Dj Steela - R.I.P DEREK, WE MISS U PLAYA

I am a dedicated husband and father. My family is everything to me. From a very young age music has been my passion.I guess my life in music started when I was about six years old in primary school and I picked up a wooden stick with a rubber band wrapped around the end of it, and was told to hit it on what looked like an old oil drum.What was this weird object and sound?Little did I know that this would be the thing that kicked started my interest in everything musical. I joined the Childeric Primary School Steel Band. I can’t remember my 1st steel pan teachers’ name, but God bless him. If it weren’t for him making me do scales day in and day out, playing simple boring tunes and then doing more scales I wouldn’t have learned that amount of things that I have learnt in music. My next steel pan teachers Donna and Desrine built on what he had taught me, and also gave me the knowledge that he had passed onto them and fine tuned my skills in the art of “panning”. They guided me through Primary and Secondary School and gave me the skills to play lead and teach steel pans. All in all I have been involved in steel pans for 18 years! Toured a lot of London and did a tour of Spain. I studied it all through school and college.I did music as a GCSE, man was if tough . . . . . . . But I made it look easy. I guess it just came naturally. I learnt all the basics, keys, chords, melodies, beats, lyrics, vocals . . . . . the list goes on . . . . . But I felt at home when I was producing. Logic, the keyboard and I became the best of friends. Every spare moment I had, I spent producing. But I also knew when to concentrate on the theory.You need to understand the past to really appreciate the present and plan the future.Nowadays I rarely have time to lay down tracks.I love the producing side of music. But I am also a performer. I don’t think I’m great, but I like to show my talent. I would never turn down an invitation to perform at a school concert or a chance to play steel pans on the streets of London, Spain or wherever the show may have been.MC Dazzle.I also tried my hand at MCing, Was known as MC Dazzle. I enjoyed the creativity that it brought. I can “spit fire” when I need to so don’t think that I’m rubbish @ it, but my heart wasn’t in it. . .DJ SteelaMore recently I have turned my eye to the art known as Djyn’. I first learnt how to mix on some decks and my cousins house about 4 or 5 years ago (Safe 4 that Gavin). Was a little tricky at first, but I soon got the hang of it. Started off mixing ragga, and then progressed on to garage, R&B and jungle. A few years back I bought my lil' bro (Razzlerman aka Deep Vioce) (Click Here For My Bro’s Page) a CD mixer. . . . . . Then it broke. Nuff Jokes But anyway, I got him another one. I let him use it when I wasn’t in the house. LOL. Moving on to CD mixers was different but a manageable change. It wasn’t the same as vinyl but I liked it. From there I went onto mixing MP3’s, and that’s what I’m doing today. I use a variety of mixing software on my laptop. But whatever I use, my own style of mixing comes through.I’m just trying to make my way up the Dj ladder. Its tough, but I gotta work @ it.