My style…….mmmmmmmmm………I sing jazz and folk (so maybe I'm a 'jolk' singer!)

Anyway…I started singing jazz as part of the jazz course on the music degree at Leicester Polytechnic which now is DeMontford University so 'technically' I have a University Degree. Who'd have thought. During this time came collaboration on a vocal and bass duo with the composer and musician Gavin Bryars and training with Cleo Laine. After this merriment it was back home to Belfast.

A few years later I started a recording studio in Belfast, Green Dolphin Studios (named after the tune Green Dolphin Street) with my partner which we ran until 2001. But to return to the subject of my singing...so I'd found some great musicians to play with and had some fun gigs like the Guinness Spot in the Belfast Festival at Queens. At the same time I started getting into to the folk scene and I'd sing regularly at the Sunshine Folk Club either as a soloist or backing vocals (which I love to do). During this time I also made a number of radio and TV appearances on Northern Irish networks alongside live touring commitments.

Then in 2003 I moved over to Scotland to live in Perth and so begins the next chapter - 'My Scotland Years' - which started with meeting Fionna Duncan on one of her great workshops and getting vocal training with artists such as Mark Murphy, Sheila Jordan, Leanne Carrol, Sophie Bancroft and Cathie Rae. Since then, as well as singing backing vocals with Dougie MacLean on both the 'Rural Image' tours, and backing vocals again with Fraser Anderson, I have been gigging around Scotland and developing my work with a pool of musicians drawn from jazz and folk backgrounds exploring a distinctive crossover style combining elements of both genres...or in simpler terms - whatever works for us!

All this led to being a Danny Award Winner in 2008 at Celtic Connections which was just a great craic altogether. The band for the Danny Kyle gig  and my demo was Kenny Irons on bass, Sandy Lindsay on accordion and Gary Ebdy playing (percussion/pipes/whistles).