Week in Review - 30 January 2015

Dreams do come true, and since moving to the UK five years ago, here are a few that have come true for me ... singing all across the UK & Europe; hearing myself recorded on vinyl, running my own business and the latest one, being a partner in Mayfield Records. I am delighted to be a part of this dynamic new record company and studio in the Portsmouth area and my role mainly be in the areas of marketing and promoting the studio, as well as A&R for the record label. The studio launched in November of last year, and there's already quite a buzz of activity in the studio with several local bands and singers taking advantage of the 50% discount that was offered for the launch.

I was in the studio on Tuesday recording vocals for my covers band, Move On Up, and will be back on Saturday to record a song for Mayfield's new album that will be released later this year. I felt right at home recording in this state-of-the-art facility, and the sound quality is quite fabulous!

On Wednesday we launched a competition for the studio where you can enter to win a chance to record a fully mastered EP.  The prize winner will receive free recording sessions at Mayfield Studios to include recording engineer and full use of studio services and facilities. The prize will allow the winning entrant to record an EP (4 tracks) fully recorded, edited, mixed and mastered by Mayfield Studios.The entrants will not be restricted by musical genre and can include individual singer/songwriters or bands!

The competition is open to the first TWENTY valid entrants, and applications must be received no later than March 31st 2015. Applications must be made on-line via the Mayfield Studios website. Click here for more information or to enter!

At the end of December I moved into my very own office at the Cathedral Innovation Centre and over the past year their support of GME has been invaluable with being allowed to use the Hotdesking area before moving into my office, and the many contacts I've made through their networking events. They also provide me with admin support from their two apprentices. To show my appreciation, I will be performing at a charity event on the 21st of March at the Blue Lagoon Function Suite in Hilsea to help raise money to extend the apprentices's contracts. Anyone who runs their own business will appreciate how thankful you are whenever you are able to have a little help with those time consuming, but oh so necessary daily tasks. Yasmin and Bethany have helped me on so many occasions, so I am asking for your help to keep them employed with CIC for another year. This will be one of the only chances to see my Supremely, Diana Ross Tribute Show performed in the Portsmouth area, so why not join me for a bit of tea, cake & Motown! Tickets are just £8.50 and can be ordered by contacting Alan at 07591 702020.

That's it for this week. I have another rare weekend off and I'm going to enjoy having some me time as my schedule will begin to get a bit hectic starting next month!  Have a great weekend, I definitely plan to!