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More than 30 years ago, Tim Chandler remembers hearing the melodious hit tunes of “My Girl,” “Ain’t Too Proud to Beg,” “The Way You Do the Things You Do” and “Papa Was a Rolling Stone” that came from his parent’s vinyl records. But the Southern Illinois University Edwardsville piano jazz performance student never thought he’d have the chance to play for that legendary Motown group – The Temptations. 

Chandler has been playing keyboards since July 2014 for Dennis Edwards and The Temptations Revue. Edwards is a Rock n’ Roll Hall of Famer and six-time Grammy Award winning lead singer for The Temptations, having joined the group in 1968 as replacement for David Ruffin. 

“My parents had a stack of albums primarily comprised of southern gospel groups and a few Motown records, which included The Temptations,” Chandler said. “I’d listen to them, and they always seemed to call to me. It feels surreal now that I’m on stage playing with them.” 

Chandler, who has a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and a master’s of business administration in finance, both from the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, has always had a love for music.

“I was a math nerd, and my high school counselor encouraged me to go into engineering,” Chandler said. “At the time, I didn’t know if I could make steady money as a musician.” 

But there was no doubt that Chandler had a natural inclination and talent for music. 

“When I was two years old, I used forks and spoons as percussive tools on the kitchen floor,” Chandler continued. “I went through a set of drums every year until I attended George Rogers Clark Junior High School in East St. Louis.”

The East St. Louis native said he wanted to get into his junior high school concert and marching bands, but the instructor, Henry Burns, asked him if he could read music.

 “I said no. So, during the summer between the seventh and eighth grade I bought music books and taught myself.”

 It was in the eighth grade that Chandler got into the school band as a drummer and became inadvertently exposed to a different kind of piano playing.

“Burns was a piano player and a saxophonist,” he added. “He liked playing jazz, and the way he played the piano was different from what I was used to hearing growing up in church.

“I was attracted to it so much so that at the age of 14 I made the switch from the drums to the piano,” Chandler recalls. “My parents then bought me a keyboard for Christmas.

“I will also never forget Mother’s Day when I was 15 years old, and I was on the drums at church,” he said. “My dad, Pastor Eddie R. Chandler Sr. of Parkside House of Prayer, told the congregation that I would play a solo on the piano.

“I reluctantly played Oh It Is Jesus, while my mother Helen, from whom I received most of my musical inclination, sang. The entire congregation applauded as if I had played Bach,” he smiled. “It was a novice performance on my part, but I was encouraged and it became a nexus for me.”

Chandler worked for several years in his career field of mechanical engineering and finance, but was not fulfilled.

“The piano was always the elephant in the room. It was always gnawing at me,” Chandler said.

The musician then began a series of piano jobs from 2004-2013 that included performances across the country and a seven-year stint in Las Vegas. During that time, the keyboardist made many musical connections, including Gladys Knight and The Village People, and built a solid reputation in the business.

“I came back to St. Louis in 2013 to take my music to the next level,” Chandler said. “I had played professionally since 2004 but had no formal training. I knew there was much more to the piano than what I was playing.

“I had the opportunity to play a smooth jazz and R&B gig in July 2013 in St. Louis and met a saxophonist by the name of Jason Swagler,” he continued. “We engaged in conversation at the end of the night, and he told me that he was an assistant professor of Jazz Studies at SIUE.”

Soon after, Chandler auditioned and was selected for SIUE’s Jazz Performance Piano program.

“At the end of my first semester at SIUE, my phone rang and it was James McKay, Dennis Edwards’ musical director,” Chandler continued. “He said that a drummer I used to play with in Vegas, Gerald Warren, told him that I was a ‘bad boy’ on the keys.

“So, I went to Dennis Edwards’ house and auditioned for him, and he decided to hire me. I’m traveling almost every week. It’s been wonderful.

“I do want to one day play for a big band, like the Duke Ellington Orchestra, Count Basie Orchestra or Jazz at Lincoln Center,” Chandler said. “But I am enjoying what I’m doing now. I get to see different parts of the world every week and then come back home to family!”  

The 4.0 student is also committed to finishing his bachelor’s at SIUE. He expects to graduate in May 2017.

Southern Illinois University Edwardsville provides students with a high quality, affordable education that prepares them for successful careers and lives of purpose. Built on the foundation of a broad-based liberal education, and enhanced by hands-on research and real-world experiences, the academic preparation SIUE students receive equips them to thrive in the global marketplace and make our communities better places to live. Situated on 2,660 acres of beautiful woodland atop the bluffs overlooking the natural beauty of the Mississippi River’s rich bottomland and only a short drive from downtown St. Louis, the SIUE campus is home to a diverse student body of more than 14,000.

Photo: Tim Chandler