A Bermudian musician has landed an endorsement deal with a top manufacturer in the United States.

Andwelé Simons of The Unit, a funk, soul, R&B and jazz band, has been playing drums all his life, and was selected from a long list of contenders by Florida-based DDrum.

Andwelé said: "I met Demiyon Hall, who is the drummer for Gladys Knight, when they were here for the Love Fest earlier this year. I was working backstage as a drum technician and was talking to him about getting an endorsement and he suggested DDrum.

"I have been working on getting an endorsement for a while and people in Bermuda always told me that it was impossible to get one here because the market is too small. But I wouldn't give up. I was determined to get a deal.

"Demiyon told me to get a press kit together and e-mail it to Tim See in the artist relations department at DDrum."

Andwelé said that there were hundreds of people that submitted press kits but he was determined and kept contacting Mr. See until one day he received a message that he was accepted for the endorsement.

"Tim See saw my press kit, liked it and six weeks later I was endorsed. I am appreciative to Demiyon because he was the one who put in a good word for me and I was very excited when I received that e-mail."

Being endorsed by DDrum means that Andwelé gets a sizeable discount on all DDrum products, gets first preference on all the latest gear and supplies and has a direct relationship with the company.

Andwelé has also been doing his part in promoting DDrum by recommending the product and actually linking local drummers to the supplies. Andwelé said he is currently working on becoming a dealer for DDrum.

The DDrum endorsement is not Andwelé's only success this year, his band recently won the Battle of the Bands, which allows them to be the main band for the Bermuda Music Festival and a trip to Cuba to be featured as an international artist at the Havana Jazz Festival.

Anwelé is also the musical director for the Bermuda Idol competition.

The Unit will open for the international artists who will be appearing and also will back the current Bermuda Idol Larrita Adderley.

Andwelé says that his future plans are to host a Drum Festival. In this, he would like to hold a competition for all the young drummers on the Island and the winner will be featured in the Drum Festival, which will headline an international drummer.

"At this event the first drummer that will headline will be Demiyon Hall. All other drummers will be local. Each year we will honour a local drum legend," he said.

He said his objective was to get people to know the drumming community locally and internationally.

Being raised in a musical family, Andwelé has been playing drums since the time he was two years old.

"My grandfather, Rudy Ford, was a member of the Bermuda Strollers and my father, André, is a bass player, among other instruments and was a member of the band Dread Information.

"My mother, Jackie Barnett, was a singer in my dad's band so I really couldn't get away from the musical influence," he said.

Andwelé said as a toddler, he would bang on the pots and pans in the kitchen and that's where he found his love for the drums.

Realising the talent that Andwelé had, Jimmy Furbert, a fellow band member of Dread Information, took him under his wing and taught him to play.

Andwelé eventually put a reggae band together called Kizazipiyah (New Generation in Swahili) whose members included himself, Jacqui Simons and Desta 'Zion' Wilson on keyboard.

He also was in the CedarBridge band and choir, and performed with the Caisey Family production.

After completing high school, Andwelé started his own drum school called Andwelé's Innovative Drumming.

Currently a member of The Unit, which consist of John Lee on bass, Lionel Edwards on saxophone and Ben Lusher on keys, they are featured all over the island playing for various functions, most recently, the Iron Kids Triathlon.

"I would like to thank Tim See at DDrum, Deymiyon Hall, who has turned out to be a very good friend, and most of all my wife Kimberly Simons for continually supporting me,"

To find out more information on Andwelé, his band and DDrum you can visit him on www.ddrum.com, www.myspace.com/andweles or email at innovativedrumming@logic.bm.