Brenda Michelle
Brenda (Buford) Chatman, also known as Brenda Michelle was born in Muskegon, Michigan and showed exceptional musical ability as early as age 2. “Brenda would grab a spoon and pot out of the kitchen, sit in front of the television and play along with the beat while watching American Bandstand and Soul Train. At the time, I didn’t know if she were truly gifted, or if I felt it was unusual because she was my baby,” Brenda’s Mother said.
When Brenda was 6 years old, she played songs on her grandparents’ piano. One of her former elementary school teachers once said, “That’s my Brenda. She would report to me about the music when we had programs at school—tell me when the band played a wrong note and . . . she would be right.”
Brenda studied in music at Oakland University, earning a Bachelor of Arts degree. She also studied sound engineering at the Recording Institute of Detroit in Roseville, Michigan.
After college, Brenda worked as a music teacher in various school districts throughout Southeast Michigan, including Willow Run district in Ypsilanti, Pontiac Public Schools, and various charter schools throughout the city of Detroit. Professionally, Brenda performed in many bands and groups—working at a live rehearsal stage called Satin Sound in Oak Park, Michigan as a sound engineer, and taught group home students music fundamentals.
In 2000, Brenda was chosen as the female lead singer for a band project called Motor City Millennium and worked in Nagoya, Japan with the band for several months, performing Motown classics by the Supremes, the Marvelettes, Martha Reeves and the Vandellas in a group called Pure Honey. She also played bass in a band behind singer Joe McClemore and Martha Reeves’ brother, Amin.
After moving to Los Angeles, California, Brenda became a member of the Screen Actors Guild (SAG-AFTRA) and acted in various movies and television shows, including “The West Wing” and “CSI.”
Brenda performs throughout the Detroit area and abroad, and was the host of her own internet radio show called “So Funkdafied” which played funk music of the 70s and 80s and provided a forum where artists of any musical genre throughout the world be heard.
Currently, Brenda plays bass in a "mostly" female group called "The Pink Pumps", and she sings with the Marvelettes legacy, a group started by legendary original Marvelette, Katherine Anderson Schaffner.
Brenda says, “Detroit is rich in history and culture, and I get to contribute to its preservation. It warms my heart to run into former students who remember the principles I taught them and are actually using those principles to create their own art”.