I'm a coach, singer, songwriter and writer based in central Edinburgh and London. Since 1992 I have performed at a host of different venues and opened for many different artists, including Roy Harper, John Cooper Clark, Andy White, Bert Jansch, Jim Diamond and Rumer.

Click here to read the back story...

I started to coach singers on an occasional basis in the 1980s. From 2002-2003 I was the singing tutor at The Theatre School, based in Wester Hailes, a year-long weekend workshop project of the Edinburgh Dance Academy, which also included drama and ballet skills for children aged from 3-16. In 2003 I was also Musical Director for Les Mélimelodies, an amateur French cabaret show that was performed at L'Institut Français d'Ecosse. This built up over time to a steady roster of students including beginners, "improvers" and professional musicians, comedians and actors, with ages ranging from fifteen to over eighty, plus a very small number of highly gifted 10-15 year-olds and children with special needs. I also offer help with confidence in performance and general vocal delivery, accent work, songwriting, general musicianship and coaching in acting, public speaking, presentation delivery, journalism, broadcasting and podcasting. I offer workshops to suit a range of different needs and have even been featured as a voice coach on television and radio in the past few years, which I found to be tremendous fun. In 2012 this sideline included an appearance on BBC1 as part of "Kevin Bridges - What's The Story?" (click on the link to watch a clip).

In 2013, following a house fire in which I lost my home, I moved to London for a spell; I am now back in Edinburgh to stay, and coaching in a beautiful room in the City Centre as well as via Skype. In January 2018 I began working at Edinburgh's Summerhall arts complex with the acclaimed Curious School Of Puppetry as the voice coach on their annual 10 week training course.

My students have a very high success rate both in exams and auditions as well as in achieving more personal vocal goals such as learning to sing in tune or delivering a presentation with confidence.

I gear my teaching approach very much to suit the individual student or group. No two sessions are exactly the same ... any more than any two clients are. I encourage good practice and listening skills, effective posture, breathing, voice placement and intonation, intelligent interpretation, phrasing and understanding of form, plus stagecraft and confidence, background to the material, improvisation and composition work where appropriate, and an overall high level of understanding of and proficiency at one's craft.

Above all I aim to help students discover just how much fun it can be to communicate creatively using their own voice, and to give them some of the tools with which to do so.