Q: Where did your interest for music come from?
A: My interest in music came from hearing my dad, who was a local DJ, playing Gladys, Aretha, Nina and Roberta in my household as a child. I'm Jamaican, and Jamaicans love to buy records and cook and hang out at the house. It got instilled in me as a kid. Later on, I started pianon and trumpet lessons, which led me to singing and writing.

Q: How did your musical career started?
A: My career started while in New York City, where I was working as an editor for essence magazine. I met Queen Latifah while interviewing her, and she took an interest in me and asked me to collaborate with her on her black reign album. I also met the late, great Phyllis Hyman at a gig. She invited me to do some writing on her album with Barry Eastmond, who later invited me to write with him and Anita Baker. The three of us wrote my first grammy-winning song "I Apologize". This all happened in 1993. Can't believe it's been 12 years! Seems like yesterday.

Q: Why have you written so many songs for others before you decided to sing yourself?
A: To be honest, I was so busy I couldn't concentrate on my own career. Then I got scared. I felt in the shadow of my own credits so to speak. I had to stop comparing my singing career to what I'd done for others, and just get back to making a project from the heart. When I stopped concentrating on chasing glory, the creativity flowed purer.

Q: Is there a difference in writing for yourself and writing for others?
A: Not really. In writing for myself, I tried to tell true stories about me in the songs, and fill the void I feel in r&b of emotion from the male perspective. Writing for others is more fantasy-based, but the songs often have true life perspectives, if not personal experiences.

Q: What was your first big success as a songwriter?
A: "If You Love Me" by Brownstone was the first song to hit the charts and get airplay.

Q: Which song has to be your first big success as a singer?
A: Too early to tell yet. In europe the dj's are playing Still In Love. In the US, they're playing Never Fall In Love.

Q: What is the challenge for you of singing your own songs?
A: The challenge for me in singing is not the singing. I love that, and can always do that anytime, anywhere. It's other madness: what to wear, was I friendly enough when shaking hands with such and such did I hold my smile long enough for the red carpet photos, etc. the p&r and marketing is much harder than the singing or writing.

Q: How do you make a selection between songs you keep for yourself to sing and songs you'll offer to somebody else?
A: Some songs just feel like me to me. The key of it, the chords, the truth of it mostly. And many male artists write their own songs, anyway, so it's harder to sell male songs. From here on most of my male writing will probably be for me. Why not?

Q: Is there a song you wrote for someone else of which you think I could have better sung it myself?
A: A tune I wrote called "Brighter Days" for Ronan Keating is one i'd like to redo on my next album. My range is higher than his. When the song changed keys, it lost something, although I think his version is great also. I also want to redo "Not A Perfect Man", not because Christopher Williams' version wasn't great, I just want to do it over. I don't consider myself in competition with my writing clients. This is just another avenue for me to create and explore.

Q: What was the last record you bought? Why did you buy this record?
A: I bought Al Green's Greatest Hits to study him. I am always studying the greats, and trying to add to the legacy!

Gordon Chambers is no stranger to the music industry. In fact, he has been writing songs since the age of 7! The Teaneck, New Jersey native is currently signed to L.A. Reid's prestigious Hitco Music publishing company where has written for over 60 recording artists, including household names Aretha Franklin, Queen Latifah, Brandy, Gladys Knight, Chaka Khan and Marc Anthony. He is best known for his 1994 Grammy- winning hit "I Apologize" for Anita Baker and his 1995 #1 Grammy-nominated smash "If You Love Me" for the trio Brownstone (which was later featured as the theme song of the film "Living Out Loud"). More recently, the eight-time ASCAP winner has written for superstars Patti Labelle and Ron Isley ("Gotta Go Solo"), as well as penned tunes for superstars Whitney Houston and Bobby Brown ("My Love"), R&B crooner Carl Thomas ("My Valentine"), breakthrough soul singer Angie Stone "No More Rain (In This Cloud)" and pop sensation Beyonce ("After All Is Said And Done"). Over the years, his compositions have been performed at the ESSENCE awards, the American Music Awards and the Goodwill Games--as well as six major motion pictures.

Now in his tenth year in the business, song writing still doesn't feel like a job to the Brooklyn-based still-single Chambers. It is, instead, he says, "a labor of love and a dream come true." As a way of giving back, he performs for charities and frequently speaks to students all over the country. He has received community service awards from the New York youth organizations Boys Harbor and the Bay Shore Schools Arts Education Fund,.

Over the last two years, Chambers has been performing up a storm in new york city, where he has just finished and released his debut album "Introducting Gordon Chambers" which features special guests Carl Thomas, Glenn Lewis, Roy Hargrove and Mike Phillips. "This has been a labor of love," he says. "After working with so many of my idols, the time came for me to work on my own project and express some things that only I could say." Produced by Chambers with Troy Taylor (B2K), Barry Eastmond (Anita Baker) and Brian Bacchus (Norah Jones), the album is classic R&B with hints of his first love: jazz. Chambers has recently done sold-out New York City showcases at BB Kings, Joe's Pub, S.O.B's and will be appearing at many more venues in the fall. Stay tuned.