He started studying the piano at age of seven with Thelma Idolly Tillett. His family moved to New York City in November 1962 after Hurricane Hattie struck Belize.
Two years later the family moved back to Belize in 1964 and Straughan attended St John’s Primary School and later St Michaels’s College. In Belize City he began studying the trumpet with Rudolph Andrews and later became a member of The Imperial Band.
Straughan’s family moved back to New York City in 1967. He became a member of Norman Ysaguirre’s Band in 1968 and attended Bushwick High School, switched to the saxophone and played in the orchestra.
He graduated from high school in 1969 and became a member of Norman Ysaguirre’s Band in 1968. Straughan studied the saxophone with Lynn Oliver in New York City and became a member of Hubert Usher’s Invaders in 1969.
He also played and toured in the United States with the Larry Elgart Big Band, Ben E. King, the Original Dells, the Main Ingredient, Roland Prince and Don Pullen. He later return to Belize in 1980 and formed Bamiki Bandula.
After his stint in Belize he returned to the U.S. and joined the U.S. Military in 1984. After the U.S. military, Straughan studied the saxophone with Dr. Woody Witt at the Moore’s School of Music at the University of Houston where he earned a Batchelor of Music Degree.
Derrick 'Dickie' Straughan!
by Bilal Morris
BELIZEAN MUSIC LEGENDS!
