Don Sawchuk & The Underdog Band

Don Sawchuk was born and raised in Windsor, ON, picked up a guitar at the age of twelve, and played his first gig – a one-off rock show in a church basement – with his band mates from high school, playing cover tunes from Led Zeppelin, The Who and similar, now classic rock, artists.

With guitar in hand, Sawchuk moved to Kitchener/Waterloo to obtain his first degree from the University of Waterloo’s Faculty of Science. During that time he took as many music electives as he could, and founded UW’s Musician’s Club.

Sawchuk married and started a family at age 23, then attended Lakehead University’s Bachelor of Education program for his second degree, this time specializing in Mathematics. It was at this time Sawchuk discovered the power of public performance and took up busking to support his young family.

Don took his first real job right out of university as a product development chemist and continues finding promise in a decades-long career in the pharmaceutical industry, all the while funding his passion for music.

Don was asked to join his church’s choir, only to fall into the role of choir director a short time later, amounting to a weekly music commitment which would continue for many years to follow. When his church needed a new roof, some of the musicians from the Catholic congregation banded together to write and record an album as a fundraiser. Don suddenly found himself with a prolific outpouring of original music which became the essence of his debut 2010 album Let Go Of Me that he recorded primarily in the studio he set up at home. Don began to realize the power of his music to express emotion and to grow a community, two things that continue to resonate today.

With his three boys leaving the nest and the dissolution of his marriage, Don took a leave from the pharmaceutical industry, moved to Guelph, ON, and poured himself into his songwriting and performing. Sawchuk elevated his craft of songwriting, participating in workshops across Southern Ontario, New York and Nashville. After attending the Tin Pan South Songwriters’ Music Festival, the Nashville Songwriter’s Association International (NSAI) had named Don Sawchuk a “songwriter to watch.”

The Guelph-based artist is now ready to release his second full-length album Underdog – a thematic collection of songs that connect with every listener through their universality and emotional impact.