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THE INTERVIEW

I was born in London and grew up there. I was musical from a young age, singing from age 6 years in my school choir and playing the recorder and violin. I started playing guitar when I was 7 years old and had guitar lessons from age 8. I was in my first band (Canis Major) with my brother, Tony, from age 12 years, when I started writing songs.

I started recording at age 13 years, in Canis Major, we recorded our first single. We signed to Gem Records and recorded an album called Butterfly Queen. I remained in the music industry, as a singer/songwriter for almost 25 years, leaving in 2001.

I was previously in an all girl rock band called 'She'. The guitarist, Cris Bonacci, was leaving to sign on with Girlschool and I got asked to join too. I was with them for 18 months and in that time completed a lot of touring, nationally and internationally, and recording. I decided to leave as I was no longer interested in the music and I wanted to try something different.

This album was co-written with Lea Hart and Terry Thomas and was recorded in 1993. All of the music had already been written, I added lyrics and melodies to most of the songs. I think 4 of the tracks were written entirely by Lea Hart. Before this I was in an AOR band called 'If Only' and we recorded an album called Destiny.

I became involved with SAIFAM after I had been working as a session vocalist in London in 1994. I answered an ad in The Stage and sent them my demos. I was really impressed with their sound and wanted to be involved. I worked as a session vocalist with SAIFAM for 5 years, from 1995 to 2000. They were a great team of people.

I worked with SAIFAM and Mauro for 5 years. I don't really know how many songs I recorded, but I think around about 50? I didn't keep track, but I have caught up now. Ana Paula from Aninhahy Dance Blog and Miguel Santos had been trying to find me for years and I had no idea!

I have since found this out, yes.

Everything was already written, so no, I did not have any musical or lyrical input. I would fly out to Verona, work in the studio for a weekend, then return to the UK. It was a good experience working for SAIFAM, they were very talented people, very polite and always looked after me.

No, I didn't meet any other studio singers while I was recording at SAIFAM.

I don't really know, except that times were changing and I guess that maybe they were looking for a new voice? I was never told why.

I did not carry on with music no, I studied veterinary nursing, then went to university to study Ecology and Conservation and worked as an ecologist and at my university as a senior technician in Environmental Science.

I had no idea! My brother was contacted by Ana Paula and at the time I was working in a different area completely and had no time for singing and performing. She wished me happy birthday every year. Then this year, I contacted Ana Paula and I had an email from Miguel Santos, who also kept in touch with my brother, telling me about the investigations and that Eurodance Vibes were asking if I would be interested in singing and recording again. Now, the time is right to sing again! It all fell into place.

I do listen to those songs, yes. I am amazed at how much interest there is in the work I did! I guess I didn't appreciate just how massive the Eurodance scene actually is! There is some truly great talent out there in this genre of music. If you think about it, Eurodance music is timeless.

So many to choose from! Let Me Be, Love Reaction, Give Me The Night, Little Bird... My first 2, new songs are a bit of a reflection on these, although not the same, I'm really looking forward to releasing them!

Mark Hoogkamer, Ed Horeweg and Annerley Gordon (owners of Eurodance Vibes) are lovely people and we hit it off straight away! Their attitude is very positive and if I was going to consider singing again, it would need to be with people like them. It just felt right to say yes! I had been thinking for a while, maybe a year, that I would like to go back to singing again, but wasn't sure how to do it. It seems like we were all in the same place at the right moment to come together now and do this. I think as a musician, you always continue to have song ideas and the performing element never really leaves you. I have never stopped singing for myself and I spent a while in a large, classical music choir singing soprano.

The upcoming songs are going to be amazing! Collaborations with Samus Jay and Myko Tank so far. The tunes are powerful and I have really enjoyed writing lyrics and melodies for them.

Musical tastes today are very varied, from classical, Rachmaninov for example, contemporary classical such as Max Richter, Johann Johansson, Ludivico Einaudi, Goldmund, so many, to rock and pop, ambient dance music, listened to Jam and Spoon a lot, I have been listening to Robert Pattinson's (yes, the actor) EP Don't Cry and would love to work on lyrics and melodies for those tracks! Whatever takes my fancy. My favourite vocalists are Barbara Streisand, Celine Dion and Sia, technically brilliant and so beautiful to listen to. Life without music is so dull!!

I would like to say a big thank you! It is so heart-warming to know that people remember me and enjoyed my singing on the SAIFAM tracks. If I can give people joy then that makes me very happy! I hope that everyone will enjoy my new songs and if I get out performing live next year that people will come to see me. I am very glad to be back, it's been a long time, and I know that this new collaboration is going to be very exciting!!

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