Chad "Sir Wick" Hughes (b. 1977) was born in Detroit, Michigan. He attended Cass Technical High School whose list of alumni include Donald Sinta, Paul Chambers, Milt Jackson, Diana Ross, Ron Carter, David Alan Grier, and Lily Tomlin.
Hughes graduated from the University of Michigan in Ann Arbor with a Bachelor's of Music in Composition and a Master's from Kansas State University. He studied under James Aikman, Erik Santos, Bright Sheng, Curtis Curtis-Smith, Craig Weston, and Pulitzer-Prize winning composer William Bolcom. He is currently a PhD student at Louisiana State University where he studies with Dinos Constantinides.
As a trombonist, Hughes has performed with Kid Rock, The Temptations, Martha Reeves, Dwele, Aretha Franklin, Marcus Belgrave and Marc's Project. He has arranged for the University of Michigan, Alcorn State Univerisity, Bowling Green State University, and Montana State University.