Essex songstress set to perform at High Barn

ESSEX folk-pop songstress Leddra Chapman returns to the scene of some of her earliest gigs on Thursday March 25 when she plays Great Bardfield s High Barn. Leddra is fast proving her impressive live credentials with several national tours under her belt i

ESSEX folk-pop songstress Leddra Chapman returns to the scene of some of her earliest gigs on Thursday March 25 when she plays Great Bardfield's High Barn.

Leddra is fast proving her impressive live credentials with several national tours under her belt in the last year, and this will be a chance for her initial cheerleaders to witness how she has matured into one of the UK's most exciting young female talents.

Her foray into music started at the age of 12 when she picked up one of her dad's acoustic guitars and proceeded to write her first song, inspired by Macy Gray's hit I Try.

Excited that she could capture thought-provoking emotion in her lyrics and melodies, she continued to write songs and soon started playing gigs.

Never lacking ambition, she divided her time between completing her studies, writing songs, teaching herself piano and also learned to produce demos of her songs in the small home-studio her dad had built in the garage.

This dedication to her studies has prevailed and she currently juggles her prospering career as a singer songwriter with a music course at university.

The early demos generated a buzz and the Essex schoolgirl with the characteristic voice was invited to play at Manchester's 'In the City' music conference.

Whilst there she played a beautiful 30-minute set to a packed crowd at the Warchild Acoustic Showcase and was subsequently chosen as a 'Best of ITC' in Music Week. With funding from the Icebreaker Investment Fund, Leddra recorded her album Telling Tales with musician and producer Peter-John Vettese (Katherine Jenkins, Melanie C, Sia and Gary Go).

The result is a collection of ten folk-pop songs on which Leddra's pure voice, beautiful instrumentation and the evocative words work together to paint vivid pictures.

Leddra's debut single Story was playlisted for a stunning eight consecutive weeks on Radio two after initial support from Terry Wogan - this led to her being booked by Janice Long for a live session and by This Morning for a live TV performance.

Tickets for the show are available from the High Barn box office, priced at �8. Call 01371 811291 or visit high-barn.com. Doors open at 7.30pm for an 8.30pm start.