June 2013
Rebecca King, 23, from Clifton, is a mother-of-one and an aspiring singer/ songwriter who has performed in front of thousands of people as a guest on the Professionals On Ice arena tour...
I GREW up in Surrey and came to Nottingham four years ago to study for a degree in childhood studies at Nottingham Trent University.
My plan was to become a social worker or a teacher. I’d intended to do a PGCE after the degree but I had a baby in my third year. He’s 18 months old now.
I still hope to go back to university to do that, maybe by home learning when he’s in nursery full-time, or I’ll be an amazing singer.
The first recording of me singing was when I was three. It was my own song called Flower Shop. You can’t really understand any of the words, apart from Flower Shop.
I always did talent shows at school and I went to Stagecoach before doing a music performance course at college.
I sang at a fashion show in a club when I was at college and that was probably my first gig.
I’d grown up listening to very cheesy pop like Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, 911, Steps and Take That. But when I was at college my mind was opened up to a whole new world of music.
I really got in to Angie Stone, Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu and Raphael Saadiq.
I take a lot of influence from soul and roots reggae. My son’s dad, who I met at Trent, is from Barbados, and he introduced me to a lot of that music.
It’s funny because I never really wanted to go to university; I actually wanted to be a police officer. But in London, at that time, you had to become a PCSO first and that did not appeal to me at all.
None of my family are in the police. Both my parents are retired. My dad was in computers and it was a really well paid job but neither he nor my mum would spoil me and I’m thankful for that. It helped to prepare for me for university.
I had a great time at Trent. I wish I was still there now.
It was after I finished last summer that I started taking music more seriously, but I knew I needed to find someone to help me.
I heard William Kofi on Kemet FM one afternoon talking about what he does as a manager so I emailed him. I think after about ten emails he realised I was quite serious.
It was through William, who acts as my manager now, that I got to perform on the Professionals On Ice arena tour. It was very exciting to be a part of that. Although, it was offered to me five days before the first show at the arena in Sheffield.
There were about 2,000 people in the audience and all I could think was ‘please don’t fall on the ice’.
I wasn’t on skates but I had to walk in the dark across a carpet on the ice and on to the stage.
I did two songs at the beginning and two at the end. I sang two of my own called Come To Life and Damn It I Do and Christina Aguilera’s Ain’t No Other Man and Rihanna’s Diamonds.
It went down really well. The scariest bit was talking to the crowd in between the songs.
It was the first time I’d ever sung my own songs to anyone.
Now I do an open mic night every Thursday around Nottingham.
I’ve finished my album, Racing The Earth. There is a soulful undertone to the songs, so there are influences of Erykah Badu and Angie Stone but with touches of Aluna George. I love how weird but listenable their music is.
The first single from my album, called Damn It I Do, will be released in August.
For more information about Rebecca and to listen to her songs, go to www.rebeccaking-official.com
Rebecca King, 23, from Clifton, is a mother-of-one and an aspiring singer/ songwriter who has performed in front of thousands of people as a guest on the Professionals On Ice arena tour...
I GREW up in Surrey and came to Nottingham four years ago to study for a degree in childhood studies at Nottingham Trent University.
My plan was to become a social worker or a teacher. I’d intended to do a PGCE after the degree but I had a baby in my third year. He’s 18 months old now.
I still hope to go back to university to do that, maybe by home learning when he’s in nursery full-time, or I’ll be an amazing singer.
The first recording of me singing was when I was three. It was my own song called Flower Shop. You can’t really understand any of the words, apart from Flower Shop.
I always did talent shows at school and I went to Stagecoach before doing a music performance course at college.
I sang at a fashion show in a club when I was at college and that was probably my first gig.
I’d grown up listening to very cheesy pop like Britney Spears, the Spice Girls, 911, Steps and Take That. But when I was at college my mind was opened up to a whole new world of music.
I really got in to Angie Stone, Stevie Wonder, Erykah Badu and Raphael Saadiq.
I take a lot of influence from soul and roots reggae. My son’s dad, who I met at Trent, is from Barbados, and he introduced me to a lot of that music.
It’s funny because I never really wanted to go to university; I actually wanted to be a police officer. But in London, at that time, you had to become a PCSO first and that did not appeal to me at all.
None of my family are in the police. Both my parents are retired. My dad was in computers and it was a really well paid job but neither he nor my mum would spoil me and I’m thankful for that. It helped to prepare for me for university.
I had a great time at Trent. I wish I was still there now.
It was after I finished last summer that I started taking music more seriously, but I knew I needed to find someone to help me.
I heard William Kofi on Kemet FM one afternoon talking about what he does as a manager so I emailed him. I think after about ten emails he realised I was quite serious.
It was through William, who acts as my manager now, that I got to perform on the Professionals On Ice arena tour. It was very exciting to be a part of that. Although, it was offered to me five days before the first show at the arena in Sheffield.
There were about 2,000 people in the audience and all I could think was ‘please don’t fall on the ice’.
I wasn’t on skates but I had to walk in the dark across a carpet on the ice and on to the stage.
I did two songs at the beginning and two at the end. I sang two of my own called Come To Life and Damn It I Do and Christina Aguilera’s Ain’t No Other Man and Rihanna’s Diamonds.
It went down really well. The scariest bit was talking to the crowd in between the songs.
It was the first time I’d ever sung my own songs to anyone.
Now I do an open mic night every Thursday around Nottingham.
I’ve finished my album, Racing The Earth. There is a soulful undertone to the songs, so there are influences of Erykah Badu and Angie Stone but with touches of Aluna George. I love how weird but listenable their music is.
The first single from my album, called Damn It I Do, will be released in August.
For more information about Rebecca and to listen to her songs, go to www.rebeccaking-official.com
