Rachel was introduced to the steel pan (often also called the steel drum) in 1985 when her secondary school music teacher Neil Davison founded The Radcliffe Rollers Steel Band, She immediately fell in love with the sound and having heard Michael “Nasty” Contant performing Bach on a tenor pan she was inspired to start arranging her own solos for the instrument. At the age of 18 she was awarded an Arts Travel Scholarship from Milton Keynes Borough Council which enabled her to visit the Trinidad Carnival — an experience which proved a turning point.
After leaving school she continued her classical music studies on double bass and piano at the Guildhall School of Music And Drama and then City University where she was later awarded a doctorate. Since 1996 she has focused exclusively on pan. Her credentials include winning the UK Steel Band Soloists Competition, and performing throughout Europe and the Caribbean, most notably in Trinidad (the birthplace of steel band) where she was the first, and to date only, person of European descent to reach the finals of the World Steel Band Soloists Competition (1996).
Other career highlights include playing in the 2012 London Olympic Opening Ceremony with Nostalgia Steel Band and in 2015 with Pan Nectar Steel Band she became the first woman of European descent to arrange for a steel band at London’s Notting Hill Carnival. She has had several pieces composed for her including solo roles in Roxanna Panufnik’s opera Inkle and Yariko (1997) and Patrick Larley’s Birmingham Spirituals (2014). In 2016 she achieved a lifetime’s ambition as her junior steel band — The Turtles — was selected to perform at Music For Youth’s Primary Prom at the Royal Albert Hall and 2017 saw her join Christian Wilson (organist at the Chapels Royal) in Luxembourg for a recital of classical music.
In 2020 she was one of the key pan players in recording sessions for the Disney live-action/CGI remake of THE LITTLE MERMAID performing the iconic songs UNDER THE SEA and KISS THE GIRL, as well as new songs by Lin Manuel Miranda. Other soundtrack credits include Simon Boswell’s title music for Danny Boyle’s film Alien Love Triangle (1999) and Channel Four’s Mog’s Christmas (2023).
Rachel continues to take great joy in spreading her love of pan and steel band by performing at countless events and has taught pan to hundreds, if not thousands of people in schools and community groups.
Career highlights include:
- 1985 Radcliffe Rollers Steel Band founded
- 1986 Rollers place third in Saturday Superstore Search for a Superstar (BBC1)
- 1987 Rollers place fourth in National Festival of Steel
- 1987 Rollers perform at Schools Prom, Royal Albert Hall
- 1988 Rachel awarded Travel Bursary for visit to 1989 Trinidad Carnival
- 1989 Placed first in UK’s National Festival of Steel soloist category
- 1991 Graduated from Guildhall School of Music and Drama
- 1992 Awarded MA (music performance) City and St Georges, London University
- 1995 Society for the Promotion of New Music steel pan project (musical director)
- 1996 Pan is Beautiful Too 8 (Trinidad World Steel Band Festival) only European soloist ever to reach finals
- 1997 Inkle and Yariko Holder’s Opera Festival, Barbados (with Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and Eddy Grant)
- 1997 Feeling the Classics, Skiffle Bunch Steel Orchestra, Trinidad (arranger/conductor)
- 1999 Dollis Deep Pans tour Slovenia (teacher/arranger)
- 1999 Quatre Chants with London Sinfonietta (London premiere)
- 1999 Alien Love Triangle soundtrack recording
- 2000 Eclipse Steel Orchestra, European Festival of Steel (arranger/conductor)
- 2011 Euphoria Steel Band (founder/arranger)
- 2012 Nostalgia Steel Band at Olympic Opening Ceremony
- 2014 PhD (ethnomusicology) awarded by City St Georges, University of London
- 2015 Pan Nectar at Notting Hill Carnival (arranger/performer)
- 2016 Turtles Steel Band at Royal Albert Hall (teacher/arranger)
- 2017 Luxembourg recital with Chapels Royal organist Christian Wilson
- 2020 Disney’s The Little Mermaid soundtrack recording sessions
- 2023 Mog’s Christmas soundtrack recording sessions
- 2025 Ruby Anniversary!