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Beverley Beirne

BIO

I released my debut album SEASONS OF LOVE in 2012 and I was totally thrilled with the hugely positive response it got, including plays on BBC Introducing and great reviews in Jazz Journal and Jazzwise. I toured the album around the country from Callander Jazz and Blues Festival, Marsden Jazz Festival and Pizza Express, The Pheasantry and had a really great time, with some great live reviews. Now, here we are, 6 years later and I’m releasing my second album, Jazz Just Wants To Have Fun (JJWTHF). It’s a little different…but before I tell you about it, here’s a little bit about myself…

BACKGROUND

I’m a Yorkshire Lass, with Irish roots. I came to singing because of the absolute joy it gives me. It’s something I’ve always done, singing along to Dad’s jazz records, or Mum’s Abba collection, or to anything actually! It’s just a part of me, I find it deeply soul fulfilling. Professionally, I started singing classically. Which, when I look back, was an excellent beginning, because it gave me a real grounding in the physical elements of singing, a real understanding of how the voice works? I then experimented; being in a Rock Band, musical theatre, but behind all this was my innate love of jazz. I hated to sing a song straight, I always wanted to put my mark on it, sing off the beat, sing the harmony, feel the music my own way, walk my own path. I think that’s what drew me into jazz more and more, that sense of personal identity, self-expression. That’s why picking the right tunes really is so important, I want to feel it, express it, live that song for that moment. A teacher once told me that you don’t choose the music, it chooses you and I really do believe that. There is a such a sense of destiny about it sometimes.

JAZZ EDUCATION

I studied jazz under Graham Hearn (one of the founders of Leeds College of Music Jazz Course) and on Professional Development Courses, with such Jazz luminaries as Tina May, Lee Gibson, Steve Waterman, Alan Barnes, Trevor Tomkins and I continue to learn every time I sing and with everyone I perform with… I actually also gained a Drama & English Degree at Surrey University (Roehampton University, Froebel College) and I studied method acting at The Actors Studio in Halifax. News Beverley has released the first teaser of he new album JJWTHF, please like and subscribe here Beverley's new Album will be released on 15th June with a press party at Ronnie Scotts on 14th June! Beverley Beirne, Jazz, On Air

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3
Album Review

Beverley Beirne: Dream Dancer

Read "Dream Dancer" reviewed by Richard J Salvucci


Beverley Beirne may not be a familiar name to many American readers. Maybe she should be. While some jazz writers have labelled her a “rising star," the Yorkshire, UK, singer has been around for a decade. Her first recording was entitled, promisingly enough, Jazz Just Wants to Have Fun (Self Produced, 2018). Sometimes reading reviews of singers can put you in mind of studying observations from an oenophile journal: “She has notes of Ella embedded in a ...

2
Album Review

Jamil Sheriff: The Ilkley Suite

Read "The Ilkley Suite" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


Commissioned by the Ilkley Jazz Festival to celebrate its fifth anniversary in 2018, The Ilkley Suite is composer/pianist Jamil Sheriff's musical interpretation of some of the legends, history and landscapes of Ilkley and its surrounding countryside in the English county of West Yorkshire. It is an ambitious, complex and wide-ranging suite in eight parts, performed by a quartet of instrumentalists joined on occasion by vocalist Beverley Beirne, who brings her skilful and evocative voice to tracks such as “Verbeia" and ...

8
Album Review

Beverley Beirne: Jazz Just Wants To Have Fun

Read "Jazz Just Wants To Have Fun" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


What do the following artists have in common? Adam & The Ants, Foreigner, Kajagoogoo, Billy Idol, Bananarama, Right Said Fred, Kim Carnes. None of their songs are staples of the jazz vocalist's repertoire? Not long ago that would have been an acceptable answer, then British singer Beverley Beirne recorded her second album, Jazz Just Wants To Have Fun. Now those artists have something else in common--they stand every chance of becoming staples of the jazz vocalist. Beirne's chosen ...

25
Album Review

Beverley Beirne & Her Quartet: Seasons Of Love

Read "Seasons Of Love" reviewed by Bruce Lindsay


What gives a song the status of “standard"? One thing might be its popularity with musicians and fans. Most of the dozen songs on Seasons Of Love are standards that range from the popular to the extremely popular. Another characteristic may be a song's malleability: its capacity for almost infinite re-imaginings; a something that often gets forgotten, as singers rarely move outside the comfort zone of familiarity nearly enough. Beverley Beirne sticks to the familiar much of the time, albeit ...

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‘A jazz album so different than anything that has been done before’ Grammy winning producer Jason Miles

‘Jazz Just Wants To Have Fun…Thanks to Beverley and the band, jazz got its wishes… Beverley has nailed it!’ Lance Liddle, Bebop Spoken Here

‘Ingenious instrumentation and composition. Each track brings obvious inventiveness and thoughtfulness’ Brianna McClean, London Jazz News

‘The perfect balance of boisterous and restrained, this record hits the ground running… This record is unmissable!’ Brianna McClean, London Jazz News

“It’s raw, energetic and her vocal is both sassy and commanding”. - Limahl

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