Caroline Radcliffe

When I was a child, I always wanted to sing in a band, preferably an all-girl band, hopefully called “The Beach Girls”. As a young adult, I did get my wish of singing in a band. It was fun, fun, fun, sometimes, but there was also an awful lot of WAITING, and sometimes it was….boring. No one joins a band to be bored! After five years of songwriting, recording, touring the country in dodgy transits, 80s crimes against hair and fashion, etc, we called it a day.

I then became a futon seller, window dresser, and teacher of English as a second language, all the while continuing to perform in bands, most notably Bait, the Lilac Time’s big brother.

Since 1995 I have been happily settled in Frome. Although initially known as motheroftwins, I am now better known as singinglady. In 2001 I began teaching singing and musicianship in primary schools, based on the Kodaly technique. I love a bit of

doh-re-mi. And those are all valid scrabble words too.

I gradually started teaching adult groups. I run three choirs: Jackdaws Songbirds in Frome, Shreen Harmony in Mere, and Sounding It Out in Trowbridge. I also lead two Music for the Mind groups, singing with adults living with dementia in

Bradford-on-Avon and Westbury and sing with children in Sutton Veny primary school.

I love discovering songs and writing arrangements.

I know I should really have a hobby away from music, but I am a useless gardener. In my spare time, I’m a singer and songwriter with a local band, Three Corners, and I also sing with the Terry Hill big band.  

 

I am forever indebted to Mannie Burn, Maureen Lehane-Wishart, Rasullah Clarke, and Fay Caley for showing me the way. 

Now that I am leading choirs, I am never waiting. I am never bored. Ever.