Bio

The Charles Walker Band is a five piece band that performs various styles of blues, R&B and funk with precision and energy.  What adds to the band uniqueness, apart from award winning musicians (together for 4 years), is the richness and raw energy of the original material.  A quote from Noggin Blues Matters! magazine describes us best, “…we are treated to the full panoply of Blues styles, great tunes, intelligent lyrics and superb instrumentation throughout.” (Issue 33, 06)

Charles Walker, tenor saxophone, keyboard, songwriter & band leader, received formal jazz training at UW Eau Claire. He has played saxophone for over 17 years.  His last band was Muddy Blue, who released a CD entitled “Low Down Dirty Blues”.  He has played with such greats as Big Al from New Orleans and JJ Johnson at BB’s in St. Louis.  Muziczine describes him as “Particularly inventive, Walker is a musician bursting with talent.  Well capable of building a melody line, his tenor sax thrusts through the mix powerfully” (4/6/09).   His influences are Luther Allison, Ray Charles, Illinois Jacquet, Louis Jordan, Stan Getz, Lester Young, Dexter Gordon, Charlie Parker, Sax Gordon, Keb’ Mo, and John Coltrane.

          Porsche Carmon, lead vocals, was born and raised in Columbus, OH. Porsche’s vocal talent was first discovered at the age of twelve during her first musical theater audition for The Me Nobody Knows.  From elementary thru high school, she studied and performed vocals and several woodwinds including flute & bass clarinet, as well as performed in several musicals throughout the local theater community.  By the time she reached college, her focus was no longer on music and was solely on developing a career in engineering.  After a decade of musical “silence,” Porsche re-discovered her passion for musical performance in 2001 and began performing on the Milwaukee scene, eventually sharing the stage with notable talents in New York, Chicago, and Milwaukee such as Jon Pairs, Vic Valenti & Walters Chicago Bands, and the Milwaukee Bucks house band Streetlife w/ Warren Wiegratz.  Since then she’s incorporated percussion and flute into her act, while developing a vocal versatility that stretches out to many genres including jazz, soul, funk, rock & R&B.  In 2010 she joined the Charles Walker Band, where she sings both lead and backup vocals, and plays congas & percussion.  The Door County’s Peninsula Pulse said of her talent, “Carmon’s soaring gospel-soul singing, recalls the days of Motown”.  Her biggest aspiration is to travel the world and touch the souls and hearts of those that hear her through her expressions of music.

Misha Siegfried, lead guitar, hails from St. Paul, MN.  Migrating to Milwaukee in 2002, Misha’s resume includes Fire On Your Sleeve (pop/rock), Genie Halliday Revue Band (R&B/Blues), The Mixx (R&B/Blues), Reverend Raven and the Chain Smoking Alter Boys (Blues), Blue Wagon (Blues), and Mississippi Gun & Gun Smoke (Blues/R&B).  His influences include Eric Clapton, Moses Oakland and Freddie King.  He is also a fan of John Coltrane and Hunter S. Thompson.

               Kent Hamele, bass guitar, has been playing bass for over 35 years and 

his last big blues experience was with Cadillac Joe and Paul Flipowitz.  He lives in

 Madison, Wisconsin and has played the gambit of rock, pop, Caribbean, African 

and, of course, blues genres in the process.  He has opened for such greats as Lil’Ed, 

Johnny Bassett and Shemekia Copeland.

               Keywan Ryland, drums, developed an early interest in percussion. However, he didn't begin his study of the various percussion instruments until he was sixteen. Originally from Milwaukee, he learned by watching and emulating the area's top drummers. Some of his musical influences include Aaron Spears, Calvin Rodgers, Thomas Pridgen, Spanky, Dave Weckl, and Dennis Chambers. He enjoys playing all styles of music including Gospel, Rock, Funk, Hip-hop, and Blues. Keywan has played for local artists SLM and Funky Session and also Christ the King Church. Besides music, Keywan also likes to watch movies, shop and play Playstation 3. When he is not playing with the Charles Walker Band, you can catch him drumming with the Steve Hantschel band. You can follow Keywan on twitter at www.twitter.com/keyzthadrummer.