BIOGRAPHY
Antonio Carvalho
Stage name: Chilly Boy
Genre: jazz, soul, RnB,
Blues, Movie Clips.
Antonio was born in
Nairobi, Kenya, the youngest of five brothers. He learnt to play the guitar at
the age of four and made his public debut in a music show, playing the drums,
at the age of 6 in a neighbourhood venue named
Malaika Bar.
At the age of 10, he
played the drums for a Christmas Show which was aired on Voice of Kenya
Television.
He is a self-taught
musician who learnt to play the drums by experimenting on tins and tin lids.
At 14 he got regular gig
playing guitar with a Goan band called the Hotspots and played in venues like
the Goan Institute Nairobi and the Goan Gymkhana. He also played in various
Nairobi clubs and pubs. Played in street clubs and pubs.
He played the drums in
many hotels and other clubs like the Mt Kenya Safari Club, Hilton Hotel, and
Cavour Hotel and at weddings and parties.
In 1990, he went to the
UK to join his mother and got a job working in a factory. He says: “My music
never left me and although I was not able to find a big band, I was happy to
play with local bands in the London pub and club scene.”
“Music is my hobby; I
never took it any further. My music idols were
Earl Klugh an American jazz guitarist, well know in the 80s and 90 for playing
acoustic guitar.
Bob James
is a jazz piano player well know in the 70s and 80 for his much appreciated in
Japan and America and Africa specially Kenya , Nat King Cole well he is a legend in
music from playing the piano and writing classic song, James
Ingram
well known singer and music writer who worked with Quincy Jones .”
“These days I play the
keyboards at home. I have been writing and producing my own music. My favourite
songs are 100 ways, Mona Lisa by Nat
King Cole and Malaika by Fadhili
Williams.”
He uses simple
instruments, the personal computer. He plays the lead guitar, the bass guitar,
drums, and the keyboards. He mixes and edits his own recordings.
He wrote and produced
most of the music for the Goan Cultural society for the 10 years.
What of his Kenya heritage? “Conventional Kenya
music Is exceptional and diverse,so many styles and systems that makes it all
great to listen as well,
“With respect to the
Coast side, there had dependably been the blend of Arabic, In Indian and Bantu,
that made all the delightful Swahili tunes that we as a whole cherished , like Mama Sofia, Jambo Bwana, Karibuni Kenya, all
sweet solid from the drift.
“I have not been an
awesome fanatic of Kenyan Pop as it reflects American Street Culture, I
dependably imagined that Kenya had a special way and taste of its on sort of
music, being American or Jamaican is not Kenyan to me.
“I am still with Fadhili
Williams and Daudi Kabaka, they are to me the genuine craftsman of East African
music.”
You are now in the UK?
I am based in the UK Lived in London for some years,
then moved to Reading a much quite area where I can write and produce music
much better.
Who were your mother and father? Brothers?
My Father was Jose Francisco Carvalho,who worked for
the Radiant Health Clinic in Nairobi Pangani area He past away in 1978 when I
was 13, and my Mother is Dorothy Carvalho who was a housewife She was good in
making embroidery and knitting,she is in London with my brothers.
I have 4 brothers First born is Camilo who lives in
London Wood green Area,second born brother is Gregg who lives in harrow London,
perhaps you could ask him to send you one of my videos of the TV show in Kenya
of which I know he will still have a copy.
I am blessed with two wonderful girls 19 and 11 years
old , it is a shame they never had interest in music as I did. I was born 11th
March 1966.
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