Sara Dowling
“"Gifted with immensely emotional vocals [Sara's] influences are wide and far reaching, reminiscent of jazz and soul greats such as Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin and Candi Staton, but mixed with poetic lyrics and haunting melodies"”
last.fm
After studying at Chethams, the specialist music school in Manchester, in 2003 Sara moved on to study cello at the Royal Northern College of Music, gaining a degree in music and growing exposure as a performer. However, after taking time out in the mid 2000's from being an instrumentalist, Sara re-emerged in 2009 as an impressive singer and it wasn't long before she had re-established herself as a significant performer of breadth and intensity. Her repertoire is eclectic, as well as being an excellent singer/songwriter Sara is also an adept Jazz vocalist, performing songs from the classic American Songbook in an inimitable and authentic style. Which means her beautiful, sonorous voice can be heard not only performing originals with her own excellent band but also with the likes of the London Dance Orchestra, performing classics from the 1930's and 40's. And if all that wasn't enough, over the last 3 years she has also moved to establish herself as a composer of some note, writing songs for the likes of EMI, Sony, ATV, Warner and ITV Juice as well as for film and television. But it is undoubtedly as a performer of style and ability that Sara is starting to really make an impact on the UK jazz scene, tonight appearing with her excellent band featuring some of the finest jazz musicians around: Gabriel Latchin piano, Dave Green-bass, Steve Brown-drums. The music is a mix of impressive originals and classic jazz standards and well worth catching.
"Gifted with immensely emotional vocals [Sara's] influences are wide and far reaching, reminiscent of jazz and soul greats such as Nina Simone, Billie Holiday, Aretha Franklin and Candi Staton, but mixed with poetic lyrics and haunting melodies" last.fm