ASH CHANDLER TALKS NEW MUSICAL "THAT'S LIFE'

The seasoned Indo-American artist looks back at his journey in music, theater and more, including his new band Citizen Too

- By SUNIL SAMPAT

All-round entertainment man Ash Chandler is certainly an enigma who cannot be pigeonholed into a specific specialty. When he first arrived in India having grown up in Atlanta, Georgia in the U.S. at age 27, he immediately made people take notice of his natural aptitude for stand-up acts. At that time such comedy was rare in India. Later, as he started singing on stage, one felt that he was arguably the finest male jazz vocalist in India; it was evident that Ash Chandler was a natural when put in front of an audience.

This multi-faceted talent shifted base from Mumbai to Goa a few years ago and took over the running of a restaurant! He brought in changes that included live entertainment and made sure his restaurant guests had always something new to look forward to by way of live acts on their visit.

We now hear that Chandler is in the process of writing, directing, composing music for and acting in a Broadway-type musical. We were curious to know about this new development from the irrepressible Chandler and decided to ask him directly what was going on.

Rolling Stone India consulting editor Sunil Sampat interviewed Chandler in a long session of questions and answers. We have excerpted some very interesting and relevant aspects of his stage life and his new project here. It is :

Rolling Stone India: From being a stand-up artist to a vocalist in both the jazz and rock genres, actingin Bollywood films, vivid impressions to restaurant owner, you have ticked off a lot of boxes. This begs the question: Will the real Ash Chandler please stand up!

Do give us an insight into your younger days and what inspired this trajectory in the entertainment business.