ABOUT
'Up next was someone I have seen before, Yorkshire’s very own Chantel McGregor. Her shy, “girl next door”, off stage persona combined with her soft spoken Yorkshire accent belie the power and energy of her performance on stage. Chantel didn’t become a professional musician by accident.
She’s been performing live gigs since the age of 12, schooled at a music college and achieved a First Class Honours Degree in Popular Music. Along with her current band members, Colin Sutton on bass and Thom Gardner on drums, they form an awesome power trio playing an eclectic mix of blues based tunes, composed by Chantel, ranging from traditional blues numbers complimented perfectly by the purity of her singing voice, to a much more raunchy blues rock style.
And boy, can that girl play guitar! With several complicated solos she proved that she can shred with the best of them as her and her guitar became one. I know that there were plenty of people there at the Blues Stage to see Ritchie Kotzen later that day, Chantel included, however I was left completely mesmerised and for me, Chantel was guitarist of the festival.'
Review of Ramblin' Man Fair, July 2019
Metal Planet Music
The Blues came calling first, but rock was always waiting around the corner. Well it would be, wouldn’t it? Coming from the deep south, it was inevitable, but living in the deep south of a major Yorkshire City, there’s a gritty hard edge to life!
A female guitar prodigy, Chantel was told by a major label that she had a "great voice, but girls don't play guitar like that!" Wisely ignoring their comments, she enrolled at the Leeds College of Music and became the first student in the college’s history, to achieve a 100% pass mark at BTEC, with 18 distinctions. Chantel then pursued further education and left with a First Class Honours degree in Popular Music and a coveted prize, the college’s musician of the year award.
Chantel released her highly anticipated second album, Lose Control, in October 2015 on her independent boutique label Tis Rock Music, this being the follow up to her critically acclaimed 2011 debut album, Like No Other.
After years of touring and festival appearances, Chantel returned with a vengeance with ten new songs that not only salutes contemporary rock, but shows her gradual transition from conventional Blues to a harder, bigger and bolder rock sound with progressive influences.
The single, Take The Power, from her latest album, was playlisted for 5 weeks on Planet Rock radio.
Chantel recorded a live album at the end of March 2019, this was released on the 6th of September 2019.
Chantel has recently been interviewed for features on Sky News, BBC Radio Five Live and BBC Radio Four.
Chantel is writing for her third studio album, and was debuting some of the new tracks on her tour which, pre-covid, was taking place throughout the UK and Europe.
Chantel was in the studio working on an acoustic album with her band when the Covid-19 lockdown began, so that is on pause for the time being. However, Chantel has been performing solo on a weekly live stream, the 'Shed Sessions', which streams every Saturday at 5pm UK time on her official Facebook Page and is repeated afterwards on Youtube.
Chantel released a rock cover of Lady Gaga's single 'Stupid Love' through US record label, Cleopatra Records, in May 2020, which can be downloaded and streamed from all reputable streaming/download websites.
At the end of May 2020, Chantel was asked by Hard Rock Hell Radio to present a 2 hour show on the Bank Holiday Monday, following this, she was asked to be a regular weekly presenter every Monday morning at 10am - 12pm.
In late 2020, Cleopatra Records released ‘Gumbo Blues’, a tribute album to Dr John, in which Chantel was one of the featured guitarists.
During lockdown in 2020, Chantel started working with David ‘Nova’ Nowakowski (Scars on 45), co-writing and recording tracks remotely over the internet as Nova is based in Colorado, USA. Their singles ‘I Will See’ and ‘Jingle Bells’ will be released on all digital streaming and download platforms in November 2020.
Chantel is endorsed by:-