My Story

I have been singing since I could talk, and playing the piano since I was five. Music was simply the family language — I grew up surrounded by records, melodies and the sort of musicians whose stories were every bit as good as their songs.

I was two and a half years old when my family learned I had an inoperable brain tumour. I will not pretend the years since have all been easy — there have been operations, medications and some very tough times indeed. But through all of it, music has been the thing that carries me.

One memory I hold onto vividly: during a strong reaction to medication, I sang Don't Worry About a Thing — Three Little Birds — by Bob Marley. It is still the song I go to when things feel hard. Three little birds pitched by my doorstep, singing sweet songs of melodies pure and true.

I am enormously grateful to the musicians who brought me up — the ones whose records raised me, gave me my passion for music, and produced such excellent stories. Everything I sing is, in one way or another, a thank-you to them.

Today it all comes together as My Songs, My Stories — evenings of country music and folk music from the 1950s and 1960s, woven with my own songs in my own style, story folk, each one with a story to tell. And when I am not performing, I teach singing online, passing on the thing that got me through everything to whoever wishes to find their voice.