A young Swansea songstress who has learned her trade in the pubs and clubs of South Wales has just recorded her first CD and it is already available on Amazon.
Laura Jayne Davies, 21, has released Songbook, an album of covers of some of her favourite songs after taking a second place in a heat of a major talent competition last year.
As well as Amazon the CD will also be available locally in Tesco and in other outlets
Laura, from Sketty Park, a team leader at the Animal store in Swansea’s busy Quadrant Centre, won £50 and decided to spend it on recording a couple of songs and it developed from there.
But it was her older sister, Kelly Israel, who put Laura’s name forward for the competition. She said: “Mum and I used to sit on the stairs listening to Laura singing in her room and her voice was so beautiful it brought tear s to our eyes.
“I told her I was going to enter her but she didn’t realise I’d done it until she came home one day and I told her her name was in.”
Laura said: “Kelly entered me in Welsh Factor and came second in the Porthcawl event and won best vocal performance and a cheque for £50.
“I have recorded before and I just decided to go the whole way and record an entire CD so I went to Paul Child’s Music Wales Studio in Pyle and went for it.”
Entertainer Paul, Wales’s top selling singer, was a big help too: “He was very supportive and has helped launch the CD as well so I’m hoping it will do well,” she said.
“I’ve always loved singing from when I had my first guitar when I was about eight and I can play basic guitar and piano and I have a singing coach, Catrin Lewis, who has been great too but I usually use tapes to accompany myself when I’m performing.”
Mum Suan said: “Laura has only been singing professionally for 10 months but wee realised her talent when she was 11, just before the death of her father, Adrian.
“She sang Eva Cassidy’s Over The Rainbow perfectly for him, none of us could believe such big voice could come from such a little person. We knew then she was going to be a star.”
Laura, who went to Olchfa School, has learned the ropes by touring pubs and clubs but she has also sung on stage with Paul Child: “That was absolutely great. He was touring with his band for his King of Wales album and he asked me to join him on a couple of gigs.
“I sang at Porthcawl and Pontardawe with him and it was brilliant to have a live band backing me.
“I use backing tracks and I’m always terrified that something will go wrong and I’ll sing the wrong song to the wrong track or that it just won’t work but it’s been pretty good so far.
“I did once start singing a Maroon Five song and the machine kept cutting out but I just carried on and it seemed to go down well and it worked all right on the other songs.
“I’m out every weekend up the valleys as far as Tredegar, Merthyr and Aberdare and because I don’t drive my sister, Kelly Israel, takes me and she acts as my manager.
“We’re like a team and my mum comes along as well and sometimes the staff at Animal who have been very supportive – they’ve even been playing the CD in the shop.”
Laura has a wide repertoire: “You have to have a good range because people like different things but I have quite cheesy tastes and I’ll sing all sorts of things, ballads mainly.
“My favourites are Diana Ross and Bob Marley, Eva Cassidy, LeAnn Rimes and Ed Sheeran but I just love singing and would love to go fulltime.”
Ian Kirkpatrick, Manager of the Quadrant Shopping Centre, said: “Laura is a very talented singer and I’ve heard her album being played in the Animal store which is a really good way to promote it.
“I wouldn’t be at all surprised if she were to make a real impression with her music career – Swansea could do with a new singing star.”
Somgbook, by Laura Davies, will be available soon for £7.99 from Tesco, ASDA and from Amazon.
