20sanfoe's profile

Born ‘Duayne Leon Sanford’ on 5th November 1988 in Greenwich Hospital. From a Jamaican heritage. From the fetus stages his mother heard God's calling for this child to minister to people through music. She would put the speaker to her belly and he would respond by kicking. Humorously it was thought that he probably played guitar with her umbilical cord hehe! He came from a musically talented family consisting of aunties who sing, his mum who sings and once played violin in her teens, an aunt who sings and once played clarinet in her teens, another aunt who sings and once played flute in her teens, an uncle who was a Dj, an uncle who plays bass, a cousin who sings and his father who was a Dj and karaoke singer. His father (Gerry D) was once the main host of a pirate radio station based in South East London, namely Genesis Fm. From young he grew up in an environment heavily influenced by music. These environments range from churches to carnivals to schools. At the tender age of 3, Duayne developed an ever increasing interest in drums when his mum brought him a toy drum set. He would play them day and night. Also in church, after services he would rush to the drums and play to his hearts content. As he grew older, he began to gain a better idea of music, especially playing drums. He mainly looked up to the late Geoffrey Skinner (R.I.P) and Norman, both drummers from New Testament Church of God Branches (Woolwich & Deptford). He mainly attended the Woolwich branch and there Geoffrey, his brother Desmond Skinner (multi-talented musician), his nephew Samuel Agard (Drummer for Coleene Bailey Rae) and Brother Noble encouraged him. When district seminars took place at Deptford church, he would play for the District New Testament Church of God Youth choir who consisted of all the youth from that district; where he was encouraged by Norman and Ian Pitter of Integrity Gospel UK. He would attend Samuel's house and listen to cd's of Dennis Chambers, Dave Wekl and Tony Royster JR and they'd both be inspired. Duayne's aunty and uncle used to live in Birmingham and Worcester/Reading. When Duayne paid visits to those cities, his uncle would take him to churches and allow him to play with him and his band in order to nurture him. Through this Duayne gained confidence. Around the age of 9, Duayne discovered other musical talents. His mother brought him a keyboard and he would stay incarcerated in his room and learn to play through his own understanding. He has the God given gift of playing by ear and learning according to what he sees and then applying it. He was learning to play guitar but began to lose interest and turned to bass guitar which his uncle played. To date he can fluently play both keyboard and bass. At the age of 9 he also had a go at other instruments such as the violin, the euphonium and the recorder, but these instruments did not appeal to him as he was more interested in contemporary music. Growing up he was known for his amazing drumming ability. In primary school, he took a few lessons and the drum teacher didn’t have much to teach him because he easily learnt everything that was shown to him. In secondary school, Duayne took drumming more seriously and he played for the school band. They played various types of music genres which broadened his tastes in music and enabled him to become versatile. His talents began to flourish and grow and during the friday jamming sessions he would entertain other pupils with his skills and abilities. He received a lot of support from his music teachers and they began to see the kind of potential he had. He took drum lessons at his secondary school and once knew how to site read, but he lost interest in site reading due to the fact that he felt there was no room for improvisation in doing so. He preferred to play by ear as this was a gift he had. In one of the friday jamming sessions, Duayne met Otis Mensah who was learning to play bass from scratch and never really had no experience in music. Otis aspired to become a bassist and play at New Wine Church with his uncle Emmanuel who plays keyboard. As the months went by, Duayne visited New Wine Church every now and then and Duayne and Otis continued to participate in the friday jam sessions. They saw each other develop over a period of time and began to build a friendship. Duayne would se Otis at New Wine and Otis invited him to come play there. Duayne was still playing at New Testament Church for the main adult praise and worship team (El Shadai) along side Myron Wattle (Keyboard) Desmond Skinner (Bass and keyboard), but saw New Wine as a place where he can achieve greater things. Unfortunately, things fell apart at New Testament Church and the church segregated into two divisions and eventually parted. Both Duayne and his mother left New Testament Church to find a new place of worship. After visiting New Wine for two years since the days he attended New Testament Church, Duayne decided to take action towards his desire to play at New Wine. One Sunday in August 2005 after a youth service, Duayne and his friends were loitering in the lobby and a one of the praise and worship leaders from New Wine Youth namely Candice approached Duayne and his friends. She greeted him and his friends and asked if they had any God given talents and if they'd like to use them in one of the ministries. Having not played for a church for almost two years, Duayne followed his desires and was invited to a youth choir rehearsal where he had to audition. On that tuesday where rehearsals took place, Duayne auditioned and the leader of the choir at the time (David) was impressed by Duayne's talents. From that day, Duayne was placed on 3 month probation and joined Otis on the team. Despite not being able to minister for 3 months, Duayne was not discouraged. He remained patient and stayed consistent in showing that he was reliable. Over the weeks he began to build a friendship with members of the band and choir and due to his bubbly character they began to take to him. Duayne, Kuda, Otis and Robynn became a tight unit and began to hang out together. In November of 2005, another person became part of the unit and joined New Wine Church, John A Ola. He went through the same procedure as me. The day he 1st came to rehearsals, Duayne was the 1st person to approach him and make him feel welcomed. For some reason rehearsals took place in the Avenue (the church canteen) and the first song Duayne and Otis played with him was 'Take my life'(Holiness). Through music Duayne has gained a lot of friends. He is currently still playing at New Wine church where he has ministered several places with them, one being Earls Court Mission to London in 2006 where both the adult and youth choir from New Wine joined together to minister for the night alongside Ron Kenoley & Noel Robinson. Also he is part of Kingdom Klan which is a gospel choir collective consisting of youth from different churches who come together to minister at various gospel events, some of which include KICC's youth event at Hackney Empire in 2006 and J4LTrue Love 2006 where Duayne and his team of musicians from New Wine also played alongside Noel Robinson. After 15 years, Duayne is a highly talented musician now and is seeking more exposure in the music world and wishes to become a sessionist musician. God has really blessed him and I pray that people will continue to support his ministry. To contact Duayne message him at: duaynesanford@hotmail.com

Tags:   drums  gospel  salsa  rock  latin  jazz  soul  fusion  rb  reggae  soca  calypso  pop  macosa 

Professional

Tutor

Has Transport

Available: Yes

Skill: