Carrie and David Grant

Carrie and David Grant were  coaches on the three series of “Comic Relief Does Fame Academy”, where they helped develop the vocal abilities of the celebrities as well as championing their cause with the judges. Carrie and David were the vocal coaches and judges on “Fame Academy” having also appeared as vocal coaches in “Pop Idol”, with Carrie having been featured in the original “Fame Academy”. However both of their careers cover a far wider area.

Through the early 1980’s David had a very successful career as the vocalist for the Brit-Funk duo Linx. The partnership with bassist Sketch provided four Top Twenty singles between 1980 and 1983 with “Intuition”, “Throw away the key”, “So this is Romance” and the classic “You’re Lying” as well as a silver album with “Intuition”. Linx were nominated for a Brit Award in the Best Newcomer Category. He also takes a keen interest in politics and current affairs and is frequently appearing on “Daily Politics” and “BBC Breakfast News”.

Interactively using the medium of music, they have trained, amongst many others, clients such as The Foreign Office, Body Shop, Orange, Skandia, Skanska, Pfizer and Express Newspapers.

When the band split in 1983 David went on to have a very successful solo career with three Top 30 hits, “Stop and go”, “Watching you watching me” and “Love will find a way” followed by the Top 5 duet with Jaki Graham “Could it be I’m falling in love”. In all David has had some 14 hit singles in the UK charts, and was nominated for a Brit Award in the Best Male Category.

Throughout this period David also found time to be presenting various tv shows, including “Riverside”, “CDQ” as well as being virtually a resident on Mike Read’s “Pop Quiz” and presenting various soul shows, including the Robbie Vincent Show on BBC Radio London. He was also nominated for Best newcomer in the Brit Awards as lead singer of Linx. He is now also a top-session singer, and vocal arranger and vocal producer, appearing on various tv shows including Jools Holland’s “Later”.

Carrie has had various roles in the entertainment industry. Starting as a dancer on Top of The Pops and moving into presenting for Children’s television, for network programmes such as “How dare you” (Tyne Tees),”Freeze Frame” and the BBC’s award winning series “Heart and Soul” (BBC1), which entailed in-depth interviews. Carrie then moved into session singing where she became one of the country’s top session singers. Working with the likes of Diana Ross, Roberta Flack, Rod Stewart, Lighthouse Family, Fat Boy Slim and many others.

Watching and WaitingDavid and Carrie then worked together on their highly acclaimed gospel album “Watching and waiting” which went on to win them a prestigious MOBO Award as best gospel album for 1998. Carrie followed this with vocal coaching and producing, working with some of the UK’s top pop acts in the US, Europe and the UK.

Total Singing Tutor Carrie and David are passionate about singing and have released their award winning vocal coaching DVD/Video, “You Can Sing”, and book “Total Singing Tutor”, which are invaluable aids to both beginners and professionals who wish to get the best from their singing voices. Their commitment to singing is huge and they are often involved with events where they coach an audience to sing.

At the end of 2007 Carrie and David received the prestigious Gold Badge Award presented by The British Academy of Composers and Songwriters in recognition of their outstanding contribution to British music.

Together they are also involved in mentoring work. They are both very supportive of young people in the Arts and have presented awards at The Teaching Awards and various Education and Learning Awards, as well as David becoming Ambassador for UK Skills.

Carrie and David have been working with executives from companies and organisations around the world for the past fifteen years. Their work covers the areas of Change Management, Team Building, Leadership Strategy and Emotional Intelligence.

One thing all companies can guarantee is that over the years change will come. For whatever reason, whether due to market forces, competition, legislation or simply growth, every business and organisation needs the ability to evolve. How do leaders in these areas successfully navigate transition?

Carrie and David take music and use it to bring a fresh approach to leadership and team building. They touch on “attitudes to change,” the innovation needed to “stay ahead of the game,” the passion required from the top downwards to lead others and how to successfully communicate a vision. They also look at the value of the individual – in a results orientated business environment people need the occasional reminder they are “human beings” and not “human doings.”

Carrie and David lead their sessions with great passion teaching the participants how to sing. Whilst the aim is never to single out or humiliate, the experience is still confrontational but in a positive way. Taking people out of their comfort zones can often lead to cutting through status and conflict issues. How do people react to having to sing? Do they feel out of their depth? Do they find this experience an opportunity or a threat? Even this initial reaction can help people begin to analyse how they and their teams react to change. How passionate are they about their work? If they have no passion how can others around them (whether colleagues or customers) be expected to believe in the company’s vision? How can teams work together to both innovate and implement a vision successfully?

Carrie and David suggest the answers to all of these questions by using singing as a metaphor. They coach from 8 to 1,000 people in either a training setting or an entertainment event.

Companies and organizations Carrie & David have worked with include: The Foreign and Commonwealth Office, The Home Office, The Cabinet Office, BBC Worldwide, Ernst & Young, Coutts, Price Waterhouse, Pfizer, Lloyds TSB, Express Newspapers, Skandia, Orange, Skanska, Sainsburys, IMG, The Body Shop, Dixons, Shell, The NHS, Tesco, The Audit Commission and many others.

Artists: Take That, The Spice Girls, Michael Jackson, The Saturdays, Gwyneth Paltrow, Will Young.
TV: The One Show, Fame Academy, Pop Idol, Carrie & David’s Popshop, The One & Only, The Sound of Musicals, Facing the Music, Songs of Praise.
Awards: BASCA 2008 award for services to the music industry, MOBO for Best Gospel Act 1998, BAFTA 2013 for BBC1’s Glee Club.
Ambassadors of: The Princes Trust, The Diana Award, UK Skills, Crohns and Colitis UK, Youth Music, World Vision.

The programme is specifically geared towards the client’s needs and messages. The delegates are led through a 60-120-minute series of entertaining and challenging song-based exercises. Even those who are uncertain of their ability or lack the desire to engage find, 20 mins in that they are successfully singing in harmony & counter-melody.