‘One lady couldn’t talk, so I sang ... Oh, my goodness, the change in her was incredible!’

Soprano Margaret Keys on how her life was transformed by a Scottish dementia sufferer

SOPRANO Margaret Keys was born with a unique talent. But it took an elderly Scottish lady to show her the true value of her gift. Now with a new album,

A Winter’s Tale, out in time for Christmas, she explains how she first truly understood the power of music.

“I was studying at the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama,” she says in a soft Northern Irish accent. “Like most students, I needed to make a bit of money to help pay the bills and so I applied for a job with the council for Music in Hospitals. We had to do an audition and demonstrate that, as well as being able to sing or play an instrument, we had the ability to engage and present the lyrics. Anyway I got the job and, along with a fellow student, who played piano, started touring the hospitals.

“Initially for me, it was just a job. But then, one day, we went to this home for the elderly where I met a lady who had dementia. She couldn’t talk or communicate, nothing, her face was completely blank. I tried holding her hand, thinking it might comfort her, but it only made her more agitated.

“I didn’t want to push it so I decided to sing instead. I sang The White Cliffs of Dover and other similar ones, you

know, In The Wee Small Hours of the Morning – songs that I thought her generation would recognise. Oh, my goodness, the change in that woman was incredible! She began to sing, her whole demeanour altered and she brightened up. I mean, she literally became a different woman. It was truly amazing.

“The experience changed me too. I’ll never forget how I felt as I was leaving that place. I came away thinking, ‘My goodness, what that music and those lyrics did for that lady’. It was a gift from me to her.

“From that moment on I understood how important my job was going to be.”

Keys went on to become a primary school teacher but a few years later decided to take a career break and try her luck in the music industry. It proved a wise move. Her CV is an impressive catalogue of television appearances and performances, including a debut at the Royal Albert Hall in London and the Carnegie Hall in New York.

In 2015, she was among a handful of artists invited to sing at a concert for Pope Francis during his visit to America. “Yes, meeting the Pope was very special,” she recalls. “The whole situation felt a little surreal. I remember looking over and seeing Aretha Franklin on one side of me and Andrea Bocelli on the other and asking myself, ‘How on earth did I end up here?’ ”

Now, having performed at St James’ Palace in London for the Royal Concert this week, Keys can barely contain her excitement. “It’s like an early Christmas present!” she laughs. “I’m so delighted and it’s such an honour.”

So how did a wee girl from Londonderry become a star? “There are no professionally trained musicians in our family but we all loved music. My grandparents lived next door and they loved all the big musicals.

“My grandmother was a great singer. I’d go in and find my granda sitting with his wireless listening to stars like Doris Day or Mario Lanza. Those were the sounds that influenced me growing up.

“As a teenager, I wasn’t into pop. I loved people like Julie Andrews and sounds like The King and I. Nowadays I’d have to say one of my favourite songs is La Vie En Rose [by Edith Piaf]. But I think it depends on the mood I’m in. I still think about my granda and how he’d sit engrossed in his music, his hands waving in the air.

“Back then I thought it wonderful that music could give this man so much passion and enjoyment. I want my music to give people that same experience.”

While her sister went on to study medicine, Keys decided to train as a singer. At the same time, she studied for a degree in musical education and qualified as a teacher.

“I love working with children as well