Biography

Naoise was born in Dublin, Ireland. Sitting in her high-chair, she had an early introduction to the music world, when her mother Bláithín would play guitar and sing Country songs in the kitchen. Soon they began singing and writing duets for fun. Naoise wanted to be a teacher, not a singer, but life was to take a very different direction.

As a child she attended singing and drama classes and enjoyed them as a hobby. She was chosen as a soloist for performances in Dublin's Olympia Theatre and for Ireland's President, Mary Robinson, at a prestigious event attended by 70,000 people. All this and she was still only 15!

Continuing her 'hobby' she started classical singing lessons aged 18 with Dr. Veronica Dunne and began to enter competitions and audition for lead-roles. Winning several high-profile competitions and performing in Dublin's Gaiety Theatre and National Concert Hall, Naoise and those around her began to realise that her voice was something special.

"When I won RTE Singer of the Year people started to take notice and I was offered lead roles in concerts and Gilbert & Sullivan operettas. At this point, although I had started to think of singing as a career possibility, I went to college and gained a BA Degree in Geography, Psychology and the Irish language."

Just after she graduated, Naoise auditioned for Riverdance - The Show and was invited to tour Europe and Asia, understudying the lead-role. Just two weeks into the tour she was singing lead for 5,000 people in Paris, France, followed by solo performances in Hong-Kong for audiences of 8,000. She had truly been 'bitten by the bug'!

"My first experience with Riverdance made me realise that I could no longer view singing as something I did in my spare time. I could do what I loved doing, travel the world and earn money at the same time. I was so happy."

Never one to assume, Naoise decided that she needed more training if she was to give herself a proper chance. Although she had been heading in a classical direction, her love of Musical Theatre took over and she auditioned to study at the Royal Academy of Music in London, England. She gained her place, moved to London and took daily classes in dance, drama, voice, physiology, sight-reading, music theory, history, improvisation, performance technique and much more. It was here she met vocal specialist Mary King.

"Mary King played such an important role in my development as a singer. She only taught 6 singers per year at the Academy and I feel so lucky to have been one of them. She is the coach on ITV's Popstar to Operastar TV programme (UK) and has renowned expertise in both vocal styles, which is exactly what I needed, coming from a classical background. Over the year, she helped me to discover my true voice and coached me to go on and win the annual singing competition at the Academy, adjudicated by some of the West End's biggest directors. When I played 'Belle' in Disney's Beauty and the Beast in 2010, I went back to Mary, as nobody knows my voice like shedoes."

After her training, Naoise moved back to Ireland and continued to perform, taking leading roles in Into The Woods, 'I Love You, You're Perfect, Now Change', Songs for a New World, The Sound of Music, The Pirates of Penzance and many other shows. She toured as a guest artist with The Three Irish Tenors on their tours of the United States, performed in many concerts and also ventured into Opera, performing in Puccini's Madama Butterfly.

Whisper of Angels is Naoise's debut album. The self-financed CD sums up the music styles she's loved up until now, with a mix of light Classical, Irish Traditional and Musical Theatre.

The year 2012 will see Naoise returning to her Classical roots. With an exciting change of direction and a stunning new image, Naoise fuses the emotion of Classical arias and majesty of a symphony orchestra with Irish Traditional instruments and Rock guitars.