Steve Dawson – Mr.D

The Steve Dawson Memorial Fund

With the donations that flooded in, over the weeks around Steve’s funeral, MADULA & the Dawson Family decided together that we should establish the Steve Dawson Memorial Fund.

This fund will continue our mission to support Mama Music School & Orphanage in Uganda, alongside providing bursaries to support disadvantaged young people to progress in their musical development.  

Click here to donate to the Steve Dawson Memorial Fund

A special CD called “thank you Mr.D” has been commissioned, with recordings of Mr.D, plus performances from this evening! All monies raised will go to the Steve Dawson memorial fund.

You can pre-order a copy either as a download or CD by CLICKING HERE

Please Share your Memories of Mr D

If you have a special memory of Steve that you’d like to share with the world, please record a video and click here to send us an email
We will add them all to the Mr.D playlist on our Youtube channel

Steve was  born in Burslem on 3rd September 1952, the youngest of three sons.   He went to Milton Primary & Hanley High School, before studying A levels at Stoke 6th Form College. 

He began piano lessons aged 9 & continued lessons until he achieved Grade 8. Steve also played Bassoon.  Music & Sport became important to Steve from an early age.

Steve & Sue met as teenagers at the Blues Club at the Red Lion in Leek .  They got engaged two years later & married in 1977.

Steve studied to be a teacher of PE & Music at Madeley College of Education, where he became a member of The Charles Ives Choir.

During his student years Steve held down a range of summer jobs - in local pottery factories, delivering the Christmas post, as a gravedigger at Burslem Cemetery, doing an Ice Cream van round & in a number of brother Keith’s pubs. 

He soon became an inspirational teacher & taught at a number of Stoke on Trent secondary schools. Steve made learning about music exciting and students thrived under his tuition. 

Steve was headhunted to rebuild an ailing music department at Newcastle Community High School and was invited by Teachers TV to create a documentary to help inspire other aspiring teachers. 

Through developing the Music Department at Newcastle Community High, Steve met many international artists who ran workshops and supported students in the classroom,  including Winston Lewis, Jahman Sillah & Bosco De Olivera.  

The links he made led to him meeting Mr Will, Joe Wilson, Si Waite & Sarah Miller and forging a partnership with Planet Sound Community Arts - who all supported his music classes and introduced students to amazing music & performance experiences.  From this alliance Will, Joe & Steve set up Madula. 

Steve realised the importance of music being accessible to all and the benefits that group drumming & dance brought to the music room - engaging children & young people who weren’t thriving academically, who weren’t inspired by the traditional curriculum or couldn’t afford to buy their own instruments.

‘Joined by a Drum’ became a concept that Steve evolved to engage people of all ages in making music together regardless of their experience & background.

Steve was presented with the West Midlands Secondary ‘Teacher of the Year’ Award & promoted to become an Advanced Skills teacher - advising Heads of Music across the region on how to bring their music departments to life.

In his spare time Steve taught hundreds of friends & local children to play the piano and his friendly & laid back personality helped all to progress.

Sue & Steve brought up their four sons Ben, Alex, Sam & Joel, alongside their teaching careers.  Sam played the clarinet, Joel played the Saxophone and Alex played drums, a factor that led to band practice being a regular feature at the Dawson house.

Steve supported the boys own football journeys and used his experience to manage 5 a Side teams which thrived under his guidance as Endon Hawks and Endon Rangers.  As a manager he led both teams to winning the leagues they played in weekly at Northwood Stadium.

Cycling and walking were also activities that Steve enjoyed, particularly for fitness in recent years. 

Steve and Sue very readily became hands on grandparents.  All 7 grandchildren discovered a love of music at an early age, through the many instruments Steve had in his music room at home.  Looking after grandchildren was an important part of retirement for Steve but he soon missed working with groups on musical projects so he set up Madula’s U3A African Drumming Group.  From a few to a group that now has over 40 regular members, who have performed hundreds of workshops & concerts under his guidance, with Mr Will always at his side.  

Out of the U3A Drumming group, Steve created the ‘Krintet’ band with Will, Teresa, Ian & Phil and during 2021-4 the Krintet performed across Staffordshire. 

Much of the musical inspiration that Steve gave to students he taught came from his genuine love of all types of music. He has an LP & CD collection to envy many and a huge knowledge of all genres. Steve read avidly about composers & artists and attended many concerts all over the world. His favourite classical pianists were Evgeny Kissin & Vladimir Ashkenazy.  Steve also supported Sue in her music choices by attending Paul McCartney, Robbie Williams & Elton John concerts with her.

The Mr.D playlist

We have assembled a collection of videos on Youtube called the Mr.D playlist. This playlist features performances of Madula founder and legend Mr.D - plus interviews with people sharing their memories. Please feel free to add your own memories to the rest!- Click here to view the MrD playlist