“At age 11, I wrote my first song. It was about feeling like a turtle in a dog race – not being seen as equal and not fitting in. I’m not sure what I was going through, but clearly I had a lot of thoughts and feelings I needed to express.
“I’ve always written stories and poems, but back then, when I was a child, I didn’t think they were cool, so I mainly kept them to myself. My siblings and I would just sing at each other at home. It was a way of having fun and bonding with them. It was only later in life that I realised I wanted to make music my career.”
Singing professionally
“My interest in music really developed through my teenage years. When I was 16, many of my friends were into music and rapping, and I used to sound engineer for them.
“I never thought I could be a musician, though, because I never saw anyone who looked like me in the Top 100 charts. I always thought I had to work in the background somehow.
“I started taking music more seriously when I was 18 and went to the University of Westminster to study music production and business. Even then, I studied production and business – not performance – because I still didn’t see myself as a performer. That didn’t happen until I was 24.
“In 2018, I took a leap of faith to create my own music – not just feature on someone else’s track, but make something that was truly mine. I released my debut EP, Perception, in 2019, and realised this was something I could really do. I haven’t looked back.
“Since then, I’ve been performing at shows and festivals, both nationally and internationally. In 2024, I released my second EP, Notes To Self, and I’m now working on my next project.
“Performing at the 2012 London Paralympics team welcoming ceremonies was a huge moment for me. The opportunity came about because I was doing a lot of things in theatre at the time and someone recommended me.”
Miss Jacqui is on a mission to offer her group a voice
Giving voice to my experiences
“When requested to explain my singing type and sound, I at all times say I’m a spoken phrase artist, and the bonus is that I can sing. I believe I’ve a novel means to weave collectively phrases and melodies to create a message that’s each thought-provoking and relatable.
“All the music that has influenced me focuses on storytelling. I need to inform the tales that always do not get highlighted and provides a voice to my experiences as a Black disabled girl.
“I bear in mind as soon as speaking with different artists who requested why I’d by no means launched a love track. I mentioned: ‘Because there are already 1,000,000 love songs and there are such a lot of different issues I’ve to say.’ I need to speak about points that have an effect on ladies, Black folks and the disabled group.
“My track, Barely, means rather a lot to me as a result of it was the primary time I spoke overtly about my very own psychological well being and made a music video for it. We do not typically see disabled folks in music movies.
“Most of the challenges I’ve confronted in my profession have been round accessibility. I believe the music business remains to be behind different industries by way of entry.
“For instance, a present booked me three months prematurely and, after I confirmed up, the venue wasn’t accessible. I nonetheless carried out as a result of I knew some folks got here particularly for me. I advised the group they’d need to reconfigure the room and I obtained the viewers to carry torches. The viewers grew to become a part of the present it ended up being a particular second. One factor about me is that I’ll at all times placed on a superb present.
“That’s why it is so necessary to attach with organisations like Attitude Is Everything and Graeae – they make you’re feeling you are able to do no matter you need. They give artists like me the boldness to ask for what we’d like and construct the careers we deserve.
“An actual spotlight in my profession was discovering an inexpensive and accessible studio: Crown Lane Studios in Morden, London. Premises Studios can be good.
“I believe it is necessary as an artist to ask and know what you want. One piece of recommendation I’d give is to be taught all the principles so you understand which of them to interrupt and which to bend. You might need to do issues in another way as disabled folks, however the finish end result can nonetheless be the identical and even higher.
“Next yr, I plan to have my first headline present in London, which I can’t imagine I’m saying out loud!
Visit Miss Jacqui website.
How to get entangled
- Drake Music is a disabled-led organisation working on the intersection of music, incapacity and know-how. Through considered one of its core programmes, the Drake Music Collective, it helps early-career disabled musicians with mentoring, bursaries and efficiency alternatives. Accessibility is embedded all through, making certain a supportive and inclusive expertise for artists.
- Attitude Is Everything connects disabled folks with music and stay occasion industries to enhance entry collectively. Its Next Stage artist community helps performers navigate the business.
- Charity Nordoff and Robbins presents on-line tutoring for anybody who desires to be taught musical abilities and enhance their singing however finds it exhausting to interact in conventional classes.
Photos: James Drury