed there was a lack of authentic reggae bass tutorials available which made me decide to throw a video up on YouTube and see what happens. I thought I would start with my no.1 influence Flabba Holt and the response was overwhelming. A year later I have the No 1 reggae bass channel on YouTube.
My goal is to provide material previously unavailable to musicians seeking some reggae bass knowledge and with my Knowledge of past recorded reggae music and touring experiences I can help musicians improve on their instruments through the power of Reggae music.
Riddim Up And Lets Do This