Gregory Charles Royal

Gregory Charles Royal also known as Chuck Royal (born October 10, 1961 in Greensboro, North Carolina) is an American musician, trombonist, composer, writer, a judge on America's Hot Musician. and artistic director of the American Youth Symphony (AYS) in Washington, D.C.

Early life and education

Royal is the son of biochemist and microbiologist husband and wife team Gladys W. Royal and George C. Royal, and grew up in Washington, DC. His brother Christopher Royal is also a jazz musician. Gregory received training on the trombone in the DC Youth Orchestra Program. Royal also studied at the Duke Ellington School of the Arts.

As a student at Howard University, he received the 1982 Downbeat Magazine Student Music Award for Jazz Vocal Group: Graduate College Outstanding Performance in the Jazz Instrumental Soloist Category. He graduated from Howard University with a Master of Music in Jazz Studies.

Career

As a 10th grader, Royal caught the attention of drummer Art Blakey during Blakey's appearance at Blues Alley in Washington, DC. Blakey invited Royal to live with him in the summer of 1978 at his 45th Street Manhattan apartment and join his band The Jazz Messengers. Royal's association with Blakey was an indoctrination in the New York jazz scene and led to important engagements with the Collective Black Artist's (CBA) Ensemble.

Gregory Charles

Gregory Charles (born February 12, 1968) is a Quebec performing artist of French Canadian and Trinidadian origin.

Biography

Charles was born in Montreal, Quebec, and studied at École de musique Wilfrid-Pelletier in Montreal. At the age of 7, he won a category of the Canadian Music Competition, after which he performed with most of the country's symphonic orchestras. In 1979, he represented Canada at an international piano contest in Paris. Charles was also a part of Petits-Chanteurs du Mont-Royal choir, which performs at the Saint Joseph's Oratory in Montreal.

Shortly after entering law school in 1989, Charles obtained a television role which brought him to the attention of a wider public: that of Julien, a young student who comes to study in Montreal, in a TV show called Chambres en ville (Rooms in Town).

Charles then became host of a daily radio show at the Montreal station CKOI-FM in 1991. The following year, he began hosting a television game show Que le meilleur gagne (May the Best Man Win) on Radio-Canada, for five years. In 1995, he began hosting a late night talk-show Cha-ba-da.