Sultry singer Nadia Rae has already wowed industry experts on BBC1’s Frank Sinatra tribute programme Our Way this month and is now gearing up for the Grand National Final of Open Mic this weekend.
The Enfield songstress, who went to Southgate Secondary School, will go up against Havva Rebke, also from Enfield, and 23 other singers in the prestigious competition on Saturday.
The self-employed music teacher, who is also a member of the London-based SHE Choir, says she discovered her love of music when she sang Whitney Houston songs with her aunty, and her granddad inspired her to learn the piano.
He was also the one who prompted her to enter the search for a singer to perform at a special concert to mark what would have been Sinatra’s centenary year.
Nadia, who sang her version of Fly Me to the Moon, says: “My granddad was big fan of Sinatra and that is how I became a fan of the music. Sinatra’s style of performing was really confident and expressive, so I was really excited to give my own arrangement of one of his songs.
“I applied through a music website called Star Now, and they contacted me to audition for the show. There were thousands of applicants and only a few got short-listed, so it felt like a wonderful achievement.“
Sadly she lost out to another act, but she will be taking to the stage at Open Mic with another big song, Halo by Beyonce.
The Alicia Keys fan says: “My dream has always been to be able to do music as a full-time job and create songs with a message that people can relate to.
“I measure my success by how much I have been able to communicate with people through music, and so when someone tells me that they have heard one of my songs and enjoyed it or related to it, it’s an amazing feeling.“
The unsigned singer recently released the single Hope for the Angels Charity, which looks after children in South Africa, and she is working on an EP entitled Warrior Princess, which is due to be released this summer.
“I have been working with some producers called Digilantz and the songs are coming along nicely,“ says Nadia.
“It’s an extremely exciting time and I really enjoy writing music and being in the studio with my song-writing partner Angelina Nicolaou, I always leave feeling uplifted and excited about the project.“
Details: nadiaraemusic.com, openmicuk.co.uk
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