Jo Price Biography

Introducing yourself to someone new? 55 per cent of their first impressions will be formed by sizing up what you look like and just 7 per cent will be based on what you say. And the remaining 38 per cent? Surprisingly enough, that will depend solely upon the sound of your voice. Shocked? Afraid? Well, thatís where Jo Price steps in.

Jo set up Vocal Academy five years ago this month. She initially began vocal coaching part time to help out a music producer. Word soon got around, and not only did she end up working with some well-known pop personalities, including Howard from Take That and members of The Spice Girls, she was also beseeched by requests from the public. A strict tutor but an extremely fair one, Jo has made it her imperative to only take on clients who are prepared to work hard and, if necessary, devote long hours to working on scales. Monotonous perhaps, but as Jo has learnt, these initial building blocks form muscle memory that can transform even the most hopeless of shower singers: ìEven if you think youíre tone deaf, just repeat it, repeat it, repeat it. At the end of the day, youíll be able to do it for yourself.î

After persevering with a particularly challenging client who later went on to star in musicals, faith in people has been at the forefront of Joís philosophy. Whether it takes a few sessions or an entire year, she believes that anyone can sing, and one of her biggest returns is seeing those who attend her sessions glowing with a sense of their own achievement. She also finds the work she does for worthwhile community causes highly rewarding. This includes aiding those with mental health problems, combating drug addiction and helping children in schools who are in danger of exclusion. ìSinging just seems to reach that bit that maybe counselling reaches. But with singing, you donít have to be open like that. You just sing it and it releases whatever it is thatís troubling you.î

Jo has received funding and support from the City Council and the Arts Council, but also pours the profits from exciting projects such as training the contestants of Celebrity Stars in their Eyes and Soap Stars into the causes close to her heart. Although the shows are hard work, with Jo dedicating two days of intense training to each star, she is never drained by her job. In actual fact, she feeds off it. Due to the intimate nature of the sessions, she has remained friends with all her clients and, despite the bad press that celebrities sometimes get, found them all great to work with.

After obtaining a sustainability grant from NWDA, the corporate side of Joís work really got off the ground. Along with her fellow vocal coaches, headed by trained opera singer and speech therapist Beth Allen and Pete Baker who trains the newsreaders at Granada, she conducts voice seminars to help those in business to perform to their maximum capacity during conferences and presentations. Rather than insisting upon Received Pronunciation like traditional elocution coaches, Jo is a fan of regional accents and actually focuses upon tone, pitch and clarity. She is conducting a taster session at the Rosetti on the 15th May so that people can find out for themselves what voice work is all about.