This being Joanna’s debut working in the education sector of the music world field she’s excited to bring her knowledge and insight of the music industry as a ‘full time’ music artist herself.
Dorset born Joanna grew up in a strict but passionately artistic family, where her father’s blues records were the soundtrack to her upbringing. She had a restless desire for music, teaching herself the piano on a keyboard she found in a skip and writing songs that moved her school teachers to tears. Following school, Joanna completed a degree in Music at Plymouth and has been based in Devon ever since. Her early music work included singing in a function band and a duo plus the creation of a very successful vocal sample pack for dance music producers.
Joanna’s vocal samples have been used around the world on some very successful tracks and she continues to co- write and sing on releases with international producers.
Eager to pursue a full time career as a music artist, Joanna took the plunge to devote all her energies to her chosen field in 2014. Since then her career has continued to build and Joanna’s self sufficiency, drive and talent now see her performing with big name artists and playing her own solo shows. These successes range from festival main stage appearances, supporting Paloma Faith and Rag’n’Bone Man and shows with quality artists like Jo Harman, Beth Rowley and Martin Harley.
Alongside a busy live schedule, Joanna has enjoyed widespread radio airplay, live studio and phone-in sessions. She is known for having a voice rich in soul & the songs to match. Motown legend Martha Reeves described her as “the baby girl singing the blues” and BBC Introducing as “This is how it’s done…soulful and epic, Joanna Cooke is bursting with raw talent!” Joanna’s previous 3 EPs and a single releases of her own material all drew positive reviews and were followed by 2 more notable self-composed singles in 2021. “No Stranger To The Blues” and “Give It Up” were recorded with Redtenbachers Funkestra as part of the Masterlink sessions in Surrey. Both recordings were done entirely live in the studio, with no fixes – just Joanna and the musicians, whose credits include (amongst others) Elton John, David Bowie, Tom Jones and Van Morrison. There’s more new music coming from Joanna in 2022. Finishing touches are now being made to plans for the release of singles Joanna has worked on with producer Mark Edwards in Sussex, with a full new EP to follow.
Joanna says – ‘Sharing my experiencehttps://joannacooke.co.uk/ and helping mentor the next generation alongside my own journey has always been a dream of mine! I’m really excited to work with Rose and all of the young adults attending the ReBels sessions.’
Favourite quote: ‘Keep on keeping on’
Joanna is a member of our ReBels Music practitioner team and co-leads our ReBels Music sessions on Mondays from 5pm – 7pm at Barbican Theatre in the Music Studio (ages 15-25) ‘Work with ReBels musicians to write songs, mix music, play instruments and find your own sound’.
