Week In Review: 16-22 February 2015

I had a rare Monday booking where Supremely, Diana Ross made an appearance at the Portsmouth Pride Fest Showcase held at Three Bar in Southsea. The evening was hosted by Drag Artiste, Linda Bacardi and Chairperson David Lee-Bastable was also on hand to officially open the event.

Other acts performing on the night were Blokezone, The Blues Brothers by The Disco Divas, & One for The Road! There was certainly a Variety Show feel about the evening, and all the acts were united in one purpose - to show their SUPPORT for Pride.

I will also be performing my Diana Ross Tribute show during the main Pride event on the 20th of June at Victoria Park with performances at the Portsmouth Guildhall. For more information on this event, click here.

On Tuesday, I took a cheeky day off and spent the afternoon with the hubs and in-laws on the Isle of Wight, and it was a bonus that it was sunny too!

Wednesday I had band rehearsal with Mayfield in the lovely Mayfield Studios. In between prepping songs to record for our second album, we have some shows coming up that we're preparing for, the next one being March of the Mods in Reading on the 15th of March. Tickets are still available so click here to purchase yours!

Thursday Move On Up performed our first gig of the year at The Wine Vaults in Southsea, and as usual we had a fantastic crowd that sparked us on to give a high-energy performance of Soul, Funk, Blues & Rock classics. We will be back at The Vaults on the 16th of July. Save the date.

On Friday I had a vocal coaching consultation with a prospective new student in the morning, and then headed to Southampton for my Social Media Class.

All week I was nursing a bit of a head cold, but on Friday the cold starting fighting back so I had to cancel my vocal session with Mayfield that was scheduled for Saturday, and spent the entire weekend in bed just trying to feel better.

GME is a leading provider of star-quality entertainment at affordable prices, so why not contact us today to discuss entertainment for your wedding, birthday, anniversary or for your venue. 02392 894 902.

Have a fantastic week!

Gloria xx

Week in Review - 16 January 2014

Spain

As I write this week's edition I am sitting on the Veranda of my lovely hotel room in Spain enjoying the afterglow of my first gig of the year at Le Cabaret just outside of Moraira. Through the wonder that is Google I was contacted by this venue that did a search for a Diana Ross Tribute and here I am having a mini-break because honestly, this hasn't at all felt like work! I flew to Alicante very early Saturday morning (I was up with the chickens) and on Saturday night entertained a room full of British ex-pats at this fabulous revamped venue run by Mike Lee and Valerie Sheehy! I have been given the 'star' treatment, which I could easily get used to! Every detail of this booking has been seen too with the utmost care and I am enjoying the glorious sunshine before I had back to England tonight.

I performed my Diana Ross Tribute Show along with my Disco Divas show and every available floor space in the venue was turned into a dance floor. The highlight for me was when I was singing Amy Winehouse's 'Valerie' and a gaggle of ladies started screaming and headed to the dance floor. They were so raccous that I finally had to ask what they had them so worked up, and it turned out that one of he ladies was called 'Valerie' and she was dancing up a storm! So I grabbed her and we had a little boogie together! After the show Valerie pulled me to the side and told me that she was a cancer survivor and that was the first time in 18 months that she felt strong enough to get up and dance. Then she hugged me and thanked me profusely for giving her the opportunity to dance because she used to be a dancer. It is these types of moments that make what I do a sheer joy! 

What a way to start the year and if the rest of my shows go half as good as this one, I am in for a fantastic year of performing! We've already discussed having me back again, as well as some of GME's acts! I'll keep you posted as these shows develop!

In other news, on Monday I attended the first Cultural Partnership meeting of the year which is a work stream within Shaping Portsmouth, and is made up of business leaders and individuals involved in the arts in the Portsmouth area who play a vital role in cultivating a strong cultural image for the city. Since Portsmouth is my adopted city, and is s rich soil in which to grow GME, I want to do my part in giving back to my local community and the Cultural Partnership work stream affords me many opportunities to get involved, not just in areas of music but in the arts as a whole.

On Thursday, Dominic Elton of Mayfield Studios and I met with the organizers of Victorious Vintage to discuss ways that the studio can get involved with this year's festival! Victorious is a massive event for Portsmouth and Mayfield Studios and GME are looking forward to supporting this event. Watch this space for more details.

The rest of the week was spent organizing the entertainment for weddings and private events as well as putting the final touches on the brand new GME website that will be launching in the next few weeks!

What are you celebrating this year? Getting married, a milestone birthday, an anniversary? Or maybe you don't need a reason to celebrate, you just want to? Call me to discuss adding a bit of sparkle to your next event with one of our quality Acts. We provide solo performers up to 8-piece bands covering all genres of music from the 30's through today including star quality Tribute Acts. My new office number is 02392 894902, or you can email me at gloria@gloriamillermusic.com.

That's it for now. Have a great week!

Week in Review - 16 May 2014

This week was a welcome light one with even an impromptu day off spent on The Isle of Wight with the hubs and in-laws on Wednesday.  I did attend an emerging artist showcase of Jerry Williams who I have been fortunate enough to book on the Foodies Festival at Clapham Common. Sadly, I was unable to stay for the entire show, but what I did hear was delightful. Jerry's voice is a unique mixture of vulnerability and sass and she is quite the performer. I was invited to the event by her manager, Jeff Powell who I met for coffee the previous week to discuss my original band, Mayfield, and I am looking forward to meeting with him in a couple weeks for further talks about the possibility of working together. I'm really looking forward to that!

