Carleen Anderson, winner of 2013 Jazz FM UK Vocalist of the Year, is one of the most powerful vocalists today. She’s est known for her role in spearheading the Acid Jazz scene of 1990s as lead singer of both the Young Disciples and the Brand New Heavies and with hits like Apparently Nothing, Mama Said and her much loved cover of Don’t Look Back in Anger.
Soul music training was from James Brown (her Godfather), Bobby Byrd (Step-father), and Vicki Anderson (her biological Mother). She studied classical and jazz music at the University of Southern California and Classical Literature at UCLA before migrating to the UK in 1990 where, with Femi Williams and Marco Nelson, she formed the Young Disciples.
In 2013 Carleen Carleen’s exploration of theatre took a major leap forward when she sang the lead role of Isolde in Julian Joseph’s Jazz Opera reworking of Wagner’s Tristan and Isolde at the Royal Opera House. She is now poised to launch a new chapter in her career with the development for mid-scale touring of her self-penned semi-autobiographical work Cage Street Memorial.
Cage Street Memorial is an original solo narrative theatre work; an affectionate, deeply personal chronicle of a woman’s past and journey to her future. Presented in the form of a simple oration of love from one woman to her grandparents, it is also a reflection upon seismic culture shifts and attitudes in racial and social history.
Derek Richards is Creative Producer (building the artistic team, raising funds, developing institutional partnerships and project managing the R&D process) as well as Media Artist for this production.
Development teaser directed and edited by Derek Richards
This project, currently in development, enables Anderson and a strong creative team brought together by producer Derek Richards to develop CSM as a powerful performance, which will tour nationally in 2018. It utilises music, song and poetry alongside film sequences of Anderson’s family recollections and key historical events. 3D mapped projections, facilitating Carleen’s engagement with virtual characters and environments; live video feeds, and devices such as a prayer/hymn book secreted with objects and supplied to each audience member, will immerse the audience in the powerful experience of her grandfather’s church services. These services were participatory song and storytelling experiences that have inspired Anderson to create the musical, but for Cage Street Memorial the guiding voice will be Anderson’s own.
Find out more at cagestreetmemorial.com