Claude Chaney & Friends

Claude Chaney is a Spanish/French teacher at Booker T. Washington Middle School in New York City. Over the years he has participated in a few of the school's music programs. One year he collaborated with two teachers to create the song "Hope In Every Season" and another year he collaborated with two students, Claudine Samedi, who co-wrote the lyrics to the song "Children" and Caridad Castro who sang lead vocal.

After the positive response Claude received from those two songs alone he considered being a part-time performer. Another Claude Chaney composition "I Miss You" won an honorable mention in the Billboard Songwriter contest. Mr. Chaney played the role of a father in "Billy, Bikes and Sacrifice". It was on the set of that play that he met actress-videographer Paula Zimmerman-Taylor, who at the time was producing a television pilot "The Adventures of Shirley" Through Paula Claude met all of the other members of "The Friends" Tom Monte(piano), Jazz Sawyer(drums), John Felder, Juanita Buchanan-Porter(background vocals) and Butch Porter (bass). Through constant encouragement of two friends {Miliken Dowdell and Dee Martin) Claude has been able to make appearances with his group Claude Chaney and Friends and with the gospel group Betty Davis' Men In Praise in the New York/New Jersey area.