Its a Girl thing!...

I was born in the fair city of Gloucester and one of my earliest musical memories is sitting on the stairs at 11 Central Road, listening to my brother Ralph playing electric guitar with his mates in their 'beat group', The Tresspassers. I wasn't allowed in because (a I was too young and b) ..a girl!

I went to Calton Road primary school and was chosen to play the chime bars in a joint Gloucester schools concert at the age of 7 - my first gig!

At school I received free recorder and cello lessons and my parents also paid for me to learn the piano. We had a school orchestra then and I played in the county youth orchestra - the orchestra even won a prize at the Cheltenham Festival (inspite of me playing my cello with a G string 'completely out').

I've always loved singing and inspired by my mum, who had a great voice (she won a wartime singing competition in Gloucester park) drove people at school bonkers by singing in my 'operatic' voice at peak volume in school corridors and around playgrounds.

On Roots Quartet...

My professional music career began when I met Abbie Lathe and we formed Roots Quartet in 1984. The band has undergone various incarnations involving Mitch Norman and Nigel Pope and now comprises Michelle Hicks and myself.

I adore teaching singing and my other current passions are my two daughters, Katherine and Juliette, both beautiful singers; the social history of Somerset Folk Song and ... my perennial love for things archaeological, which started on a Cotswold summit (Crickley Hill excavations 1976 to be precise) ...and continues today.

Click the link to see Yvette at Stonehenge on You Tube

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-CbOprNkIQ4

Yvette Staelens