"Career with Heart and Soul" - Daily Mirror

It was a privilege for our founder Abi to share her story about setting up Soul Choirs in the Daily Mirror and how it has been so rewarding for her and wonderful to see it helping others. Read all about it!

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Daily Mirror: Careers page - Thursday 21st March 2024

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It's not just mega superstars making their living from singing - there are singers up and down the country who have turned their passion in successful businesses. Abi Gilchrist, 46, from Whitstable Kent is one of them who, as a choir director, runs 14 choirs with 600 amatuer singers. She is a session singer too.

How did you start out as a singer?

‍As a child I loved singing and began singing in my first choir at the age of seven. I went to the Guildhall School of Music and then the London School of Musical Theatre. I have performed at prestigious locations such as the Royal Albert Hall and the Royal Festival Hall in London and I started a jazz band called Miss Kiddy and the Cads.

Singing has taken me all over the world. Highlights include singing at the top of a mountain in Switzerland for a world leader, traveling to India to sing for a wedding and performing at Ronan Keating’s 40^th birthday.

I have also sung on many Hollywood soundtracks and scores including the current Dune 2 as a session singer.

How did the choirs come about?

As a hobby, I joined a choir and remembered how much I enjoyed singing in a group. I decided to set up my own community choir and I wanted to sing the music I loved – soul music by people like Marvin Gaye, Prince and Aretha Franklin – so I set up Greenwich Soul Choir in 2010. Our first session was in the upstairs of a restaurant and I had four members, but then I worked hard to spread the word and the choir grew from there. Three years after I started the business my husband Ross, who is a pianist and composer, joined me. During the pandemic it was Soul Choirs that kept us going financially and mentally. We were holding three online choir sessions per week and it was amazing seeing how the regular activity of singing and socialising (albeit online) was helping everyone through. It was then that I realised the choir could offer something much bigger than I had originally thought.
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What does the job involve on a day-to-day basis?

It is really varied and I have to be really organised, especially as still work alongside it as a professional session singer and also teaching musical theatre to professionals. Ross and I arrange seven songs for the choir every term – this term we have songs by Kate Bush and Aretha Franklin – and we run some of the choir sessions in London and Whitstable. Our choir sessions are 90-minutes long and we play the different choir parts on the piano and teach our members the songs by ear. Every term we hold concerts and local community performances, with the proceeds going to charity, and so we have to organise the venues and the marketing. We have a total of 6 Choir leaders so we need to brief them on the music and ensure they are happy with how they are teaching the choirs each week.

What do you love about the work?

I enjoy how varied the role is but mostly I love bringing people together in the local community. Most people are working or have families but they find friendship and a local network and they support each other. People are excited to see each other and it’s such a joyful activity. People say they feel such a high after choir – the everyday stresses melt away because for 90 minutes you’re concentrating and just being in the moment. It is also really satisfying seeing how far people have come; from people who are so nervous and don’t know the songs at the beginning of the term to seeing them belting them out with full confidence at the end of term, and being so happy and dancing along. I feel so proud and think; “We did that!”

What are some of your choir highlights?

We’ve been able to do amazing things with the choir and really open up people to new experiences, from performing in a play at the Young Vic, singing with superstars such as Jocelyn Brown, Lemar and Mica Paris and even appearing as the choir in the M&S Christmas advert in 2022! We also book choirs for professional engagements and have a choir appearing in a Netflix series soon.

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What difference can singing in a choir make for people?‍

I constantly hear amazing stories of the impact choir has had on people’s mental health and how it has helped them through tough times. One woman lost her son in a tragic accident and she said choir got her through the darkest times. Others have had cancer or Long Covid, all kinds of life challenges, but singing in the choir has brought them friendship and lifted them up.

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