Sue began singing at the age of 7 when her father brought home a record of Lulu’s “Shout” and Sue realized that with the help of a mic (a toilet roll with a ping pong ball stuck in the top and a piece of string attached to the bottom) she could give a pretty good impersonation of that 60’s battle cry…. “Weeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelll”
The first time she sang in front of anyone apart from her own reflection in the living room mirror was during her teens in the ’70s when she gave an infamous version of “Humpty Dumpty Sat on a Wall” with a local punk band.
In the ’80s punk gave way to funk and Sue sang both lead and backing with various local bands. Her touring and session experience includes work with artists such as Shakatak and Marsha Raven and the Ravettes and involves amongst others doing an extensive number one tour as a Ravette to promote Marsha's European No.1 disco hit "Catch Me"
Sue’s writing collaborations during this time led to her song “You Cant Touch Me Anymore” being covered by Sabiha Kara and the band Strike One and consequently reaching number 4 in the UK Soul/Disco charts in 1983.
In 1985 Sue went to drama school where her vocal training was grounded in a three year course of classical and theatre repertoire. It was at this time that Sue first encountered the jazz idiom.
From there, during her 10 year career as an actress, playing amongst other roles Nancy in “Oliver”, Sue began jazz singing lessons. She has had the honour to be coached by some of the very best jazz singers over the years including Anita Wardell, Carol Grimes, Bob Stoloff, Lee Gibson and Norma Winstone and to have sung at some of London's top jazz venues including Pizza Express, the 606 club, the Pheasantry and the Vortex.
Sue's jazz standards repertoire covers approximately 300 songs from the American Songbook, including Gershwin, Porter, Ellington, Berlin and including versions by Ella Fitzgerald, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan and Nina Simone through to more recent “jazzy” numbers by artists such as Norah Jones, Adele or Amy Winehouse.
Sue also qualified in voice studies at post graduate level in 1993 since when, alongside her singing, she has worked consistently as a voice and public speaking coach becoming a leading practitioner in her field.
Here then is a singer who knows the voice, both technically, and experientially, but maybe most importantly who understands how to deliver a performance appropriate to the occasion, be that background mood or up front pizzazz…