"Colette is a fine new Jazz singer with crystal clear delivery and empathy for classic songs. One to watch."  Dermot Rogers, Dublin City FM

Colette is an Irish vocalist and songwriter who loves jazz.  She has spent years exploring several genres of music and continues to draw on them to keep her music fresh. Along with a superb professional band, she mixes swing, bebop, Latin, blues, soul, ballads, Irish airs, contemporary and a growing number of her own originals.  “Each style of music gives you something special and by mixing it up you can create something more unique and interesting” she explains.

She sang classical music successfully on a musical scholarship, was in a well-known Gospel choir for 6 years, played several instruments and wrote and recorded an EP with Kinikiwana, a London based band that made spacious ambient electronica.  “This was a very exciting time for me, writing music and recording it in my bedroom and posting over the mini-disks to London for the guys to fill out the grooves and then traveling over every few weekends to the recording studio and lengthy musical conversations late into the night”.  This project gathered interest from London producers.

In 2003 she started to focus on jazz and enrolled in Newpark Music School in Dublin to study for the Diploma in Jazz Performance.  Over the years, she has worked with Dorothy Murphy, Ronan Guilfoyle, Phil Ware, Ann Peckham, Nikki Elles, Edward Simon, Duncan Stewart, Stephen Keogh, Clare Foster and Gilad Atzmon.

Colette performs jazz regularly with her trio, quartet and quintet and works as a guest vocalist with several other groups.  “The musical collaboration between the musicians on stage adds new dimensions to well-loved standards and creates something fresh with the original tunes”

Her quartet were invited to compete in the Cork Jazz Festival 2009 for young emerging talent and came second and will be doing a showcase performance in the 2010 festival.  Check out the listings for upcoming gigs and events.

Colette also teaches vocal studies and performance.  She draws on an in-depth knowledge of classical techniques which are excellent for building the voice. Her primary focus is working with people to help them develop their voice and the joy that this gives to the singer.