Concordia graduate Chase Worrell nabs second Grammy
“There’s nothing like creating an amazing song. But winning a Grammy is validation after many years of hard work,” says Chase Worrell.
Chase Worrell, BA 22, never dreamed as a kid on Montreal’s South Shore that he would grow up to win a Grammy.
Yet there he was at the 2026 awards ceremony in Los Angeles being celebrated as the co-writer and producer of “Overqualified”, a track off of Bloom, the LP from Durand Bernarr that won Best Progressive R&B Album.
“I was ecstatic!” recalls the Concordia graduate. “I was so happy. And Durand being the diva icon he is delivered an acceptance speech that was so entertaining it went viral.”
This was not Worrell’s first time at the recording industry’s biggest night.
He scored a 2024 nomination for R&B artist Khalid’s song “Silver Platter,” which Worrell co-wrote and co-produced. The song was included on Barbie the Album, winner for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media.
After that first brush of Grammy success, Worrell — soon after completing his degree — moved from Montreal to Los Angeles.
“I enjoyed studying communications at Concordia,” he says. “I was even a teaching assistant and got a bursary for all the hard work I did. It was a really fruitful period in my life.
“But after graduating I worked a desk job at a tech company. That was a really tough year. All I wanted was to save up enough money so I could move to Los Angeles.”
‘There’s nothing like creating an amazing song’
Growing up, Worrell was musically inspired by his father, a Concordia alumnus and veteran pianist in Montreal’s R&B and funk scene.
“Before I completed my jazz studies at Concordia, I played music around town for years,” says Colin Worrell, BFA 97. “Chase often sat in our basement at home when we would write and produce songs. It was a community of well-known musicians and Chase was exposed to all of that.”
Worrell takes comfort that his son, now 27, is part of a community of like-minded Montrealers in Los Angeles. This includes his manager Corey Kastner as well as family friend and Grammy-winning producer Yoni Ayal of the experimental soul music project Chiiild.
It was Ayal who encouraged Chase Worrell to move to Los Angeles and who took him under his wing.
“I have a good group of music homies who have moved here in the last few years and we’re all doing our thing,” says Worrell.
While connections help, ultimately it’s the music and the songs that count.
“There’s a lot of luck that plays into winning prizes,” says Worrell. “What you can control is making great art and the quality of your output.
“While who I am musically is subject to change, what’s really cool about both of my Grammys is that you can really hear my DNA musically in those productions. There’s nothing like creating an amazing song. But winning a Grammy is validation after many years of hard work.”