Carol Prior

I am Carol Prior and I’ve been working in the Performing Arts all my life, during which time I’ve had a number of overlapping careers as an Actress, Singer, Choir Leader, Teacher, Mentor, but above all I’m a Performer.

My greatest passion is for the human voice whether in it’s simple unadorned beauty, or in glorious multi-layered harmony, and singing is at the heart of everything I do. As a Singer I am drawn to songs which have a story to tell and I have a rich repertoire which spans many genres and cultures. I am also a Songwriter and have recorded 2 albums: Spirit Of The Wind and Sweet Precious Time which feature songs I have collected, favourite covers and my own compositions.

Spirit Of The Wind is the product of that period of my life when I discovered the joys of a cappella singing and it inspired me to set up Vocadonna, a women’s choir in Brighton in 1998. Moving to Hastings in 2001, I set up 2 further choirs – Shore Sounds the town’s first community choir and the Robertsbridge Community Choir, also the first choir of its kind in the area. At this time I was also teaching a cappella singing to children and young people in schools across Brighton and Hove, East Sussex and Surrey for the acclaimed Rhythmix music education project.

Sweet Precious Time has been described as a great calling card with my heartfelt singing taking listeners on an emotional roller-coaster between laughter and tears: a little bit folksy, a little bit bluesy, a dash of country, a touch of gospel, a hint of jazz and a helping of humour.

As  an Actress I have performed widely in fringe and repertory theatre, alternative cabaret and television, culminating in Waiting For The Green Light, part of a ground breaking TV series called 1 in 5 for Channel 4 in 1986 about the lives of  lesbians and gay men. In this programme I sang 6 specially commissioned songs, performed sketches and a stand up routine and played the saxophone. Between 2006 and 2009 I appeared at Sappho Garden of the Arts, Eressos on the Greek island of Lesbos performing in my own one woman show Prim, Improper and in her Prime as well as the legendary Tripping The Velvet Variety Show which took place in and around the International Women’s Festival held every year in September.

More recently I appeared at the Hastings Fringe Festival in September 2017 in my one woman show Give Me The Moonlight, Give Me The Girl which is a musical celebration of one woman’s love, lust and longing for other women.