Dean Chalmers

Dean was said to have had an interest in music at a fairly young age as both his parents were keen music listeners with a vast variety of taste in music genres.
Dean developed this interest at a young age by actively joining the school choir and featuring in primary school ‘plays’. Shortly after which Dean was selected for several lead roles in choir performances and school theatre shows.

It wasn’t until around the age of 15 that Dean knew he had a real passion for music and wanted to pursue it further, with sights of carving a career path out of his talents.
By the age of 16 Dean had decided to start recording his first covers and posting them on the social media site ‘Youtube’. This gained a mixed feedback, but a positive one in general. (It wasn’t always cool to sing). None the less Dean showed his drive and determination to improve and progress.

At the age of around 17 Dean bought his first guitar and was taught the basics by his friend’s father – Harpo, who played in an ACDC tribute band and was considered to be a positive role model. Dean was instantly hooked and proceeded to increase his want to learn the instrument by watching tutorial videos on Youtube.
This instantly sparked the flame that saw Dean writing his first songs within a matter of weeks. All set with his new guitar playing ability and his love for writing songs and singing, this could only mean one thing. It was time for Gigging in the local music scene.

In 2010 Dean released an original track (Don’t Tell Me) in a collaboration with a pianist “ScottyJaxx”, this grabbed the attention of Forth1’s “Unsigned In Demand” show hosted by Romeo. This was Dean’s first ever mainstream interview. After this interview Dean planned to have some new material recorded and ready for Live Gigging.
Once Dean recorded a 3 track EP titled – Love Life & Lies, he was approached by a 3 piece band looking for a front man. The band formed under the name “Arvada” but was very short lived, even though they managed to pull in slots at prestigious venues such as the Glasgow Barrowlands.

Dean decided a solo venture was the best possible outcome, as he had bags of drive & determination to succeed in a hard / competitive industry.
Over the next few years Dean played a large number of gigs. Venues such as The Greenside, Wee Jimmies, Pivo Pivo & The Doghouse (Buskers) have all been host to Dean including many more, Starting mainly as a support act for many great artists such as Chris Helme (Sea Horses), Tommy Reilly, Dykeenies & Little Eye.
It wasn’t long before Dean was able to headline his own shows locally to his incredible following. This was particularly noticeable when his EP – “La La La” was released in 2014. Dean hosted an EP launch night with his own selected line up, which had officially sold out.

During this time Dean racked up very good local following which has only continued to grow.
In 2014 Dean recorded his EP titled – “La La La” Under a record label called “The Boom Box” in Glasgow run by an industry legend by the name of John Mclaughlin. The acoustic EP was mixed and produced by the equally infamous Jud Mahoney who has links to some of the biggest stars in the music industry, including Michael Jackson.
This EP had a great response from his followers etc. This was something better than Dean had ever put out before, something special. It was 5 tracks of story, 5 tales that had captured the hearts of his followers. So much so that Dean was recognised by STV – The Riverside Show and offered a slot to play 3 of his songs on their Daytime TV show. This was Dean’s debut TV performance and created a huge buzz for Dean’s following.

Throughout the years Dean has had a fair amount of great press and statistics for his efforts in music.
Firstly via social networking geographical stats, Youtube & Facebook stats show that Dean’s music has been heard in all but 6 countries in the world, which is an incredible achievement.
Dean has had attention and praise from artists such as Passenger, Chris Helme (Seahorses), Little Eye & Stevie McCrorie etc.

Dean’s achievements didn’t stop there though. In 2010 Dean was voted “Best Solo Act” in the local music awards for Kingdom Cuts (Kingdom FM). Dean was also recognised by Forth One on more than one occasion, Once in 2010 for Unsigned In Demand where by the radio presenter “Romeo” (Who Dean would again meet later at STV Glasgow’s – Riverside Show) praised Dean’s abilities as an up and coming artist for their segment ‘Unsigned In Demand’, Romeo stated he was sure the nation would see “Dean Chalmers” in the future.

In 2014 Dean was again approached by Forth One for their annual event “Forth One – One’s to watch. Dean had been entered unknowingly by a long-time friend (Lee Buchan) and was shortlisted to the final at the Liquid Room’s in Edinburgh. Dean was pipped to the post by an Edinburgh local band who had a great set up in terms of instrumentation creating a bigger sound.
In 2015 Dean was offered a slot on STV Glasgow to make his LIVE TV debut. This was the talk of the town for Dean Chalmers as his following promoted the event to no end. Dean was praised by Riverside Show hosts Jennifer & David, stating his voice was incredible/fantastic and that he was a great local talent.

Over the years Dean has been involved in many charity events including some that he has hosted. One in particular includes a fundraiser for a friend who sadly took his own life. Dean’s neighbour & friend ‘Chris Shand’ sadly battled with depression and left behind a young son. Dean found only found out about his son when he attended Chris’ funeral. Instantly he knew he needed to put reputation and following to use and create a music show that would see all proceeds going into a trust fund for his son, and a percentage to a charity (PETAL) that deals with people experiencing loss and trauma.

Charity events didn’t stop at just that for Dean, he has been involved in many fundraisers giving his time up to help people raise money for worthy causes. Some of these include: Team Leo (Stillborn), Charity Gig for Chrohns, Kingdom Cuts Fundraiser (Local Music), Recording a song for Peyton (A friends kid who passed away), Playing a show for another friends sister who passed away and many more. Dean is constantly involved with charities in some form, giving up spare time when possible in order to give back to the community, his friends & family.

2016 so far has seen Dean finalising his songs for his next EP/CD. Dean already claims that this is again some of the best songs he has ever written and is determined to make them a success.
Already he has been involved with “Vodaphone Future Breakers” which are seeking unsigned talents to be involved in their music competition, with the talent levels being extremely competitive Dean has already been shortlisted and was featured on Vodphone’s Big UK Top 40 website. His cover song was played out to the whole of the UK on stations such as Capital FM.
Dean also returned to full time education towards the end of 2015 – studying a HNC in Music, his aim was to progress and improve his music ability & knowledge.

Dean has a few single’s awaiting release including one with a local DJ who in his own right has a fantastic following and input via the Dance scene. Dean hasn’t been a stranger to working with other artists or writing material that other artists have used.

Dean’s songwriting ability has been shown on countless occasions. This includes in 2016 he recorded an off the cuff spoof song for his favourite football team, that speaks of their trials and tribulations and is comedic in its own right. The video instantly became viral on facebook and with combined platforms sharing it, the video has since had over 1 million views, which has been great at raising a further interest into Dean Chalmers Music projects & Dean Chalmers as a person.

To conclude, this has only really been a small number of years in Dean Chalmers’ music career and already he has achieved so much. Dean’s has a following of thousands who have supported him incredibly & the recognition for his efforts in music is becoming more and more noticed. Dean has always said that no matter what, he will keep going until he reaches where he wants to be. His dream is to be a very successful singer & songwriter.

Reach for the moon, if you fall short you will still be among the stars

Source: Dean Chalmers Facebook Page