Chuck Stewart

Chuck Stewart My Background: I am a professional composer, singer, musician, and a vocal coach. I have sung in my bands all over the Midwest and Southeast U.S., before settling for 18 years in Las Vegas, where I sang in shows and lounges. I performed in Central Florida for 19 years and now live in Europe. I also have produced jingles (singing commercials) and have had several thousand students in the last 20+ years. Where did this all start? I was born and raised in a musical family. My father was a pianist and a structural engineer. Formerly a drummer, he sat in with Duke Ellington's band at the age of 21 on drums and later in life sat in with the same band on piano at the WV Governor's inauguration ball. I grew up hearing big band music and jazz. My sister was a prodigy on piano and plays professionally now. My great aunt, a Cincinnati Conservatory of Music grad, played ragtime piano and also played in silent movies. This is what I heard growing up. At age eight, I started piano lessons, which were short-lived but then began trombone at age 9, continuing throughout elementary and high school. By age fifteen I had independently learned chord structure and some progressions and learned a little from my sister, tackling things over my head, such as Beethoven's Sonata Pathetique and Clair De Lune, to name a couple. My father loved George Shearing's style and I tackled some transcriptions of his. By high school I was singing in performances, played first trombone in the band, the stage band, the dixieland band, and played bass in a Bluegrass band. At that time I could play Misty on piano from sheet music. I performed hundreds of times, singing, in high school. In college I was a music major. Trombone was the major and piano was the minor. After two years of not being at Berklee and being frustrated, I started playing professionally, locally at first. A year later I became leader of my own bands and toured the Midwest and Southeast U.S., playing the horn band songs of the 70s: Earth Wind And Fire, Chicago, Blood Sweat and Tears, Boz Scaggs, Tower of Power and others. We worked six nights a week on the road. I did the arranging, sang, and played trombone and percussion. In 1978 I moved to Las Vegas, was in Local #369, and did some casuals in big bands. I later landed a singing spot in a show on the strip, followed by working with my wife as a duo, in which I arranged the music using midi. I also produced some commercials - Jingles in Las Vegas and in Florida, doing the arranging, singing and recording of them. My wife and I performed for about five years in Las Vegas, then moved to Florida, where we continued performing. I worked as a vocal coach, teaching a few thousand students over 18 years, having 80 per week for a few years. I also did arrangements and transcriptions that became arrangements. I have written over 2100 "songs" to date and I write every day. I also have written radio screenplays, a novel, and currently I am writing more:novels, screenplays and songs. I studied arranging with Don Hannah of Las Vegas and with my high school band director. One of my trombone teachers was Dr. Donald S. Reinhardt. My singing teacher in Las Vegas was Debra Bonner, a Seth Riggs protege. I also have background in architecture, engineering, investing, real estate, and some as a contractor. So, I've had a few hobbies along the way.