Biography

Following her training at the Royal Academy of Music in both singing and piano, Mary Hammond spent twenty five years as a singer with an almost unique range of styles, from opera at Covent Garden to stadium gigs with groups including Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and Roxy Music. She also worked and recorded extensively for TV and radio (film scores, TV series, live broadcasts, BBC Big Band, Top of the Pops, Jingles etc..,) and now television companies and record producers frequently use her as a vocal trouble-shooter and singing consultant.

She enjoys using her experience in the pop industry to teach up-and-coming young bands alongside a diverse mix of international chart-topping artists. Recently Mary has worked with Coldplay, Dido, Kaiser Chiefs, Katherine Jenkins and The Saturdays.

Mary currently works on Billy Elliot the Musical, Phantom of the Opera, Joseph, Cabaret and Funny Girl. She worked with Gerry Butler on the title role in the film version of Phantom of the Opera, and has worked as vocal coach and advisor with the first casts of at least 26 West End shows including Les Miserables, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Mamma Mia, Rent, Billy Eliot and La Cage aux Folles. She has also worked on several productions at the National Theatre including A Little Night Music and Sweeny Todd, as well as productions with the Royal Shakespeare Company, the Donmar Warehouse, Chichester Festival and many repertory theatres.

Television shows include ‘Secret Passions of Girls Aloud’ (following Kimberley Walsh in her preparations to star in the West End production of Les Miserables), ‘South Bank Show’ with Katherine Jenkins, ‘H Side Story’ (which followed Ian ‘H’ Watkins in his year of studies at the Royal Academy of Music), the ‘Good Morning’ programme and ‘Celebrity Stars in their Eyes’ to name but a few. She was also a judge for the BBC's Voice of Musical Theatre and Choir of the Year.

This variety and experience has led to a lifelong interest and passion in the research and practice of voice science and vocal techniques. In 1993 Mary founded the post-graduate Musical Theatre course at the Academy - the first of its kind in a music conservatoire. She combines this with a flourishing private singing teaching practice.

Mary has been a board member and closely involved with The British Voice Association for more than 25 years now and in conjunction with the BVA and the Royal Academy of Music she co-organised and presented two cutting-edge voice conferences: 'From Rent to My Fair Lady' in 2002 and 'Rock Pop and Noise' in 2004. She was also involved in planning and presenting at the Pan European Voice Conference in August 2005, and she also presented a conference on contemporary sound in 2007. Mary is also on the Board of the Actors Centre London.

Workshops in 2009 include visits to Germany, Sweden and Israel.