Heloise
Born into a musical family I have always been encouraged in my love of song. As a child I spent many hours listening to the old musicals and recordings from my parents record collection. My father is a concert pianist so our house was constantly filled with musicians and wonderful music. As a teenager I fell in love with folk song and taught myself how to play the guitar, enjoying creating simple accompaniments to folk songs and my own compositions. I found that many folk singers had a purity to their voices that I loved. The simple arrangements of songs also touched me more than the heavily produced sound that was more fashionable in the pop world. I definitely like a less is more approach, and as a vocalist prefer instrumentation that frames the voice rather than dominating it.
When I went to University in Edinburgh I began singing in pubs, bars and folk clubs and enjoyed learning traditional folk songs and jazz standards from musicians I met along the way. A few years later I teamed up with Alexandra Brown and discovered early music and renaissance madrigals. I fell in love with the stunning beauty and timeless themes of these early songs. We found a third singer and The Madrigirls was born. From the start it has been a fantastic journey, connecting with audiences all over Europe with nothing but our voices. It has been a deep learning in the power of vocal sound as a profound means of emotional communication and spiritual connection. We recorded our album The Madrigirls in 2007.
In 2009 I recorded my first solo album of mostly self-penned songs called What Happened To The Day? It is a collection of personal musings on life and relationships, arranged and produced by Gerry Diver.
Later that year, feeling a spiritual calling to explore the Priestess path and live more deeply in connection with nature, I moved to Glastonbury, Somerset. My album Lady Of Avalon (2013), is a collection of songs born out of a very deep spiritual journey I undertook in the years that followed, as I found myself profoundly moved by the mysterious power present in the land there.
Following a painful period of loss and adversity in 2014, I went through an internal death process. The years that followed were a time of recovery, growth and learning. I spent many hours walking and found my deepest healing in nature.
Mirroring the shaman’s or priestess’s initiatory journey of descent into the underworld, Initiatrix is also the story of my own personal journey of healing and transformation. You can find out more here.
