It was performing at Brookfield School that kick-started the singing career for Katie Holmes, star of the five-some acapella group Band of Voices, which sang in the semi final of Britain’s Got Talent this week.
The 29-year-old became well known for her performances during her time at the Sarisbury Green secondary school, as well as for her skillful footwork at Sandra’s Dance Studio, also based in Sarisbury.
Band of Voices on Britain’s Got Talent semi finals
Since then she has gone on to tour and work alongside huge stars in the industry – including Professor Green, former X Factor star Leona Lewis and Lily Allen to name but a few.
Although Band of Voices was knocked out of the ITV contest on Monday (May 27), Katie has high hopes for their futures and still hopes they may get a wild card into the final – but hasn’t forgotten her roots in Locks Heath that got her to this point.
“I built my reputation as a singer in secondary school,” said the former Park Gate School pupil.
“When I was at Brookfield a lot of my year group and the teachers saw me get up in assembly to perform all the time.
“They knew of me as ‘Katie, she’s the singer’. I always got involved in school productions. It was the best start for me. It was a really great school when I was there and they were very supportive.”
While she enrolled at Fareham College for four weeks, Katie decided that to boost her singing potential she should work in London as session artist, recording tracks and working as a backing vocalist. Ultimately this made her leave college and make a start on her career in the capital.
And she hasn’t looked back.
Although the acapella vocal harmony group has only been performing together for eight months, they took to the London Palladium stage to audition in front of music mogul Simon Cowell and his judging panel Amanda Holden, Alisha Dixon and David Walliams.
Band of Voices – Lloyd Wade, Craig Stein, Katie Holmes, Louise Bagen and Andy Playfoot
At their initial audition they sang Jessie J’s Price Tag and after a rippling round of applause and positive comments from the judges were asked to perform their second pre-prepared song, the national anthem God Save The Queen.
Katie said: “It felt really nerve-wracking to go on because we’ve all watched the show in the previous years. A group on before us got buzzed and it was the most awful sound.
“I knew if we got buzzed it would be so off-putting and loud. But they didn’t buzz us. They asked us to perform again. Simon Cowell said, ‘I love you guys. I get it. There’s not anything like you in the industry at the moment.’”
Original member Kelli-Leigh left the group after the initial audition to pursue a solo career, which is when Louise Bagen, 27, joined Katie, Craig Stein, 28, Lloyd Wade, 41, and Andy Playfoot, 46.
During the semi-final on Monday the group’s chemistry oozed on stage singing Britney Spears’ Hit Me Baby One More Time with a pre-recorded backing track of themselves making the sound of guitars, drums and beats.
Band of Voices were the bookies favourites to win the entire contest. But they were beaten to go through to the finals by 11-year-old power ballad singer Arisxandra Libantino and Welsh brothers Richard and Adam.
“It was a shame and we all felt a bit disappointed we didn’t get to the final,” added Katie. “We felt we came across true to ourselves. It was 100 per cent acapella. The two acts deserve to be there.
“On the day of the semi finals Leona sent me a text wishing us luck. We’ve grown really close working together again recently and the fact that she was in a similar position to me was amazing because it gave me the confidence to be confident like she was.
“We got tweets from Stephen Manderson, aka Professor Green, supporting us, as well as from Little Mix wishing us the best of luck, as Lloyd used to work as their vocal coach and Craig was a dancer for them.
“As much as we’re disappointed we didn’t make the final we’re still working on material we’re going to record for our supporters. Hopefully the programme will get us back on the wild card option.
“We will be performing everywhere. I would love to come down to Locks Heath, Southampton and Hampshire to perform.”