ReachExtra
22 year old Simon Dumas, Gibraltarian singer and musician, is touring the US and making waves in the ‘Pop meets Country & Western’ scene as one of three frontmen in the newly formed and already well recognised band ‘King Calaway’
Starting out in the Gibraltar Santos Choir, Simon kicked off his musical career at an early age, working on his craft and progressing further into the limelight with the well-loved band ‘Frontiers’, formed by himself as frontman and his two brothers Guy (piano) and Philip (lead guitar).
Frontiers made its mark throughout the Rock and the UK with hits such as “Seven Seas”, performing at the Gibraltar Music Festival 2016 (now known as MTV Calling Gibraltar) to a packed Victoria Stadium of over 12,000 people, as well as major shows in London, Manchester, Nottingham and Holland to name a few.
In 2018 Simon packed his bags and headed for Los Angeles as part of a student exchange program, where he would go on visit Nashville and form a new love for country & western music and meet the members of his new band…
Simon is now one of three front-men in a newly formed band ‘King Calaway’, which has been making waves in 2019 in the US Country & Western / Pop scene.
Simon is a talented pianist and shares the role of frontman with Edinburgh-born Jordan Harvey, who had been a solo artist since the age of 16, and Chad Michael Jervis, a natural showman and singer song writer.
Caleb Miller is the lead guitarist who has been playing since the age of 13, he has been credited with ‘playing using his guitar like a voice’.
Chris Deaton has a dual duty as the bands drummer and harmony singer, and Austin Luther, who has performed international shows, on bass guitar.
Each member of the band brings their own unique style and musical talent that makes their sound so different.
Singed to Broken Bow Records, a label that has specialized in country music since1999, the band is made up of 6 talented artists from three different countries.
Jon Loba, EVP for Broken Bow Records said: “King Calaway is that rare combination of incredible individual talent combined with amazing group chemistry.”
King Calaway has already performed with major names in Country, such as the Zac Brown Band and have even scored a gig at the Grand Opry; a culturally iconic venue in Nashville, Tennessee – renowned as “Country’s Most Famous Stage”.
“Making our debut at the Grand Ole Opry is an absolute honour. We don’t for a second take for granted how blessed we are to have been given this chance”, Simon told Reach in an interview.
“One of my other favourite performances with the band was at an Amazon showcase last month. Amazon Music approached us and offered to make us one of their ‘Artists to Watch’ in 2019. As you can imagine, this was extremely exciting and a massive boost of us. We then performed alongside some incredible Country acts such as the Zac Brown Band, and that was our taste of a fully produced show.”
“Touring the UK with my brothers and performing on massive stages such as the GMF helped me become the musician I am today; meaning performing scenarios don’t catch me by surprise. I’ve played gigs to nobody, and I’ve been fortunate to perform in front of thousands thanks to the great Gibraltar audiences”, Simon told us.
In just over a month, one of their latest releases, “World for Two” has amassed over 37,000+ views on YouTube alone; an unprecedented success for a band that officially started touring and getting their name out there in January.
When we asked Simon if he’ll be brining the band over the Rock, he told us: “There’s nothing confirmed yet, but as you can imagine I would love to bring the King Calaway boys to Gibraltar for a show sometime soon… Perhaps we’ll aim for 2020! Flights across the world can be expensive for 6!”
