My career as a Singer started out in Hawick in the borders of Scotland singing
anywhere! This included Village Halls, Retirement Homes, churches and school
concerts. I had an enthusiastic teacher in Ian Seeley who gave me the chance
to sing the soprano lead in G&S Ruddigore and that was that!

I went on studying singing at RSAMD Glasgow with David Kelly and then Guildhall, with the help of the John Leishman Scholarship.

So my young career began with the pantomime Robin Hood at The Players' Theatre, London, the usual learning experience jobs and a stint in Joseph Papps' production of The Pirates of Penzance at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.

This led to a starring role as Maria in the first major revival of West Side Story since the original production. I played Leicester Haymarket, Wolverhampton Grand, Palace Manchester and ended my stint at the Hippodrome, Birmingham. It was great fun, a massive learning curve and a bit of a full stop for a few months!

"Her singing - sweet, high-ranging, flawlessly-phrased - marks
her out as a major musical discovery" (Gerard Dempsey).

Since those heady days my performance experience has been eclectic to say
the least! There has been cabaret (Madam JoJos, The Cupboard, ICA and so
on) to working men's clubs, recording work with Nigel Piper for The Scarlet
Theatre Group and BBC Radio Four and touring theatre with Rideout in the
Scottish Borders, to Opera where I have sung several wonderful and demanding soprano roles. While all this was going on I wrote my first one Woman Show, 'The Pursuit of Joy', a 1970s retrospective , which I piloted at the Whetstone Arts Centre, London for a new tour.

The one thing missing has always been a recording and I decided to take the
plunge in 2004 and record. Songs From Elsewhere came with a return to my
roots and a recording of some of my favourite Scottish songs (see the news page for details). This has opened up new possibilities at home in Britain and abroad and is such fun to perform.

My relationship with the Royal Bank of Scotland has taken me to Stockholm and performances at the wonderful Ridderhuset, the romantic Leeds Castle in Kent as well as the Grosvenor Hotel, Park Lane, London. There are many more reasons to sing Scots songs than I even imagined! There will be more adventures this summer, with Scottish songs and a return to opera.

For more information and updates go to news

<top of page