How did you decide that you wanted to be a performer? Was there a performance or show that you watched that inspired you?
I guess my introduction to musicals was hearing the music to Fiddler On The Roof. I heard it and liked it and sang it round the house and my mum realised that I could sing and brought me to a music teacher.
The first show that I ever saw that stuck in my mind was Phantom. I was 12 years old and we had come over from Ireland to see it. I had left my glasses in the hotel and had to watch the whole show through the binoculars but I loved it and I think it was after that point that I decided that this was definitely what I wanted to do and nothing else.
What was your first role?
My first actual job was Les Mis. I went with my sister for an open audition in London. She was living there at the time. It was terrifying and in the end my sister didn’t do it but I did and then I got a recall inviting me to audition for the show that was going on tour in Dublin and Edinburgh. I found out that I had got the job on my 18th birthday. It was great because I learnt my craft through that show. I actually gave up college for the role. I was six months into a new course in Dublin.
What do you look for in a role?
Well, I love a challenge. When you audition for something you don’t get to see the whole script and if it’s something new you don’t really know the character's journey so I guess all I want is a challenge and I want to know that I can tell that story truthfully and to the best of my ability so I think that’s the most important thing for me, to be truthful, because if I believe in it then the audience will hopefully believe it.
Why have you decided to release an album now?
It was one of those things that for years I had said that I didn’t want to do as you’re really putting yourself out there when you record an album. It’s so much more personal than even I thought it would be. But now I’ve grown that bit older and I know my own my own mind and my voice so much better now and had I done an album any earlier it would have been a mistake. The songs are my interpretations of songs, my choice of songs, and ones that I would want to listen to.
The thing that prompted me to start doing the album was after Scott's (Scott Alan) Never Never Land concert last year a few friends said to me that I really should do an album and then my husband said to me that he thought I should really do it. He’s been pushing me for years to do one and he said that he’d produce it so that I wouldn’t have to listen to anyone else telling me what to do and I could just do my own thing.
How did you decide who would appear on your album with you?
Well, I thought of the person first. Rebecca (Rebecca Lock) and I had first worked together two years ago now and we just got on really, really well. When I was thinking of the album I said to her that I’d really like to sing with her again and for her be on it. I was delighted when she agreed.
