Teresa Coker

Member

Website:

www.myspace.com/landemusic

Biography

Born in the South East London borough of Lambeth I grew up in a household surrounded by music.  I was exposed to music from around the world as my parents were avid music lovers. My Father was a chorister and my late mother, Gbemi, a gifted though undiscovered singer. My first live performances, during my undergraduate years in the 1980’s, were as a soloist in a gospel choir.  I graduated from the Lagos State University, with a B.A. Hons. in English in 1991 and  went into teaching as my first paid job but destiny led me to meet the famed but now late Fran Kuboye (of the Jazz 38 fame). She voluntarily gave me some singing lessons and instilled in me more confidence to sing improvising along the way.  It was then that I branched into solo singing in Jazz and popular music as well as other genres of music. My first real gig was at an open night in 1993 hosted by Jazz 38, singing a cover version of ‘The greatest love of all.’ Living at the time, in a country where music could hardly provide an adequate means of survival I started a career in Advertising. I worked with   Insight Grey and an affiliate of Centrespread Advertising, DKK, as a Media Copywriter for the several years even though I instinctively knew that a career in music was my ultimate goal.Working as a Media Copywriter only confirmed this as I was able to draw upon my creative and singing talents while employed often stealing every available opportunity during studio production and post-production sessions to sing my version of the jingles which I had written. In actual fact, it was during this period that I discovered my innate ability to write songs as I had to work on a variety of briefs for Radio/TV jingles. I successfully wrote jingles which were broadcast on Radio and TV alongside advertising campaigns in the 1990’s in Lagos. Retuning to the UK in 2003, I became actively involved in   various forms of musical training including Rock, Pop and Soul Singers and Music notation courses one of which was facilitated by Carol Grimes at the City Lit institute, Covent Gardens. I have since performed at a number of live venues both in the UK and internationally the most recent including The Synergy Centre in Camberwell, London 2007 and at Maidenhead in 2004. I intend to put on  more gigs  in and around London for the rest of the current year and am currently seeking the services of a reputable artist management agency to assist  in the areas of  artist development, promotional marketing and to ultimately get my works signed to a record label. As far as the near future is concerned, I intend to start learning to play the piano and get accreditation in Music. I also look forward to composing and writing more songs for my upcoming album before the coming year and to make more recordings of my own material. I have recently finished recording my latest song ‘Picture Book of Love’ which can be heard on myspace.com/landemusic. I am a member of the British Academy of Composers and Songwriters as well as a member of the Musicians’ Union, London region.  I live in South London  with my five year old son.

Important Works		Performances
Picture Book of Love		None added