On May 7, 2011, Khandeya Sheppard made history by being the first female Pan Principle graduate at Berklee College of Music. Born and raised in Scarborough, Tobago, she comes from a family of pannists and musicians including her great grandfather Aubrey Armorer who taught music and played the bass for popular calypsonians including The Mighty Sparrow. From early, she demonstrated a keen musical ear of her own. She migrated to the United States at a young age, and continued to improve her musical ability and has since played in steelbands from Baltimore MD, Brentwood MD, New York and Boston.
She played with greats like Jeff Narell, Ray Holman, Ken Philmore, Robert Tobit of the T&T Defence Force Steel Orchestra, The Thwaites brothers and 2011 Grammy award winner Esperanza Spalding ,to name a few. Some of her musical mentors are Alston "Canon" Jack, Isa Jack, Roger Sardhina, Bertrand "Butch" Kelman, Leon "Smooth" Edwards, Duvone Stewart, the Thwaites brothers, Patrick Davis, Adam Grise, Lennard Jack, Roger Greenidge, and many others. She holds her BA in Music Business/Management and hopes to continue her studies in Music and attain experience in Music Publishing, Music Supervision, and Website Design.
Donna Sheppard
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