Just a reminder that Mayfield will be performing at the Hipshaker Lounge at the Isle of Wight Festival 14 June @ 9pm! We had a fantastic rehearsal on Tuesday in preparation for this show as well as our next big show that's happening on 26 September where we will be appearing with Craig Charles of BBC Radio 6 at The Cellar in Southampton. We are great fans of the Soul 45 DJs and are thrilled that they have booked us on this show. We are debuting two new songs at the IOW Festival and hope to unveil a couple more at the Cellars.

It's good I had a light week, because the weekend is a bit hectic starting with two Supremely, Diana Ross Tribute Shows on the Friday & Saturday, and a power rehearsal with my covers band, Move On Up on Sunday as we prep for a busy summer of gigs.

Up against a deadline, I managed to record Volume 3 of Glo's Music for the Soul Radio Show which will air on One World Radio on Sunday at 5pm. This show featured several of the Foodies Festival performers and was so much fun putting together. It will be an interesting listen because the show is sooooo eclectic with a mix of acoustic, pop, hillbilly and blues! If you miss the show on Sunday, not to worry because I will post a link to the show in next weeks newsletter.

Well that's it for now ... have a wonderful weekend!!

Week In Review - 25 April 2014

The afterglow from my holiday in Spain has officially faded now that I've reached the end of my first week back to work. It's been a good week though starting with a fantastic rehearsal and songwriting session on Tuesday with my original Soul band, Mayfield. We are in the process of building our own studio and have already begun writing songs for our second album. Our current release, Tempo of Your Soul, is doing quite well around the UK and we are now on the radar of the UK's very vibrant Soul scene and booking some fantastic events for the Summer. Next week I'll be announcing our next show which is at a very prestigious festival! Stay tuned ...

By the end of this year my intention is to have my Supremely, Diana Ross Tribute Show on the cruise ship circuit. On Wednesday, I met with the arranger who is preparing the 10-piece orchestra charts that I will use when performing on ships! The arrangements sound fantastic and I'm looking forward to performing the show with an orchestra. I am in the early planning stages of putting together a Showcase for the tribute show so watch this space for more details. 

I am just a week away from the start of Foodies Festival season and I am so thrilled to be working with Media Publishing Company again to provide entertainment for five of their events. Brighton is next weekend and the entertainment lineup is fantastic. Some favourites from last year's events will be returning, along with acts from the Brighton area and across the UK. I even managed to book Elvis and Amy Winehouse to make an appearance! Don't believe me? Guess you'll have to come to the event to see for yourself! You can get tickets in advance through the Foodies Festival website, or at the event. If you do come along, stop by the Entertainment Stage and say hello!

On Friday I performed at the Mayor of Havant's charity dinner giving the audience quite a shock when I appeared in full Diana Ross glory. Halfway through the tribute set, half of the attendees had joined me on the dance floor. When I returned to do my second set of party music, we all danced the night away! The event was held at the lovely Newtown House on Hayling Island and the staff were a delight to work with, even providing me with a hotel room to prepare for the show! What a great night!

On Saturday I'm back on Hayling performing at The Piranha Bar for a Save The Children charity event. I performed at this event last year and was delighted to be asked back! I'll be performing my Jazz & Blues set followed by a very eclectic party set tht will start with Beyonce's 'XO' and finish with 'Happy' by Pharrell Williams! I'm really looking forward to this!

Well, that's it for this week. Have a fabulous weekend ...

Week in Review - 21 February 2014

I am on my second week of being on holiday and have had a wonderful time visiting friends and family in Florida, Georgia, Illinois and Wisconsin (heading there later today).

I've been living in the UK for four years and it's been that long since I've had a gig in Milwaukee, where I lived and performed for just over two years. Tonight, thanks to the fabulous vocalist and my friend Jeannine Rivers, I will be appearing with her and Scott Currier (one of the best keyboard players I've ever worked with) at The Delafield Hotel. Jeannine and I will be sharing the evening and singing some of our favourite Jazz, Soul & Blues songs. Jeannine and I sing so many of the same songs, but surprisingly, when we compared set lists, there was very little overlap. We both love singing 'Summertime' and we each put our own unique spin on the song, so that one we had to have a little discussion about. But, Jeannine is graciously allowing me to sing it tonight! 

Available on iTunes

Scott was very involved with arranging and performing on my solo CD, 'Let Go' and we performed together either as a duo or 4-piece band at venues all around the Milwaukee area. He was an absolute joy to work with and a bit of a musical genius (some of the chords he came up with on the CD, other musicians simply can't figure out ... LOL)!

Tonight's performance will be a bit of a reunion with many of my friends and family joining us for what promises to be a fun and unique evening of music! I will try to remember to take pictures tonight so I can share them with you next week! 

Until then ... have a fabulous weekend!

Mayfield's Last Gig of the Year @ The Jolly Sailor - Saturday 16 November!

Mayfield Soul

It has been a fantastic year for Mayfield with the highlight being the release of our debut album, 'Tempo of Your Soul!' The release of the album in August this year has allowed us to build a strong foundation for the coming year and are already filling our performance schedule with some amazing venues and shows.

It's very fitting that our last gig of the year is at the same venue where we had our release party ... The Jolly Sailor in Southsea. This is a fantastic music venue and has become one of our favorite venues to perform. Come and join us this Saturday, 16 November for a soulful evening of Mayfield favorites and a few new songs too!  Of course, we'll be performing a few cover songs done the 'Mayfield' way!

If you haven't already done so, please click here to join our mailing list and download our latest single, 'Get Up!'

If you're coming on Saturday, please join our FB Event! Hope to see you Saturday!  KEEP ON!!