British Blues Awards honour for Chantel McGregor

British Blues Awards honour for Chantel McGregor
September 13, 2011
Telegraph & Argus

Bradford singer and guitarist Chantel McGregor has been voted Young Artist of the Year in the British Blues Awards.

The accolade is a significant step forward in the career of the 25-year-old singer-songwriter from Wyke, who gigged with bands from the age of ten and later graduated from Leeds College of Music with first class honours.

It coincides with the release of a compilation album from Universal Records, 100 Years of the Blues, on which Chantel appears with legends such as Robert Johnson, John Lee Hooker, Eric Clapton, Cream, Free, The Rolling Stones, ZZ Top, Fleetwood Mac, Bonnie Raitt and B B King.

She said: “My song, Help Me, is the longest, at six minutes 54 seconds. It’s from my album Like No Other. It’s pretty special. To be on an album with such amazing players is crazy.”

Chantel said she expected blues guitarist and singer Oli Brown to beat her in the British Blues Awards, in which some 80,000 people from 100 countries voted for their favourite artists across 16 categories.

Brown in fact won in two others, for Best Album and Best Blues Band.

Chantel was at the Newark Blues Festival, where the awards were announced.

She said: “It’s my first award and I’m really pleased to receive it, especially as everything, including my record label, has been done by myself.

“I wasn’t expecting to win, up against signed artists who have a label and everything that goes with it behind them.

“Being voted for by the public means a lot."

Chantel is in concert at Settle’s Victoria Hall on Saturday, October 1, and the New Roscoe music venue, Leeds, on October 2.