Chardel is not a wannabe. It has taken many years of hard work and dedication to get her to this point. She took her quest for a successful musical career so seriously that she pursued and successfully completed a Bachelor of Arts Degree in Commercial Music at Westminster University. One of her tutors was music academic Mykael Riley, one of the founding members of Steel Pulse. Among the disciplines she learnt were music industry, copyright law, sound engineering, recording techniques performance, stage management, touring and preparing a business plan. It’s perhaps a safe bet that performance was her strongest module as she distinguished herself in this area at Reggae Star Factor 2014. She is a multi-instrumentalist who plays the guitar, bass, piano, clarinet, recorder and she knows her way around the studio very well having engineered and mixed many of her own recordings and others she has produced. It is easy to understand why she won the Reggae Star Factor; she has an incredible ability to bring it all together! Another interesting side to Chardel is her ability to sing in French and Arabic. A world tour with Natacha Atlas helped her to develop those skills and gave her the chance to appear on stages in the Middle East including Lebanon and Turkey, Croatia, France, Netherlands, Belgium, New York, Canada and many other countries. “It was the most amazing experience for me. I have never had another job that allowed me to use my talents in the ways I did. I even learnt Egyptian dancing. I was the only backing vocalist and I was rapping as well. With Natacha, because she was singing in Arabic, I had to write out the words phonectically and then learn the melody . It sometimes took me a while to understand what I was singing. It was a fascinating experience.” Chardel is the product of Jamaican parents who met in Harlesden, North West London, where she was born. But the story gets even more interesting. She is the first cousin to hit-making DJ Cutty Ranks. There have been many other musical influences in her family. All of the wide and varied experiences she has had prepaired her to win Reggae Star Factor. She said: “I wanted to win so bad. I was totally focussed. I had auditioned for the X Factor and the Voice and did not get through and I thought that surely, this must be my time. During the competition every sinew of my body was focused. It was something I had to do.” Now that she has the official title of Reggae Star Factor Winner 2014, what’s next for Chardel and what does the longer term future hold? “In ten years time I would like have at least three successful albums, meaning they have made it to the top 10 internationally. I want to be the UK’s number one reggae artiste and be winning prestigious awards. I would also like to be touring and be fulfilled in my life and enjoying the love and delights of my children.”