Gemma’s happy place

Fergus Dennehy talks to Killarney singer and vocal coach Gemma Sugrue about her amazing career to date; a career which includes setting up her own business, supporting acts such as Brian Deady and James Vincent McMorrow and her pride at being able to perform a ‘hometown’ show alongside 2Fm’s Jenny Greene in the INEC last year.

TALKING to Gemma Sugrue this week, it’s clear as day to see that singing and music, simply put, is her ‘raison d’être’.

Fortunate enough to discover her life’s passion early on in life as a child, the Killarney native has gone from strength to strength in her career - receiving ringing endorsements from her peers, performing in stunning venues such as the ‘3 Arena’ and the INEC and setting up her own highly successful vocal training business, ‘Voiceworks’.

“It [music] is everything really. It’s so multi-faceted for me and my career that I love the coaching side of it, I love working with people and helping them unlock their ability. On the other side though, I also love the creativity and the expression and the buzz of performing myself as well,” said Gemma, speaking to The Kerryman.

“Engaging with an audience and helping them to escape any worries for the night. That’s very special for me,” she continued.

“I wouldn’t have believed that I would have made it my calling in life but I did feel like it was a very powerful thing that happened to me as a child, finding that thing that you just can’t ‘not do’ everyday and that you can’t live without. I feel very fortunate that I found this passion early on and that I pursued it and that I had the support and the opportunities to pursue it,”

Speaking about her love of working with fellow singers and helping to coach them to the best of their ability, Gemma said that it was out of a desire to help train more contemporary singers that she decided to set up ‘Voiceworks’ back in 2011.

“We set it [Voiceworks] up in 2011. It was myself and my business partner Laoise Leahy that set it up. She was with me for the first three years and now I have it myself.”

“Basically, we started with a summer camp in 2011 where we saw all this potential talent that were maybe not the type of singers that would pursue music theatre or who would pursue the classical side of things and who maybe had the potential to be contemporary singers or pop singers or jazz singers,” she continued.

“We didn’t feel that there was a lot out there for them to do or places for them to train and so we decided to set up ‘Voiceworks’. We wanted to make contemporary education more of a thing in Ireland,” she said.

In what only be described as a rousing business success story, the studio has now grown to having over 300 students in two counties - with 11 singing teachers in their Cork studio, four in Bandon and one in Kerry.

When she is not coaching the next generation of singers, there is nothing more that Gemma loves than to hop up on stage herself and feel that impossible to replicate feeling of a live performance for an audience.

One such performance that will always stand out as special for Gemma is her starring role alongside Jenny Greene and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra in the INEC in Killarney last December.

“We did the shows last year and they went down a storm so it was only right to come back again. I was massively excited to play in Killarney last year and for Jenny

and the rest of the orchestra to come and experience Kerry,” she said.

“I can’t emphasise enough how well they look after people in the INEC. Really, we had a ball down there. I want to say a special thank you to Fiona O’Connor and her team down there because they made it such a magic weekend for us down there.”

Of course, the audience too were amazing and a load of my friends were able to come and see it. It was just a brilliant and magical night down there. That was definitely one of my favourite shows to date,” she continued.

Another fond memory for the Killarney girl done good is her fond memory of providing the backing vocals for the one and only Bon Iver in a concert last year.

“It was kind of spiritual. It was such an amazing experience on stage and him, he’s just such an all-in kind of artist. He just makes the music that he wants to make and it just felt very special and I know the audience there, anyone that I met that went to it, that it was one of the best gigs that they’d ever been at. There was just magic in the air that night,” she said.

Throw in a Late, Late Show appearance last week providing backing vocals for James Vincent McMorrow and you’d start to wonder after the 3 Arena, her hometown INEC and now ‘The Late, Late Show’, what else is there for Gemma to tick off of her list?

“I don’t know,” she laughed, “I’m just having a great time I must say. I’m just so lucky,” she said.

Aside from the huge enjoyment that she gets from being on stage, ever the teacher, Gemma said that she uses every one of her shows as a teaching tool to help in her coaching role.

“My performance career informs my coaching so much and I can bring so many ideas and real experiences of performing back to my students which is so beneficial.

The phrase ‘taking it easy’ clearly doesn’t enter into Gemma’s vocabulary it seems as she lists out her schedule in the run to Christmas.

“I’m launching an album called ‘In My Nature’ and I will be previewing it at the Cork Jazz Festival at the end of October and then I am going to be launching it soon. Then I have a date to announce for Killarney and then dates for Cork and Dublin too. I’ll never get the chance to sit down,” she laughed.

Anyone looking to hear some more of Gemma’s music, then you can do so in a number of different ways - either through Gemma’s Facebook page (GemmaSugrueMusic) or through her Instagram (@GemmaSugrue).

She is back in the INEC with Jenny Greene and the RTÉ Concert Orchestra on Friday December 7 - tickets for which should be available to buy from the Ticketmaster website.

Best of luck, Gemma!

Engaging with an audience and helping them to escape any worries for the night. That’s very special for me. I’m just having a great time. I’m just so lucky.