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HANNAH NORTHEDGE – SINGING BIOGRAPHY

Hannah is a debonair songstress of old fashioned glamour and bandleader of her own ensembles from duo, trio, quartet upwards. She is a classically trained singer and is in high demand with her Hannah Northedge Jazz ensembles that employ some of the most skilled jazz musicians in the UK.

She is a regular guest at the 606 Jazz Club in Chelsea with The Russ Henderson (MBE) Trio and has played at The Royal Albert Hall, The Barbican Centre and Avery Fisher Hall in New York.

She made a very successful appearance at Greenwich Jazz Festival this year and has been invited back this year and has also been booked to play at Mill Hill and Harborough Jazz Clubs.

She has received record label interest from The Jazz radio station and she will be releasing an album of uniquely arranged standards and her own original compositions with a country jazz flavour in late 2008. She has received interest from Australian jazz radio stations and been asked to export her recordings there.

Hannah has just completed a 5 track EP which features Hannah's own very individual arrangements of standards and original songs and can be purchased here or through her website.

Hannah who grew up in Leicester and Australia started to sing jazz in her mid teens but then considered training as an opera singer as she was drawn to the drama and passion of the repertoire and was offered a place at The Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama on the Opera course.

She considered jazz more seriously when friends commented that she had a definite "jazz and blues sound" whenever she sang contemporary music in her lower vocal register.

She was also drawn to glamorous films from the 1930s and 40s especially Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers movies and others that featured music by Gershwin, Porter and Berlin and these were to provide a lasting impression on her.

Ultimately she realised that jazz was her authentic and natural voice and found that she felt more of a connection for the music when singing in her natural or chest voice and it is in her rich and warm lower register that she found her distinctive vocal identity.

Hannah has been a guest singer with The Rat Pack Trio and Orchestra since early 2006. She continues to tour sold out theatres with them nationwide.

Hannah's powerful voice, musicality and talent for jazz repertoire leads to frequent requests to front other well known jazz outfits including 7 piece 1930s and 40s swing band Rockin' in Rhythm, Kind of Jazz function band, The Piccadilly Dance Orchestra, 78rpm and The Rob James Orchestra. She works with former BBC Big Band leader, composer and pianist Ronnie Smith, internationally renowned pianist and composer Simon Wallace, Christian Vaughan and Kit Massey and guitarists Shane Hill and Alex Steer.

In June of this year Hannah was privileged enough to sing with John Colianni and his jazz Quintet in Greenwich Village, New York. John is the pianist for Les Paul the legendary guitarist and plays in his quartet weekly at Iridium Jazz Club in New York. Hannah plans to record new material with John in 2009 possibly followed by a short tour.

SESSION SINGING

The Hannah Northedge Singers are a 15 member choir that Hannah founded and session fixed for major feature film The Oxford Murders starring Elijah Wood and John Hurt. Hannah directed the choir, sang and acted in the film on location at Trinity College Greenwich and The Sheldonian Theatre in Oxford. The Spanish composer Roque Banos (Sexy Beast, The Machinist) who plays a conductor in the film was so impressed with the choir's talent, enthusiasm and professionalism that Hannah won the contract to record part of his soundtrack First Disobedience at Abbey Road Studios in July 2007.

Hannah has also recorded at Sir George Martin's Air Studios in North London. She sang Beethoven's 9th "Choral" Symphony for the soundtrack to recently released major film Copying Beethoven starring Ed Harris.

Her other session singing includes work with Leicester based producer Leighton Morrell and London producers and songwriters including Jackie Chambers, lead guitarist in popular rock group Girlschool. She continues to record vocals for original tracks and backing tracks intended for use by solo artists.

INSTRUMENTS

Hannah has been playing rhythm guitar since she was 16 years old. She also plays basic jazz piano and is learning to play bass guitar on her beloved Precision Lyte bass.

VOCAL TRAINING and TECHNICAL ABILITY

Hannah trained classically from her mid teens and studied on Masterclasses in the UK, Italy and Dublin under Evelyn Dowling. She currently studies technique with Mary Hammond, Head of Musical Theatre at The Royal Academy of Music.

Her voice spans over 3 octaves from D3 - F6, she is natural harmoniser, has superb aural perception and sight reads music fluently.

BUY HANNAH'S 5 TRACK EP OF STANDARDS AND ORIGINAL SONGS ALL UNIQUELY ARRANGED BY HANNAH AND FEATURING THE CREAM OF BRITISH JAZZ FOR JUST £8 INCLUDING POSTAGE AND PACKAGING WITHIN THE UK!

Hannah will post CDs internationally. Please contact her for P&P rates outside the UK.