The Voice Squad

Photo: Jason Lock

Howard Goodall: "If no choirs existed and a choir were to be started from scratch, The Voice Squad would be the one that the young people would want to form and belong to."

“The Voice Squad” began life as a 10-girl group, all under 12 years old, who met for half an hour on Saturdays in late 1992, in the lounge of a small terraced house (located conveniently near to the local sweet shop) to giggle a lot & sing a bit. Many years & thousands of miles of strawberry laces later, it has grown to a mixed-voice group of national renown, 40-50 strong, generally aged 13-20, selected by audition. Then there's the Voice Squad Cadets, a training squad of around 30 bright-eyed, shiny-faced 6-14 year olds, and together we rampage up and down the country, performing to a variety of audiences.

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There’s very little of the Traditional Choir about us, as our repertoire and presentation are not generally standard choral stuff. We like to sing jazz, folk, show-tunes, gospel and world music…we stage popular pieces by Queen and Abba, Maroon 5, Billy Joel…and we study some “proper” classical choral music too… More often than not our work is presented with elements of costume, make-up and movement.

The Squads have performed at venues such as The Royal Albert Hall, the London Palladium, The Queen Elizabeth Hall and The Royal Opera House. We have also staged full-scale musicals, usually at the Theatre Royal, Bury St. Edmunds….past productions include Crazy for You, Copacabana, the Sweeney Todd Shock ‘n’ Roll Show, Trolls, several home-grown musicals, and the inevitable Bugsy Malone & West Side Story.

We have a strong connection with Richard Stilgoe and his work with disabled performing artists at the Orpheus centre in Surrey, and perform loads of gigs in aid of various charitable causes. We have also appeared as the warm-up act for G4 and the London Community Gospel Choir.

The Senior Squad recently performed in the Royal festival Hall as Finalists in the BBC Radio 3 Choir of the Year 2009 Competition… as a result we also had our singing broadcast locally on Radio Suffolk, and on Radio 3, BBC TV, and Live from the Blue Peter Garden. Some fantastic compliments were thrown our way by Aled Jones (the presenter) and Howard Goodall, who said that if no choirs existed and a choir were to be started from scratch, The Voice Squad would be the one that the young people would want to form and belong to. “This is Your Choir”…we’re proud of what we do, and love to entertain.

And singers continue to perform long after they leave us! Many Seniors have gone on to careers in the Performing Arts…teachers, opera singers, cabaret artistes, West End performers, television actors, etc. Some have founded their own companies, and many still return to us to join projects, gigs and productions.