4th anniversary post - Did You Know...

It's nearing my 4th anniversary as a full time musician! 🥳 SO I'm doing a little 'Did you know'....

- I lived in my van to make it work.
- I started out busking and STILL busk in London when I run out of cash (quite a lot of the time to be honest, especially in between tours)
- I shaved my head when I started
- I've raised £13K from the arts council and a whopping £19K on Kickstarter from individuals like you and me who care about the arts, and sold approximately 5K CD's
- I've managed to get my music videos played on Sky TV 6 times
- I'm self made. There are two sides to this, but in this case I mean I didn't go to Uni, I have no training in music, singing or business, I didn't have any startup money (actually started by maxing out a credit card to £2K to buy the equipment needed), and no-one encouraged me to do this. Actually when you tell people you want to do music they usually start to wrinkle their brows....and now when I tell people I do music they ALL say 'Ah, but do you make a living'? And while I take pride in being a full time musician, I'm not keen on defending the implicit assumption that it's unrealistic.

And do you know what IS unrealistic? For someone who loves music? To conceive of a life where music is not the centrepiece, one way or another, performing, creating, or listening and enjoying. I honestly don't know how people survive in this world without the joy of music to help them through.

Anyway, back to the topic...

- The other side of being self made is that I'm not really self made of course....what is an artist without an audience? I wouldn't have lasted 30 minutes without the people who've tipped me a coin, told me something encouraging, or pushed me to go beyond my limits. Or inspired me to. And nowadays, the people who've backed my kickstarter campaigns, come out to live shows, and helped me keep a roof (a real roof, not a tin one) over my head by buying all my merch. Or industry people putting me on, booking me for gigs, and helping to spread the word.

So here's the real reason I'm here this morning coming over all sentimental.

- Did you know...I live to share music with you? Sharing is the most important part of it.

THE MOST IMPORTANT PART.

So, HERE'S TO YOU!

And a fabulous, music filled 2019! 🎊🎉🎊