About
Duncan Paul is a Maltese musician and songwriter who has played and recorded across Europe.
Having learned to play guitar at the age of 7, he grew up listening to his father’s Johnny Cash, Willie Nelson and Don Williams albums, moving on to learning the church organ and keyboards at the age of 12. Duncan’s first public appearance came at the age of 12, and by 14 he was writing and recording his own songs.
1986 - Taking organ lessons
At the age of 16 he started playing at weddings and then entertaining tourists at restaurants and hotels across the island of Malta.
1989 - Playing at weddings
1989 - Playing at weddings with Nickolas
In 1991 Duncan met Tony Sammut and going by the name of ‘Memphis Duo’ they could sing just about anything from pop to reggae, and easy listening to country music.
1991 - Duncan and Tony
1991 - Memphis Duo
By the age of 20 he was into bands such as Nirvana, Soundgarden, Guns’ n Roses and Metallica, but thanks to his different musical partners he also started to appreciate other musical styles other artists such as the The Beatles, Eagles, Eric Clapton, Led Zeppelin, and of course - Pink Floyd!
Aged 24, Duncan developed an interest in recording, obtaining a diploma from the Audio Institute of America. In 1996 he started to write songs with Mark Storm for the album ‘Another Day’. This album was recorded and produced over one year by Duncan and Mark and featured guest performances by some of Malta’s top musicians from bands such as ‘The Characters’, ‘Limestone Kick’, ‘Flying Alligators’, ‘Refugees’, ‘The Jazz Combo’, ‘Blade’ and many more.
1997 - Storm
In 1997 Duncan played keyboards and guitar at Malta's famous Farsons Beer festival, together with the musicians who performed on the Storm album.
After this, Duncan could be found playing the keyboards in various hotels with Norman Cachia on acoustic guitar.
1998 - Playing with Norman Cachia at Selmun Palace Hotel (Malta)
1999 - Performing at the Selmun Palace with John and Norman
But Malta is a small island, and Duncan decided to spread his wings and make a move to Belgium. There he worked with various bands and musicians, playing every kind of music from country to blues and rock, at venues across the country and as far afield as France, Germany, Holland, and Luxembourg.
In 2000 he joined the country band ‘Southern Comfort’ from Antwerp.
Together they recorded the album ‘I Still Care’, where Duncan wrote the words and music of the title track.
2000 - Southern Comfort ‘I Still Care Album’
Joining a Beatles Tribute Band in 2001, Duncan met singer/guitarist Dominique De Caigny.
2001 - The Bietels
In 2003 Duncan and Dominique began to play live gigs together and that’s when ‘Silver Wings Duo’ was born.
2003 - Silver Wings Duo
In 2005 Duncan formed the band ‘Silver Wings’ which has since seen several changes to the line-up over the years.
2005 - Silver Wings Band
‘Colt’ was a 4-piece blues band formed in 2006 and played in the most known blues clubs in Belgium, with Duncan playing guitar/Hammond organ, Nico on saxophone, Mathieu on bass, and Lucas Moor on drums.
2006 - Blues band Colt
At this time, Duncan was also setting up his own studio and beginning to concentrate on his own music, recording the album ‘Winter Blues’ in 2007.
2007 - Winter Blues Album
Jamal Thomas, an outstanding singer/drummer from New York, who played with SOS Band and Maceo Parker, appears on the album singing on the song ‘Be Patient’. Dominique De Caigny played guitar, Carl Grimmelprez played saxophone, Xavier played saxophone, Filiep Ketels played piano, and Lucas Moor played drums.
2007 - Silver Wings featuring Jamal Thomas
Although Jamal was often busy on the road with Maceo Parker, he managed to appear as a ‘special guest’ with Duncan Paul & Silver Wings for a number of concerts.
Duncan together with Dominique, Stefan and Lucas were proud to play for Jamal Thomas' wedding in 2008. Great artistes such as Martha High (James Brown’s backing vocals) joined the band to sing for this special occasion.
2008 - Silver Wings
‘The Time Has Come’ is a rock album also written by Duncan, featuring Dominique De Caigny on backing vocals and guitar, Stefan Boret on Bass, with Beni Bollen and Jamal Thomas on drums.
2009 - The Time Has Come Album
During this period, Duncan was also playing with a showband called ‘Upnote’ who performed across the Netherlands for seven years .
2009 - Upnote performing in Rotterdam (Netherlands)
The cover band ‘Panama’ was formed by Maltese musicians with Simaria Galea on vocals, Carl Tanti on guitar, Duncan Paul on guitar, Cheyenne Belle Xuereb on bass and Norman Cachia on Drums.
2014 - Panama Band
2014 – Panama Band at Black Gold (Malta)
The singer Els Van Roy joined Silver Wings in 2014 and after a few months she was singing on the new album ‘The Next Journey’ featuring Jacek Pielesz and Mark Micallef as a lyricists. The pop/rock album was recorded in 2015 featuring Els Van Roy on backing vocals, Dominique De Caigny on backing vocals/guitars, Stefan Boret on bass, Beni Bollen on drums, with Lucas Moor and Jamal Thomas on drums.
2015 - The Next Journey Album
2018 – Jamal Thomas & Silver Wings in Sint Denijs (Belgium)
Three albums later, Duncan returned to the land of his birth and has picked up where he began, playing in bars, restaurants and hotels around the island, which is where you may have first heard him - but who knew what lays beneath.
On returning to Malta, Duncan resumed playing live gigs within the local scene. In 2018 he played with Norman Spiteri in various places such as the Hard Rock Cafe in St Julians, and the Hard Rock Bar in Valletta.
2018 – Norman Spiteri at Hard Rock Bar (Malta)
Although now based in Malta, Duncan still goes abroad every now and then to play a few gigs with his old friends.
2020 - Silver Wings in OKA Centrum, Belgium
In 2022, Duncan founded the Pink Floyd Tribute band ‘Crazy Diamond’ with Mario Vella on keyboards, Anthony Vella on bass and Mario Dalli on drums.
2023 - Crazy Diamond
As a truly talented musician, even when he is performing covers of other people’s songs the music you hear backing his extraordinary guitar playing has been recorded by Duncan in his own studio, with not a download in sight.
Now the time has come for Duncan to begin his next musical journey and share his own material once again.