The journey of one Igloo singer so far, Sara Chamberlain..

A small number of singers come to Igloo not only wanting to improve for pleasure, but wanting to take it further and build a career in music for themselves. Sara arrived at the Igloo doors at the age of 21 bubbling with enthusiasm, and has worked very hard to develop the quality and control she needs to be the singer she is today, rising to a lot of scary challenges along the way. Sara Chamberlain has grown into a very confident and passionate artist over the years she has been with Igloo Music UK.  Here is her story so far in her words..

“I have always loved singing and got particularly keen at the tender age of 4!I always participated in choirs at school, had some solo performances in Junior school and senior school for which I had to audition. I liked singers like Celine Dion and Michael Jackson at an early age. I would sing at soon as I got home from school with music blasting (maybe a bit too loud at times). I spent years wondering about how I could further my singing career but never really looked into it. I decided at the age of 21/22 to search for a singing coach, and I found “DiElle” who to this day 5 years later still gives me coaching. She has really helped me to achieve a lot, and to strengthen my voice and also my range, singing also pushed me to give up smoking which has also helped a lot with progressing my vocals. I have performed more and more over the years gradually learning and getting stronger.

Open Mic Uk
There was a massive point in my life which really built my confidence as I was a very nervous singer when it came to performing in front of people and this also made me struggle with lyrics from memory. DiElle sent me an email about a singing competition called “Open Mic UK” I thought I may as well give it go as I had nothing to lose. After lots of hours wondering what I should sing I chose “The Scientist” by “Coldplay” and began some coaching with DiElle to work on the song.
I got to the audition very nervous thinking I didn’t have a shot but was happy to gain the experience, we had to line up and each sing about 1 minute of our song, my hands were shaking and my whole body was trembling, then after had to go and wait. They then called a few of us up together to say………..we got through!! 🙂 I was very excited and happy!! 2nd stage “area finals” was going to be a step up so had to choose a song I loved and that could also show off my voice, so I picked “Big White Room” by “Jessica J” and got to work on this song and also a performance this time, DiElle helped me with this and made sure I was going to make good use of the stage.

The night of the area finals came around very quickly, I had a lot of people come to support me which was awesome, there were around 400 people in the audience this time and I was very nervous as there were a lot of great singers around me!
I put all my nervous energy into my performance and gave it my best shot and I got through!!! So the next stage was the “Regional finals” this was a real buzz. Unfortunately I didn’t make it any further but the experience gave me great confidence and taught me a lot and was a real breakthrough for me.

Baby Girl Music 
A few weeks later I received an email asking for me to go and audition for the chance to be part of an artist development programme, this was BGM in London (Baby Girl Music) I had been spotted by someone during my open mic auditions and they recognised a potential and wanted to see me. The audition was probably the most nerve wracking thing I have ever done as I had to sing acappella in front of the MD and also answer lots of questions which quite frankly felt like a grilling. I came out feeling like it didn’t go well at all….but I received a further email saying they would like to see me and work with me to help and develop me artistically. This would start with producing and recording my own songs, this was very exciting and new for me but I just couldn’t wait!

In the Studio at BGM with Jamie Sellers

Once again I was very nervous travelling to London to start writing and recording in the studio and never knew how good I would be at it or if I was actually going to enjoy it. I took some lyrics with me to which I had written when I split up with a boyfriend. I really didn’t know if they were any good and actually wondered if they would get laughed at! I worked with a lovely Scottish man called Jamie Sellers and we started working on my first song which I name “Don’t Walk Away” we change a few lyrics and he helped a lot with the melody, then started to produce the track. It was a lot of fun putting those big headphones on and singing into that big studio mic. I enjoyed the studio experience very much and couldn’t wait to get back in there to do more! In 6 months which collated to around 12-15 hours I had 4 songs recorded. The 2nd was “Paradise Of My Mind” which is the best one of the 4, it is more of a dance song and is all about my love for music. I wrote the lyrics and also came up with the melody for this one after the backing track was made, it was amazing watching Jamie create the music from a computer, keyboard and a guitar!! It was fun creating the harmonies to, that was probably my favourite part! The third song is called “Wanna Show You” which is also a dance track and all about auditioning, this was produced in under 3 hours! and the 4th is “Baby Come Home” another slow song inspired by the same break up as the first song.
“Paradise of My Mind” is on iTunes and I hope to shoot a music video for it in the future.

Click here to visit Sara’s website and listen to her music.

Photo Shoot

The next stage with BGM was to have a professional photo shoot! This was also very exciting, I had a stylist to help with outfits and a general style for me as an artist. The photo’s were taken at “image 1st” who were amazing and made me feel comfortable. My make up and hair was done and I have shoots with 3 different outfits, it was a lot of fun as well as being hard work at times. There were over 200 shots taken. After the shoot I was given a cd and could choose 10 photo’s to get edited, to be used for my promotion.

What’s next?
I intend to write another song soon and start playing my guitar again as I have had a massive break from that and need to get back into it again. Always working on cover’s and practising for performances/shows, so watch this space :)”

Sara is a regular performer in Igloo showcases and events. If you would like to stay in touch with Sara please find her social media links below:-

Links:

Facebook music page: https://www.facebook.com/SaraCMusic

Twitter: @sarac1987

You tube: Sarasinger87

Sound cloud: Sara Claire Chamberlain

Categorised in: Performances, Singing, Song Writing