Sky UK Ball

15th September 2011

For a little while now we have been planning an appearance at Half the Sky’s UK ball so I was really excited when the day came! Half the Sky is a charity that helps orphaned and abandoned children in China. Half the Sky enables the children to have the love and affection that they need; some of these children are so unwell but Half the Sky ensures that they get the medical attention they need to survive. I was so happy to be invited to perform and support such an amazing cause! Everyone there was so welcoming and I met so many wonderful people – including the Chinese Ambassador! I felt so honoured to meet him! He told me he was a fan of mine! I couldn’t believe it!

I’m really looking forward to all the opportunities to support this Charity in the future; at the live auction I won the chance to go and visit their care home in Beijing! I can’t wait to go and meet the children and spend time with them, hear their stories and sing with them!

I performed after dessert – which looked lovely, but I didn’t get to have any! I sang three songs from Shine, I chose to perform Yue Guang Ai Ren, Lighthouse of Mine and Stand as One as I felt they were suitable for the event. After my performance I sat back down at my table next to Alla, a wonderful woman who really made me feel very welcome, and we got chatting again, then she said to me: ‘We have another ball coming up in Chicago, would you like to come over and perform for us?’ How could I ever say no?!

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Downton Abbey
13th September 2011

Just got some amazing news! The Downton Abbey album is CD of the week on Classic FM! I’m over the moon about it!

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Rotterdam Continued …

…The day before the comp Rich and I skated early to make sure we got a session in as the weather forecast predicted a lot of rain and it’s a good job we did! It rained for the rest of the day washing off all the Red Bull and water so the ramp returned to its old slippy self. We were pretty worried that the comp would be cancelled but the clouds just drifted over on the day – so lucky!

The Prelims started at midday, everyone skated really well and Rich qualified for the finals in 1st place! The top eight qualify but all scores are dropped for the final – which added to the nerves as we knew Rich could do it, but he had to prove himself all over again! When it came to results, they announced 8th place first and then when they got to second place, Rich and a skater called Cesar were left to place, then MC called out ‘Rrr…Cesar!’ I’ve watched some footage back and at that point you can just hear me screaming ecstatically! I felt sorry for Cesar because the MC put an ‘R’ at the beginning of his name! But I was over the moon for Rich! He won a huge trophy, a picture of a vert ramp with ‘Winner’ bursting out of it (quite funny trying to get these through customs!) and the title of European Champion! I’m so proud of him! He works so hard and really deserves it!

Over the past couple of weeks I have been writing every day, and then rushing back to try and squeeze in an episode of Downton Abbey before bed time! I bought the box set and now I can’t stop watching it! It’s just fantastic!

I have been writing a variety of songs, this way we can choose the best musical avenue to explore for upcoming releases. I’ve been working with Matt Clifford, Matt Schwartz who was a co-writer of ‘Rising From the Fire’ as well as Geoff Lawson (the incredibly talented arranger we employed for ‘Shine’) and I’m looking forward to writing with the amazing Don Black, who wrote the lyrics for ‘Did I Make the Most of Loving You?’ A song based on the main theme from Downton Abbey which will be available on the fourth coming Downton Abbey album available on Monday the 19th of September. I can’t wait to hear it for two reasons, firstly the music from the series is stunning, but also Alfie Boe is on the album too! So exciting!

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Rotterdam

So here I am in Rotterdam! It’s been a busy time so it’s great to get away for a long weekend, and even better that I get to support Rich at the first stop on the European Championship Tour! We were so worried that the weather wouldn’t let us skate but first chance we had yesterday we were on the vert drying it off, it took us over an hour and then just as we finished a big dark grey cloud flew over head and started spitting at us! So we put our pads on the quickest we ever had and started skating!! Thankfully the cloud passed over quite quickly and we were able to have a good session. I was so pleased because I was able to get out of the vert by myself for the very first time!! I don’t have very much upper body strength so I’ve had to really work hard at my pump to enable me to jump out unassisted. So pleased!! Rich has been teaching me, he’s the best teacher ever.

This vert is nice, it’s a good height for me (about 12ft), a good shape, the only thing that’s worrying about it is the surface, it’s made of metal so it can be slippy (pretty dangerous)and when the suns out it blinds you. But we put a mixture of Red Bull and Water on the ramp last night in order to make it more grippy and less scary!

More to follow soon…..

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Ted Baker
10th August 2011

This was a really exciting day for me, I was invited to the Ted Baker offices for lunch and to view their new collection, I love Ted Baker! Thank you for the amazing lunch! After that I jumped straight in a car to go to OK!TV for an interview. Every one therewas really friendly and there was a great atmosphere in the studio. I really enjoyed the interview!

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Metro Radio
9th August 2011

… So we went to Metro Radio in the morning then during the day we drove to Teesdale, Hull, Bedfordshire until I was dropped back home and couldn’t wait to have a good sleep! Thank you to all the radio stations that we visited, thank you so much for having me!

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Shine Out Today
8th August 2011

SHINE OUT TODAY!!! Mum and I appeared on Lorraine in the morning, but that was just the start of my 20 hour day travelling all round the UK on a mini whirlwind radio tour that was to last two days! We went back to my home town of Gloucester on our way round, then the last one was in Birmingham (we were there when they evacuated the Bull Ring!) and then we drove up to Newcastle ready for Metro Radio in the morning …

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Born To Shine

4 and a half million people watched Born to Shine… And yet strangely I wasn’t too nervous! I was just over the moon and excited! I was to sing ‘Glorious’, the second single from my debut album SHINE and one of the 7 tracks on the record that I co-wrote so I just couldn’t wait to hear people’s reactions. I didn’t have to wait long! Some people in the audience gave me a standing ovation (thank you!) and the day after SHINE shot up to No. 2 on the Amazon pre-order charts! Thank you ITV! And thank you so much to everyone who has ordered and bought SHINE, I couldn’t do this without you!

