A New Chapter Of My Life

I am sharing this with you all because I am very excited!

I have been on a rocky journey most of my life, with a hobby that started when I was two years old sitting on the potty, but sadly ended with my traumatising life of bullying and shattered childhood dreams; singing.

The last few decades were no easier; they were fraught with mental health problems, heartbreaking family events, and various traumas that put severe blocks in the way of my ability to continue my training toward a singing career, which I have wanted all of my life.

I have spoken about the horrible torment I faced as a child in previous stories, but just to recap on one point I rarely talked about due to shame and embarrassment, here is a brief story.

I loved singing and dancing above everything else when I was a child. I used to sing everywhere: in parks, the street, my bedroom, at school, in choirs, the shower, bath-literally, everywhere, even where there was no music to be heard, and I was severely bullied for it.

I was called names such as thick, worthless, good for nothing, and I was told I was stupid. I suffered from some severe beatings for being sensitive, and for my love of music and singing.

These bullies went as far as picking on me for my weight and my looks. They often told me that I smelled, and poked fun at my body, which did not help because I had the start of ongoing problems with not liking my body as a child, and I still do today.

I am that two- year- old who sat on the potty and sang Wuthering Heights by Kate Bush, which left one health professional who visited us, breathless.

My mum witnessed that!

Well, back to the present!

I started taking my singing more seriously recently. I had a bout of illness for a month over Christmas which set me back, though as soon as I was well enough, I jumped straight back in!

I train with Fran Montignani Rees, and I love my lessons!

Fran is an amazing teacher. She always makes me welcome and gives me much-needed confidence when I attend her lessons. I take my husband with me when I go, because he enjoys hearing me sing, and he is always very encouraging.

My recent training session left me completely awed!

Fran asked me,

"Why are you here?"

She told me that I could sing, and she had no idea why she was teaching me.

I realized at that point, that I wanted to achieve an old dream,

"I want to be a pop singer with a record label. I don't want to be stuck on benefits or in a dead-end job. I want to perform and get myself heard. I wasn't born to be stuck at the bottom of the ladder, I was born to sing," I told her.

She agreed with me, and she told me that I certainly have what it takes.

"You're amazing!" she told me as I finished practicing singing Thorn In My Side.

She agreed to find out about how to go about releasing cover songs. You need to purchase a certain license to release cover songs, and I have never done that before, and we want to start by getting my songs on Spotify first, so I can get heard.

Fran has been providing me with vocal exercises I can do at home. Some of them are a little strange. My recent ones make me feel guilty because they make me sound like I am fighting with cats, and I love cats even if they do make me sneeze!

I also have to memorize the lyrics and rhythm, and work with the beat!

I feel like I am stepping into a very scary new world full of horrors and great things at the same time. However, this is the start of my biggest dream, and though I am 48 years old, I am going to fulfill those dreams, because after all,

You're never too old to start singing.

Stay in touch, as I will be writing more about my new journey and sharing new releases with you, in the future.