Nicola Marie

Nicola Marie is a singer and performer from Nottinghamshire. Born in 1976, she begins dancing at the age of four and studies at Elaine Varney, Janet Ashton and Debbie Pegg schools and academies in Nottingham and Lincoln, earning honours in each age group up to the age of sixteen.

Early performance work

In her early teens, she appears in musical theatre productions including Annie, Carousel, Fiddler on the Roof and The D’Oyly Carte production of Yeoman of the Guard. At fourteen, she joins the Nottingham theatre group NET and is cast as the singing narrator in the musical William Booth at the Nottingham Playhouse, where her character name remains Nicola Harris in the original score.

Training and education

At sixteen she studies for a B-Tech in performing arts at The Nottingham Arts In Education Centre. During this period she writes songs, choreographs routines for production shows and performs twice at the Edinburgh Festival. After completing the course, she receives a Nottinghamshire County Council grant of £32,000 to study at Laine Theatre Arts in London.

At Laine, she studies acting, dance and singing. Vocal coach Nigel Brookes, associated with the BBC’s Nigel Brookes Singers, identifies and develops her vocal ability and introduces her to opera.

Work as a vocalist

During a vacation, she applies for seasonal work at Butlins in Skegness and, after auditioning, is offered a full-time role as principal female vocalist. She performs there for three years, appearing in twelve shows a week, learning more than 100 songs and several dance routines in a month. She has a personal show called Carnival Magic with a live band and dances with six professional dancers in Obsession, performing to audiences of over 3,500 each night.

In 1998, she leaves in order to move on to new challenges. She then fronts the band Images at a resort in Great Yarmouth, taking a more audience-led role and developing her skills in audience participation. At the end of that year, she and the band join the cruise ship The Festival Bolero, performing in the Caribbean for six months. On board, she performs cocktail sets with the band and West End-style production shows with the ship’s cast.