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Shine
3rd August 2011

On Monday the 1st of August I went to ITV West Country in Bristol for an interview with Naomi Lloyd and an acoustic performance. It was a great trip out and every one there was so lovely! The interview and performance were aired on the 1st at 6pm but there are longer versions of both the interview and the performance available on the website at ITV.com/westcountry.

On Tuesday the 2nd of August I had an interview with BBC Radio Scotland which was educational – they taught me about kilts – and then I was straight off to a writing session. Then after an hour or so I was back on the road to go to an interview with the BBC World Service and it was there that I saw my album finished and packaged for the very first time! I can’t describe that feeling, I almost had a maternal bond with it! It is the culmination of all my efforts not just of the past year and a half while we were crafting it, but of all the steps I took, the leaps of faith, the desperate hope to make your impossible dream reality and there it was in my hands. Its so beautiful. It truly does ‘paint in sound the colour of human emotions’; a quote taken from the back of one of my Grandmas old singing books that I incorporated in to my thank you’s at the back of the booklet. I hope you all love it as much as I do!

Then after an emotional interview with the BBC I returned back to the writing session – its been such a fruitful day!

Can’t wait for tomorrow!

Love Mary-Jess x

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Glorious
13th June 2011

Hey guys, my 2nd single is Glorious which I hope you all like. For me, it’s one of the most emotive songs on the record. I wrote it with the hugely talented Chris Eaton; we had worked together before on My Own Sunrise and so I was really looking forward to working with him again. I brought up a list of ideas and references and we were inspired! Chris got straight on the piano and the chorus melody flew from my voice and on to the page. The subject had already been decided for me that morning, when I saw the heart breaking images of our soldiers being brought home through Wootton Bassett. It touched me so much that I had to write about it, so here are the lyrics and the thoughts behind them:

“Over time, time will heal the heart ache” What can you say to someone who has lost a loved one in such tragic circumstances? This is our attempt to comfort those who are grieving.

“Waiting for the joyous return, waiting for the coming of daybreak… Can you hear this promise tonight? I will wait forever for daybreak” We are waiting for the day that they return and they have our promise that we will wait for them and never forget them.

“So close your eyes, and pray they’ll be alright” A plea to all those at home to pray for their safety.
“Glorious” The soldiers are glorious, and what they are doing for our country is glorious.

We can’t thank them enough, our glorious heroes.

Love Mary-Jess xxx

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The Photo Shoot
10th June 2011

Hello there, it’s been such an exciting start to my week!

On Monday 6th I was at a photo shoot with my mum, Liz, for an article with The Mail on Sunday. The shoot went really well and everyone was really encouraging. We used Menzies Flitwick Manor as the beautiful setting for the day and used a variety of places around the grounds to get different settings for the photos. The last set up was outside with my mum and I looking to be enjoying a cream tea (one of my favourite things) but I couldn’t have any! Because I am recording at the moment I’m completely off dairy! My lemon mint tea was very nice though… Thank you to every one involved in the shoot and thank you to the Mail on Sunday!

On Tuesday I recorded a cover of a very well known song that’s featuring on a compilation album released later this year. Unfortunately I’m not allowed to say any more just yet, but I can tell you it’s for a very good cause.

On Wednesday I was in London at the video shoot for my second single ‘Glorious’! The styling was perfect with a long flowing dress and a Chinese umbrella, and I loved my hair and make up. It was shot against a green screen so that amazing landscapes can be added to the background and for me there was a lot of lip syncing, twirling of the umbrella and spinning around in the dress – which did make me feel rather dizzy! It was a fantastic experience so thank you to the director, Tom King, and to everyone involved, I can’t wait to see it!

Love Mary-Jess xxx

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The Radio Tour
7th June 2011

Hello everyone, Coming to the end of a whirlwind radio tour of the UK now and it has been amazing getting out there and singing to so many people! My first single ‘Are You the Way Home?’ has been played at all the interviews and I have also performed three other tracks from my forth coming album ‘SHINE’, these are ‘Glorious’, ‘Lighthouse of Mine’ and ‘Stand As One’.

On Monday we spoke to BBC Radio Devon, BBC Radio Kent, BBC Radio Gloucestershire where I sang in the Cathedral- always an amazing experience, Total Star Radio where I was interviewed by a fellow judge from ‘Gloucester Youth’s Got Talent’, BBC Radio H&W and BBC Radio Wales.

On Tuesday we visited Lincs FM who actually service nine radio stations! So that was really exciting! Then we headed on to BBC Radio Humberside for two interviews and performances and both went really well so great day!

On Wednesday we took the train from Leeds down to London for a pre-record interview with the wonderful Rick Astley! It was a great interview with some fun questions so I can’t wait to hear it on the airwaves! We then jumped back on the train up to Leeds for an interview and performance with ITV Yorkshire.

On Thursday our first stop was BBC Radio Newcastle, then on to Radio Teesdale and then I had two interviews at BBC Radio Manchester; they heard I was in the studio for an interview with their ‘China Town’ program and so made some space for me on their live show! It was so exciting and I was really grateful that they were able to squeeze me in!On Friday we met with Blackpool TV for an interview, we then travelled to BBC Radio Lancashire and from there on to Smooth Radio where I performed four tracks from my forthcoming album ‘SHINE’, and then the last of the day was BBC Radio Merseyside.

1323.4 miles later I was back home, thank you so much to all the radio stations we visited for giving me the opportunity to meet you all and play my music for you and your listeners – can’t wait for the next tour!

Love Mary-Jess xxx