So hi! I’m Tasha…
Well firstly thank you so much for taking the time to enquire. I know choosing wedding or event suppliers isn’t always an easy job and it’s important you choose someone who is totally on your vibe.
If it’s a slightly crazy, interactive, music loving girl who sings anything from Soul to Motown to Pop then you may have just found what you’re looking for! Yay! So you want to know a bit about me… well that’s fine because I am the biggest over-sharer you may ever meet.
I am a 34 year old singer who is a Mom to two beautiful little boys called Niko & Jax. They also love to sing and are obsessed with music… not sure who they get it from. I even teach private singing lessons at their school which they tell me is NOT embarrassing (yet)
I live in a small place called Telford in Shropshire but I was brought up in Dudley which is close to Birmingham. I drag myself to the gym, learn Muay Thai, prioritise time with my family, travel as much as possible and have a small group of friends.
I have been LITERALLY singing my whole life. From the moment I sang ‘I’m Dreaming Of A White Christmas’ on the stairs at 2 years old in tune and with a vibrato, I think my parents realised that I could sing. Growing up in such an eclectic music loving household lead by my Mom, I listened to everything from UB40 to Bruce Spingstein to Celine Dion. My Mom would blast the speakers with Whitney driving up and down the motorways to singing competitions and auditions, write out lyrics by hand so I could learn songs, and take me to every single Karaoke in the West Midlands whilst sipping on one Coca Cola all night long because she only had a few pounds to spend.
Growing up we didn’t have a lot of money. My parents had to scrimp and save to allow me and my sisters to live our dreams. I had always shown a huge interest in performance. When I realised how much people enjoyed watching me sing and dance on stage, I quickly became obsessed with making people smile, whether that was through singing, being funny or just being generous. My Mom was always such an amazingly, kind woman and I always thought… that’s who I want to be like when I am older.
CHILDHOOD
From the moment I could walk my Mom put me into dance lessons. She always knew I could sing, but I don’t think she realised how people would react to my voice. When I was 5 years old, the dance teacher asked me to sing a song last minute in the show whilst the dancers were getting changed. I sang ‘Somewhere Over The Rainbow’ in a little red skirt and red shoes. The audience became silent and I had a standing ovation.
That’s where I all began. Those bright lights were my favourite place to be shining in front of. People kept coming up to us and telling my Mom I should be on stage. She then found out (and I have no idea how because we didn't have smart phones or access to the internet back then) about singing competitions and auditions. We drove up and down the country, singing to anyone who would listen. The BBC West Midlands asked me to go on their show to sing live, I got invited to the Major’s Parlour to sing for him and local newspapers wanted to take photos of me and my little trophies I had won.
Then my parents took me to an open audition for Les Mis in the West End. They told me they loved my voice but I was too tall for the part of Cosette… it was then I realised at the age of 8 years old, that it wasn't always about how good you were at singing, sometimes your body, height, face, clothes or the way you spoke determined success.. sometimes just who you knew. I looked up at the tall buildings, the hustle and bustle of London and lights around the signs of the different West End Shows and knew that’s where I wanted to be someday.
It’s strange to some people to think of a little child being so passionate about something and knowing so quickly what they wanted to do when they grow up, but I tried to tell them that I didn’t want to wait until I was ‘grown up’ I wanted to perform right now! The problem was, we lived somewhere where there wasn’t much opportunity for stardom, so we continued to enter Caravan Park Talent Competitions and do whatever so I could get on stage whenever I could. I would grab my sister and make her go carol singing with me at Christmas as well as forcing her to put on shows in the living room and make her watch Cats and Joseph and Technicolour Dream Coat on VHS over and over again until she knew every word. We even performed on the front lawn of our house and put a little pot down to try and earn some money from the neighbours. My Mom said she had a heart attack when she suddenly heard cheering and clapping coming from the front of the house, looking down from her bedroom window and watching me back flip across the grass, bowing to the audience.
I entered every children’s TV singing competition we could find. I did every show we knew about and literally took every opportunity. I did quite well in them and one time on The Saturday Show even lead me to meet my ABSOLUTE idol at the time, Britney Spears! I won my heat singing ‘Hit Me Baby One More Time’ and went to her London Premier of Crossroads. I performed in care homes, shopping centres and pubs raising money for our travel costs and backing tracks.
I knew I needed to be in London if I wanted to ‘make it’. I saw an advertisement in The Stage newspaper for scholarship auditions to Sylvia Young Theatre School. I literally demanded we go. My parents were so apprehensive about it because they knew if I did well I would have to live down London with other families and it would be extremely expensive, but I didn’t give them much choice. I was the most determined little girl you had ever met. We went to the auditions and after call back after call back after call back, I was offered a full scholarship to attend the school at the age of 12. I was ecstatic… my parents not so much. My Mom had to work 3 jobs when my Dad got poorly, but somehow they managed to keep me there. Every Monday morning I would wake up at 4am to get the 6am train from Birmingham Snow Hill into London Marylebone. I would come home on the Friday nights if I wasn't in a show or needed for an audition on the weekend. I missed my family so much… it was actually one of the most awful things to be growing up without them, but I knew it was something I needed to sacrifice if I wanted to do well in this industry. I had to find my way around London as a child, hopping on and off tubes and dealing with my own money. Whilst at the school I did so much, I sang in the choir in Harry Potter and The Prisoner Of Azbkaban alongside being an extra in films 4 & 5, sang on film soundtracks and was a member of the cast of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang at The London Palladium for a year just to name a few. I worked so hard at that school and it was an extremely competitive & soul destroying environment. It was amazing and horrible experience at the same time and I couldn’t even go home to my Mom at the end of a hard day. However, nothing could stop me from dreaming of being on stage. The problem was, my voice was very mature so It was hard for me to get any child roles as I always turned away with ‘your voice is too grown up’ feedback which was so frustrating for me… did I need to change who I was to be liked?
