W
hen I was a young girl, I used to dig around my Dad’s record collection. I was fascinated by the American musicians and singers who could play and sing in such an incredible way. I’d play jazz pianist Errol Garner, and find myself making up melodies around his playing, or picking an alternate harmony as I sang along to Ella! I should have known then where I was headed. But my journey towards becoming a jazz singer has been a somewhat diverse one!
"...my journey towards becoming a jazz singer has been a somewhat diverse one! "
I
trained classically, becoming part of a group of classical singers who sang around Yorkshire, I sang in Music Hall, Musical Theatre and was part of a Rock Band called The Last of The Houdini’s!
I joined The Actors Studio Group in Halifax and studied method acting under Lottie Ward, who herself studied at The Actors Studio in New York under Lee Strasberg. Invaluable training that had a profound effect on me and still informs many of my artistic choices.
I
went on to work in small film productions and TV and have even occasionally been spotted in the Woolpack and café in Emmerdale! I studied Drama/Performance Arts and English at what is now Roehampton University at Froebel College, an old Georgian House with formal rose gardens and lake! Learning in such beautiful surroundings I soaked up all of the knowledge and would sit in the main common room, a stunning wood panelled room and read Homer, Jane Austen, Tolstoy, Fielding, Keats, Byron! Total bliss! Of course, music was never very far away and I would always sing, with college groups, my own duo and in Froebel bar, way too often!