Mt. Prospect musician plays with Aretha Franklin, Stevie Wonder
It wasn't that Chinbat Batmunkh hadn't found musical success.
In fact, the musician and keyboard player was famous in his home country of Mongolia. He began playing classical music at age 7, joined a rock band at age 15, and became a well-known songwriter and producer for Mongolian artists.
It was just that he had one more dream to conquer.
So four years ago, at age 28, Batmunkh arrived in America hoping for a shot at someday playing with artists like Aretha Franklin or Stevie Wonder, musicians who had influenced him so greatly as a child.
He never imagined that day would come as quickly as it did.
Batmunkh, whose friends call him "Chinbaa," has spent the past few months touring with Franklin as her keyboard player. The Mount Prospect resident, in fact, has now performed onstage with artists ranging from Wonder to Wyclef Jean.
And he's still in shock.
"I am so blessed," he says. "Music is my life, my passion. I think about it all the time. It's crazy. This is my dream."
Batmunkh's musical roots run deep. His world-renowned parents played with the Grand National Orchestra and his sister was a famous dancer in Mongolia. As a child, he remembers sneaking to watch his parents play just so he could listen to the music.
"Ever since I was born, I connected to music so deeply that I feel I cannot breathe without it," he says.
Traditional Mongolian music wasn't his only interest - so was good old American rock and roll. He'd listen to artists like Wonder, Franklin, Michael Jackson and Eric Clapton and dream of someday performing with them.
After finding success on the musical scene of his home country, Batmunkh decided it was time to give it a shot. He settled in Mount Prospect, near where his sister and husband, a music producer, were living.
Through his brother-in-law's connections, Batmunkh found his way to Franklin's longtime music director, H.B. Barnum, with whom he began working on various composing and arranging projects. This past January, Barnum asked him to do a special project, though he didn't provide details.
A few days later, Batmunkh was watching the inauguration of President Obama. When Franklin came on to perform "My Country 'Tis of Thee" - wearing her now-infamous hat - he recognized in shock the musical part he'd written just days before. "I was like, 'Wow, I did this song! I called my brother, my friends, everybody. I was so excited," he says.
Through Barnum, Batmunkh got the chance to sit in and play keyboards in a few of Franklin's shows. It was after one of these shows this past spring that the Queen of Soul herself told him his playing was wonderful. Then she asked him to join her band.
The invite left him speechless.
"My English flew away," Batmunkh says. "I finally said, yes, yes, yes, thank you, thank you. I was so excited."
Since then, Batmunkh, now 32, has played gigs across the country, including the Hollywood Bowl in L.A. in June and on July 18 at Radio City Music Hall for a special event celebrating Mandela Day. There, he performed with artists including Wonder, Josh Groban, and Will.i.am from the Black Eyed Peas. Backstage, he mingled with Wonder and actor Morgan Freeman.
That has given him a little taste of his next goal. Batmunkh, who recently married, hopes to soon head out to Hollywood to compose music for movies. "I am surprised (by all of this)," he says. "I am so lucky."
His friends have no doubt he'll someday become an A-list composer. "His ability to hear any style of music once and then be able to do authentic arrangements and compositions in those styles - yet still put his personal mark on it - is something very few people in the world can do," says producing partner John Steele.
Batmunkh is a perfectionist, extremely motivated and driven to succeed, Steele says. "His musical world has no borders or politics," he says. "He thrives on collaborating with a guitar player from the Middle East, a horn player from Africa, a drummer from Chicago's South Side. To him, music is a universal language that everyone should live by."