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Dublin born singer / songwriter Roberta Howett has a musical background grounded in classical training with
“The Royal Academy of Music”.
Her first love of music started at the age of just six & between the ages of ten and fifteen, she was a
"Feis Ceoil" winner multiple times across choral, solo vocalist and piano categories.
During her early teens, Roberta performed as a solo lead vocalist in Dublin's world renowned
"National Concert Hall" and was instrumental throughout her school musical productions.
Leaving school, Roberta went on to complete a Bachelor of Commerce Degree at University College Dublin finishing with First Class Honours, majoring in Banking & Finance.
Throughout her studies, Roberta also cut her teeth singing Jazz and Blues standards in venues around Ireland, whilst also forming and becoming lead vocalist with the band
“Femmes Fatales”.
In 2004, Roberta was persuaded to try out for what was to be the very first series of the
"X-Factor". Over 50,000 applicants applied for the series & she sang her way to become one of the 9 finalists, receiving accolades from
Simon Cowell, Louis Walsh and ultimately being championed by Sharon
Osbourne. Roberta competed on live television in front of millions of viewers & also completed a full arena tour around the UK with the finalists including performances in
Wembley and Manchester Arenas.
With the X-Factor complete, Roberta moved to London permanently to gain further experience and develop her own composing skills. Whilst there she began working with producers and performing throughout London venues such as Bush Hall, ULU & the Soho Revue. Roberta also studied Method Acting for a year at The Method Centre in London, under the tutelage of Brian Timoney. As a result, she landed lead roles in
"Truly, Madly, Deeply", "Hills like White Elephants" and "Drunks".
It was while performing around London that Roberta met with Toni Castells, aka
"Momo", a composer from Barcelona, who asked her to feature on his album
"Unharmed". Described by Michael Haas, multi Grammy award winning classical producer, as Morricone meets Satie, the Momo family have performed extensively around the UK and Spain with Roberta as a key performer.
After her two year “apprenticeship” in London, Roberta moved back to Dublin to concentrate on developing her song writing further with a firm eye on a solo career. Roberta has yet to officially release any of her own music
but has written and recorded extensively. In 2008, she put out a “taster” to radio in the form of the hauntingly beautiful
“Shadows” which gained radio play on national Irish radio station
"Today FM" (song of the week) and many local stations. Ray Foley from Today FM chose
“Shadows” to feature on Downloadmusic.ie’s innovative “best of unsigned Irish Artists”
‘USB Key’ compilation album release.
Roberta has appeared on National TV in both Ireland and the UK including:
·The Panel (RTE 1 Ireland)
·Satitude (RTE 2 – Ireland)
·Ireland AM (TV 3 Ireland)
·GMTV (UK)
·X-Factor 2, (ITV 2 UK)
·She has also hosted documentary style pieces about Dublin and its nightlife for an MTV special.
Roberta continues to perform throughout Ireland and abroad, singing her own songs at solo shows (with some covers) and a mix of corporate events, all the while building her experience. As a session singer, Roberta is a backing vocalist for
Sharon Corr & Ronan Keating and has enjoyed performances at
the "Glastonbury Festival 2009" as well as “The Late Late Show”
on RTE 1. She is constantly "in demand" both as a backing vocalist and co-writer for other artists.
Roberta cites Minni Ripperton, Aretha Franklin, Carole King and Dionne Warwick as influences on her musical style and singing career to date & describes herself as a
“Pop artist - with a difference”, focusing clearly on her powerful voice and the emotion within her songs. She has been likened to
Tori Amos and Kate Bush but retains that element of ‘uniqueness’.
She has now reached the stage where she has the experience, craft and songs to launch herself as a solo artist performing her own material.
The first big move in this direction is the release of her debut single in the
first quarter of 2010.
The release is bound to attract significant attention and will lead towards the release of Roberta’s debut album later in the year.
Keep a very close eye out for Roberta Howett…. you can be sure she will be a household name within the year.
Roberta's website is currently under construction and will be completed in
February 2010:
http://www.robertahowett.com
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