I got told lot that I sounded bit like Karen Carpenter, so I started adding ‘Close To You’ into my songs that I sang on stage. One day, we did a video of me singing ‘We’ve Only Just Begun’ and ended up getting on Stars In Their Eyes Kids. I was beaten by Kate Bush but I was just happy to have gone on TV. It was still an incredible experience.. the video is on my Tik Tok.
I graduated Sylvia Young with A*s and As in all things Music, Media and Drama but I developed a sense of doubt in my abilities by the time I was nearing the end of school. Kids can be so mean, but in this industry they can be meaner. I got told a lot that I wasn’t very good at dancing, peers would say I probably wouldn’t get into music college and I started to truly miss home and being around my parents and sisters. I wish I had been stronger but I was only a child. So instead of staying in London and auditioning for a Musical Theatre college like everyone else, I decided to go home and go to a local music college in Birmingham and I graduated with a Distinction so I could be with my family.
I was still so focused on making it as a singer, but my dreams had shifted from wanting to be in the West End and more onto securing a recording contract. I had been put in front of massive labels and recording execs since I was 13 years old, but I had never managed to get anything from it. Countless managers and A&R people promising the world but never actually delivering. I worked my butt off constantly, writing songs, performing, doing everything I was told…
I knocked on the door of a songwriter who lived locally to me when I was 15 and I ended up working with him for a few years. It turned into a huge project where they made an incredible live sounding album for me. The most unbelievable musicians that had worked with the greats like Freddie Mercury and Madonna, but again, nothing happened with the album, it was just another dead end. Even after being flown out to Nashville to song write and perform, still nothing. I just couldn’t understand that if everyone thought I was so great, why I couldn't get off the ground. I was working full time in a job I hated to fund my music career, but events like this just kept happening. Over the years of constant rejection, false promises and being let down I decided to call it a day before my mental health suffered even more. I had been torn down so much that I just couldn’t take anymore. Every time I thought I was getting somewhere it was pulled away from me and believe me this is a long story short, because I would be here for 20 years writing my stories down… haha. I never did well on X Factor, BGT or The Voice…
I decided to settle down, get married and have kids because I felt like that was the only thing I could control. After my last encounter with management and a record label where I had been told to leave my job because I was moving to London to start making a new album then left with nothing, I picked up a camera and started a photography business. I had always taken lots of photos after watching my Mom document every single part of our lives and it gave me an incredible passion I didn’t even know I had. I still did the odd am dram show here and there at the Wolverhampton Grand Theatre (Lady of The Lake in Spamalot & Row in 9 to 5) but for me, my love of singing had died because it had become less and less about enjoying music for me and more about me being a product in the music industry.
Photography By Natasha Ince became my outlet for empowering women. I wanted to put these amazing females on my stage, in front of my lights and show them how worthy they are. After being treated like an object, having two children myself and loosing who I was and then in turn, seeing other women go through the same thing, the fire in my belly began again and I started on my journey of making women feel incredible. Mothers found me from all over the world wanting me to take their portraits and I travelled all over from the USA, Europe and Dubai to teach and take photos. It’s an incredibly beautiful thing to do and I will be forever grateful for every client. When they hear about how well my singing is doing now they say ‘please don’t stop photography though!!’
After years of trying to figure out who I was as Tasha, without being so focused on the music industry, being a Mom or a business person, I met my incredible girlfriend Aimee who somehow bought music back into my life. She would ask me to sing for her and her face would light up. The smile on her face whenever I sang made me wonder why on earth I wasn’t singing anymore; the feeling was unmatched... I was making her feel something through my voice. She was SO proud of me and explained how much of a gift I had and I should be sharing it with anyone who needed it. So In October 2023, I saved up some money, bought a speaker and a mic I began to sing. By April 2024 I sang at my first wedding and the rest is history. Anyone who knows me, will tell you I don’t do anything. by halves.
Singing at people’s weddings (or events) is the most special thing for me. I know how much live music brings to anything, but on the other side, where I can try and explain to you how it makes me feel, is the feeling of home. When I have that microphone in my hand and I am able to connect with people through my voice, the feeling I have I can’t quite describe to you. In people’s most special moments I am there somehow embracing them with music. It’s like a musical hug. I just LOVE to sing and every single time I am booked for a wedding or event, the child inside of me truly feels like… I have finally made it.
You are never just a number to me, you are a part of my journey as much as I am a part of yours.