DOREEN CHANTER info


Doreen Chanter (backing vocals)
(from left to right: Maxine Green, Doreen Chanter and Crystal Taliefero - live with Joe Cocker, 1989)
(from left to right: Roger Waters, Doreen Chanter and Katie Kissoon - live , 1984)

A superb vocalist, as well as her sister Irene. They started their career as The Chanters, back in 1967. Based in Fulham, London, the band comprised 7 brothers: Doreen, Irene and her five brothers.

After 4 singles, in 1968, Doreen & Irene started as a duo under the name Birds of a Feather. They recorded 4 singles in the period from 1967 to 1972, as well as an album. Next albums they made as a duo were under the new name The Chanter Sisters.

They appear (together or alone) in many album credits. Some details:

In April 1970, just a few days after his 2nd album Elton John was released, Elton played some sessions for the BBC. At that time, he still had no band, so he used his friends Hookfoot, as well as The Chanter Sisters for background vocals:

Elton John returned the favour playing in their album Birds of a feather.

In 1973, Doreen and Irene are asked by Long John Baldry to join his touring band. A superb lineup:

Leggett and Smith came from 747 (a band formed by the fantastic Cal Batchelor). After teaming with Kevin Ayers, they went to play with Baldry. After the tour was over, most of the musicians (except Sammy Mitchell) came back with Kevin Ayers, under the name Kevin Ayers & The Soporifics.

Doreen & Irene also appear in the live album by Chris Farlowe, BBC Radio One in concert:

Around 1977 or so, Doreen & Irene sang live with John Miles, with this lineup (recording a live album): In 1981, several musicians and actors (from Monty Python) arranged to play 4 concerts in benefit of Amnesty International. There were great performers there, like Jeff Beck & Eric Clapton (playing together!!), Phil Collins, Sting (his first solo appearance, he still was in The Police), Donovan, Bob Geldof, etc. The grand finale of these shows consisted of a massive jam playing Dylan's "I shall be released". The unusual lineup of this band was (be ready!): There is also a video from that concert, but the tracks are slightly different. At least in my copy, the Beck/Clapton appearance is reduced to 2 songs, and Pete Townshend appears here, with a performance from 1980. The setlist for the live album is: Sting (2 tracks), Jeff Beck & Eric Clapton (3 tracks), Bob Geldof (1 track), Phil Collins with Daryl Stuermer (2 tracks), Donovan with Danny Thompson (2 tracks), the all-star band (1 track - the one featuring Doreen).

In January 1984, she toured with Van Morrison. This was the lineup that appeared in Rockpalast performance from Midem Festival in Cannes, that same month:

From July 1984, Doreen tours with Roger Waters, with an great all-star lineup, promoting his album The pros and cons of hitch-hiking where she appears. Eric Clapton, Tim Renwick and Chris Stainton left the band after the first leg of the tour, a couple of months later, in August 1984. The second leg of the tour (March/April 1985) had a different lineup: Around 1984, she also toured with Meatloaf as part of his backing band Nevada Express: From August to November 1987, Roger Waters toured again, in order to promote his album Radio KAOS. This was the lineup for his backing band, The Bleeding Heart Band: In July 1989, she sang with Joe Cocker band in Spain, with this lineup: But soon later, they augment the lineup (the Live album was recorded in October 1989 with this new one): On October 1991, there was a great festival held in Seville, Spain. The event was called Guitar Legends. Many fantastic people played there (you can watch more info and some photos in my pages on Neil Murray). Roger Waters came on the 4th day, to play a similar set to the Berlinese concert of The Wall. This time, the all-star lineup included his usual Bleeding Hearts Band, plus some guests (for example, Tony Levin and Bruce Hornsby, who were the musical directors for that day in the festival, usually playing with all the artists):

Doreen as writer:

Apart from suplying so many great performances on vocals, she has also written some memorable songs. I'm just mentioning a few ones. I'll try to make it more complete with time...
 


Singles by The Chanters: Singles by Birds of a Feather: Albums by Birds of a Feather: Albums by The Chanter Sisters: Albums with Chris Farlowe: Albums with John Miles: Albums with Roger Waters: Albums with Joe Cocker: Some studio sessions:
Related links:


Thanks section

Thanks to: Arne Rasmussen, for sharing his interest in Doreen (this page is dedicated to you, my friend!), Ken Mortimer, another great fan, for fantastic info and support.

If you can contribute (with additions, corrections, opinions, etc.), please, send me an e-mail message at mterol@myrealbox.com

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Page created by Miguel Terol on: 17/August/1999. Last modified on: 01/November/2002. 1