A talented Carlisle musician is proving he is world class and has what it takes to make it big as a drummer in America.

Euan Leslie, 21, from Carlisle, is a versatile drummer. He is very fond of jazz but can just as easily adapt to country style and he has done music for films and for the musical, Wicked.

His mother, Heather Leslie, said his drumming skills were apparent from a young age: at two or three he was hitting boxes with knitting needles to strike a beat, and by nine had his first drum kit.

At 12 Euan won his first competition as part of a jazz quartet at Cheltenham jazz musicians festival. But it was winning the Young Drummer of the Year UK competition in 2015, aged 16, which launched his career into the USA to attend Berklee College of Music in Boston, with a scholarship. He did a summer school for a year then returned at 18 to study, and to compete in high profile music events.

Some of the most recent competitions include winning the string section of Lee Ritenour’s ‘Six String Theory’ competition in 2018, which took him to Japan and Switzerland.

He has toured the UK and USA and has just won the Yamaha competition in the UK, where he will visit several countries as part of the prize.

Heather said when Euan was younger he always said he was going to play the Ronnie Scott’s Jazz Club in Soho one day. He played solidly at the famous jazz venue from January to May last year and has also performed at the 606 Club in Chelsea.

His versatility has enabled the musician to adapt his style and tour with a country band across 12 American states.

But life as a musician is not all rock and roll. For Euan it is about keeping mind and body focused.

He said: “My whole philosophy is 'health is wealth'. I want to do my music well and late nights would put off my schedule.”

His advice to budding drummers out there is to: “Stick at it and believe in yourself.

"Keep on practising, draw from all sorts of artists and make use of you tube, where plenty of drummers are available to learn from.”

The motivated drummer will complete his course at Berklee then has set his sights on California for the next stage in his career.