About
Condensed Biography:
Louise started writing songs in 2005 at the age of 13. It started as a school project which evolved into Louise writing her first song, in honour of the First World War. This lead to Louise being invited to perform with the and the Royal Marines Band and also the Royal British Legion Band, who later arranged Louise’s song as an orchestral piece which featured on the Royal British Legion’s CD, Remembrance Day, and was released nationwide. From there she got the ‘writing-bug’ and wrote her first single ‘Children In Need’, which was recorded and distributed locally, with proceeds going to the charity. Following this, Louise continued writing songs leading to the release of her debut album, Piece of the Puzzle, six months later. At this time Louise joined Blackfish Academy of Performing Arts and landed the role of Scaramouche in their production of ‘We Will Rock You’.
Since then she hasn’t looked back and continued to perform and write new material which developed since the release of her first album. Louise continued to take both song writing and performing arts seriously, regularly appearing in musicals including Serena in ‘FAME’, lead role in ‘Pirates of Penzance’, Killer Queen in ‘We Will Rock You’, Mina in ‘Dracula’. Louise then went on to release her second studio album, That Girl, in 2010. The album received great reviews from all over the UK, landing Louise the title of ‘Spotlight Artist’ on UK Country Radio, where they played songs from That Girl every day for a week. Louise went on to promote the album on a tour around the UK starting with a launch concert at the Tower Theatre, going on to play at well-known music venues such as Pizza Express in Maidstone, The Grey Lady in Tunbridge Wells, Sussex University, Catholic Underground in London, the Brightlights Festival, and a week long summer tour in Gibraltar. Louise also supported several top UK acts including The Webb Sisters and Jon Allen, who have both featured on BBC Radio 2 with their music. Louise’s music has also been played regularly on BBC Radio Shropshire, BBC Radio Strathclyde, Celtic Music Radio, Moray Firth Radio, BBC Radio Scotland, Oban FM, Moorlands Radio, Leith FM, Mick Smith’s Country Radio, UK Country Radio, Radio Caroline and Klassic Rock Radio. Her music has also sold in the USA, Japan, China, Finland, Norway, Germany, Spain, Italy, Cyprus and Gibraltar to name just a few countries worldwide. Louise has been chosen as a Kent County Council role model for young people in Kent and has appeared on local radio stations including BBC Radio Kent on the Pat Marsh Show, Academy FM, BBC TV South East Today, and all the local newspapers. Louise regularly gives live interviews on Radio Stations during which her music is aired.
Louise has been involved in many training programmes and west end workshops and. Some held by Nancy Sullivan who was Éponine in the musical ‘Les Misérables’, David Thaxton who has also appeared in many musicals and west end shows, and Killian Donnelly, who has recently starred in the film version of the hit musical, ‘Les Miserables’ and has also performed on the West End stage with the cast of Jersey Boys, as part of a master class workshop performance in 2009. Louise has also performed at Her Majesty’s Theatre with industry professionals. She was cast in the ‘Passion of Jesus, which she performed in Trafalgar square in front of over 20,000 people and also in Guildford High Street, in Surrey, working with highly professional people such as Ashley Herman, the director, who is the chairman of governors at GSA (Guildford School of Acting). She has also had filming experience in London for two feature films (due for release in 2015).
After promotional success and plenty of support, Louise was asked to perform at Leeds Castle in July 2011 to an audience of 16,000+, supporting acts including Eliza Doolittle, Jodie Roberts, Aggro Santos, Alexandra Burke and The Wanted.
In 2012 Louise joined her siblings, Abi and Matt, to form the acoustic folk/pop trio, ORFILA. They are all accomplished musicians and songwriters in their own right. The band regularly play all over the South East of England. They have regularly appeared in local newspapers and have been featured on BBC Radio Kent. They first performed together as a band in mid-2012 when they supported BBC Radio 2 playlist singer/songwriter Ben Montague. Originally intended to be a one off show their set of originals and covers was warmly received and even earned an encore. Later in the year they supported UK rock band Dodgy, Canadian folk artist Andrew James O’Brien and Irish folk musician Sharon Shannon as well as performing at various charity events and open mic nights across Kent.
2013 saw them support some major artist such as Beverly Craven and the legendary Albert Hammond. They headlined the Imperial Sounds re-launch show and earned positive reviews and played two Kent festivals in the summer; the Brightlights Festival in Maidstone and the Quiet Riot Festival in Ashford. They recently played at a show in London for the Jimmy Mizen Foundation, a charity set up to help young people.
ORFILA’S music ranges from popular covers written by groups such as Mumford and Sons, The Beatles, and Albert Hammond, to their own unique original compositions. They have their own distinctive sound with superb three part harmonies with a Folk/pop feel.
In April 2013 Seasick Steve’s tour manager saw the band support Albert Hammond and was so impressed that he invited the trio to record their debut album at his midlands based Studio. The ‘Highbury Studios’ is famous for producing hit albums from artists such as Duran Duran, UB40, Fine Young Cannibals, Steven Tin Tin Duffy, Everything But The Girl and Kodaline to name but a few.
In the summer of 2014 ORFILA were invited to open up the main stage at the GIBRALTAR MUSIC FESTIVAL, sharing the stage with artists including The Script, James Arthur, John Newman, Ella Eyre, Scouting For Girls, Newton Faulkner, Rita Ora, Roger Hodgson, Tony Hadley and many more.
Their popularity is increasing and with their recent, long awaited, release of their debut album ‘Writing on the Wall’, the band are in great demand. They played Country To Country 2016, at The o2 in London, sponsored by Yamaha Music, alongside artists on the bill including Carrie Underwood, Christ Stapelton, Kacey Musgraves and Eric Church.
Louise continues to perform regularly around the UK with ORFILA and is taking part in many other projects that are underway. She has a passion for teaching singing and coaching enthusiastic performers and is currently teaching at several different academies, music schools and performing arts organisations. Louise has completed her degree in Performing Arts and Vocal Studies and is a member of the British Voice Association.
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Click here to view my condensed performing arts resume.