Donald Waugh Biography

I was born and raised in Kingston, Jamaica. I started playing the piano at the age of 7 with
encouragement from my parents. When I was 17 years old, I found my brother-in-law’s bass
guitar and by the next morning I had taught myself the bass lines to a few songs. My passion for
the bass guitar and for music in general grew from there.

When I started College, I became serious about my music career. I studied visual arts, Jazz
theory and the bass guitar at the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Performing Arts in
Kingston, Jamaica. During my studies my main influences were the various bands I performed
in; the Javier Latin Jazz Band, the Jill Gibson Trio and the Kathy Brown Band, which allowed
me to tour all around Jamaica.

During my final year of college, I started my own band called Airplai®. For the next four years
my sole focus was on Airplai® Band, which was my first independent endeavour. I was then
approached by GeeJam Studios to audition for their band, the Jolly Boys. This was not a simple
task as I needed to learn to play the banjo. I arrived early for the audition and in three hours I
taught myself how to play the banjo with the help of Mr. Google. For the next year I toured with
the Jolly Boys around Europe, the Caribbean and the Middle East. During my time with the Jolly
Boys, I produced, co-wrote, composed the music and collaborated on an album project called
Quantum Reggae with song writer, Jim Belleau, and musician/singer/song writer, Maroghini.

I am the owner and founder of Airplai® Productions, where I do album production, song writing,
composing/arranging, video editing, film scoring, and jingles. In 2002 I created the
Perfect10course, which continues to offer online and in-person music lessons for bass guitar,
upright bass, piano, guitar, drums, percussion and ukulele. In 2013, I was discovered online by
an agent, which led me to performing as a Solo Bassist/Guitarist onboard cruise ships. I worked
on cruise ships until the beginning of 2019. That year I settled in Canada with my wife and
started our family.

Since permanently settling in Canada, I have refocused my attention on music production and
composition under my company Airplai Productions. I continue to do local live performances
and teach music/music production.
In 2014, I released my first solo album, Just Passing Through, under the label Airplai®
Productions. This project was ten years in the making. My second album, Feel Brand New, was
released at the end of 2016. My most recent album, Early Days, was released in the summer of 2018.

I’m very excited to announce that my fourth album is currently in the works and will be
out very soon! All my albums are available on iTunes, GooglePlay and Amazon right now to
download.
I am curious to find out what the future holds, as my passion for music only seems to be
growing!