BarbieBenson´s Biography

Barbie is an accomplished session singer as well as jazz singer who has spent her life both singing and teaching.

Barbie's own vocal career has seen her as a studio session singer, working on commercials, backing in live situations as well as singing with her own jazz band. She has worked with folk, soul, rock and jazz groups touring in Britain, Europe and the USA. In 1987 Barbie took a break from singing - although not teaching - to pursue academic study, first gaining her degree in Philosophy at University of York, her MA in Philosophy at King's College London, her PhD in Philosophy, Music and Gender at the University of Manchester, recently obtaining an MA in Music from the Open University and writing books - all of which she says feeds into and enriches her life as a singer and coach.

As a teacher she has taught or coached all kinds of singers for the past 30 years from rock to jazz, both privately to part time singers as well as quite (in) famous rock singers! She has taught on a peripatetic basis in colleges such as Wakefield District College, Leeds College of Music and earlier at London's Sylvia Young's Theatre School. Barbie has also run many work shops and held showcases for her students, as well as preparing them for auditions. Barbie enjoys one to one teaching and tailors her skills to the needs of her students which can be many and various - and although there are standard and basic skills in singing, she does not believe in a 'one size fits all' approach to coaching vocalists. Barbie is currently working on her new studio album and therefore taking a step back from teaching.