This blog is written by Mary-Jess. British soprano, winner of the Chinese ‘X Factor’, official Downton Abbey Songstress and representative of British music in 144 countries as part of the UK Government’s GREAT Britain campaign.
This week I'd like to introduce you to another young and very talented singer / songwriter, Ffion Rebecca. Ffion Rebecca is one of the young singers I hand picked to join me on my forthcoming EP album, the vision of which is to help young artists create, maintain and develop their foothold in the music industry, and I couldn't be more thrilled about this! Let me tell you why...
How Ffion saved the day...
I first met Ffion Rebecca at my Prayer to a Snowflake Winter Tour finale in Rugby in December 2016. Beth Ford was suffering with an awful cold (inescapable at that time of year) and had completely lost her voice, so at midnight the night before the concert, Ffion Rebecca was asked to step in and take her place as my special guest.
She dropped everything, travelled from Cambridge to Rugby, learned a new duet (my duet arrangement of Walking in the Air) that morning so that she could sing it with me and delivered a flawless performance that blew the audience away, all with less than 24 hours notice! Impressive right?
Turns out, there are quite a few impressive things about Ffion Rebecca.
Her début EP ‘Love Away From Home’ released in March 2017 entered the iTunes Blues Chart at No. 2 and remained in the charts for a number of weeks following release.
Her latest single (which she co-wrote) called ‘Devil’ was released in time for Halloween 2017 and the interest in this latest single snowballed rapidly, first becoming a favourite on Cambridge BBC introducing and then it went straight in at No. 1 in the New Music Generator (NMG) charts.
All these soul, blues and pop influences make Ffion Rebecca's music not only contemporary but also very refreshing. How does that work with my genre of Classical Crossover though, for the new EP, I hear you ask? Well, Ffion Rebecca grew up in the valleys of Wales listening to the golden voices of Andrea Bocelli and Maria Callas and went on to have classical voice coaching as a result. I think this is why our voices blend together so beautifully even though we don’t often reside in the same genre. That’s the main reason why I love Classical Crossover as a genre, I love the freedom it gives you to explore different areas of music and bring back influences that compliment and embellish our classical roots.
Want to hear some HUGE news?!
We chatted about Classical Crossover and all kinds of things when Ffion Rebecca came to the studio to record for the EP. Stay tuned for some HUGE news at the end of this video!!
At only 17 years of age the future is bright for this singer, songwriter and recording artist. So many credits to her name already, and now opening for Sam Smith can be added to that ever growing list of accolades! So here is her social media information so you don’t miss out on hearing more of her beautiful voice and more exciting news as her career flourishes!!
Thank you for reading! Please do let me know your thoughts by commenting below, and please do get in touch with Ffion Rebecca! Can't wait for you to hear our duet!
Want to be one of the first people to hear it live for the very first time? And not just our duet but the whole EP? Tickets to the celebratory launch concert in Gloucester on 20th April available here! And you can pre-order your copy of the new EP here ready for release day!
Shine on,
Mary-Jess
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