Sarah Knight (b1990)
EVEN before she started school, Sarah Knight’s mum Amanda Parke had to keep her entertained with music.
She would sit her on the washing machine and together they sang Abba, Cher, Alison Moyet and Shirley Bassey.
When dad Richard came home from work at the weekends, he would play her all of his CDs including Led Zeppelin, The Who, XTC, and Rush.
Sarah’s first real taste of singing in front of an audience was at the Royal Queen pub, in Belton Lane, where he mum was a barmaid. One evening her parents persuaded her to enter a karaoke competition. She was only four years old and chose to sing Black Velvet by Alana Miles. She won! Her prize was a Panda pop and some chocolate.
From then on you couldn’t stop her singing. I was always forming girl groups at Huntingtower School, singing and making up dance routines every break time and being the first to ask to showcase them in front of the class.
At the age of 6 or 7 she moved into the Rose Castle, Trent Road as her mum and stepfather Steve Parke took over the licence.
It wasn’t long before Sarah discovered a karaoke machine. The pub held a karaoke every Sunday and Sarah couldn’t wait to get up there and sing.
In 2002 she entered Town Talent, a local X Factor type competition. T here she learned how to harmonise and perform in groups. Her hunger to perform was ever-growing but it was not always well received.
Now at St Hugh’s School she was always in the school talent shows, choirs, and any activity related to music. She was runner up of the Town Talent and Sarah was soon being asked to sing at a lot of local events like Party in the Park, charity events for Grantham’s Lion Club, and for the Mayor of Grantham at the Guildhall.
It was around this time that local singer Dave Knight (no relation) spotted me and took her under his wing, giving her the warm up spot for his gigs.
At the age of 12 she was then spotted singing at Party in the Park by local legend Vince Eager. He was very impressed and ended up showing her the ropes for what became a three-year long partnership.
She said: “ I learned so much from him and his band that at the age of 13 I was inspired to start learning to play the guitar and formed my own band called the Sprogs. “
They played rock songs and she discovered this was the route she wanted to take. We played all over Lincolnshire including Party on the Planet, a festival put on at Earl of Dysart School in Grantham.
In 2004 at the age of 14 Sarah was picked out for junior pop band for universal records. She got her first taste of recording in a studio and knew she wanted to be a music artist.
They were auditioned to represent the UK in the junior Eurovision.
Vince Eager was responsible for teaching her most of what she knows about being a professional artist. At the age of 14, after two years with him as a backing singer in his band with my occasional solo her biggest gig came in July 2004 – at The London Palladium!
She said: “I was overwhelmed to be singing on the same stage as some of my favourite artists four days before 15th birthday. This will forever be one of the best days of my life.”
From there, Sarah went on to sing for a full house at The Royal Concert Hall, Nottingham, for Children in Need. The concert, organised by Vince, was a tribute to Elvis and not only was it her biggest audience ever but got to sing with a full brass band.
This lead on to a couple more BBC gigs including BBC Radio Lincolnshire, celebrating 25 years at their Royal Concert Hall, and another BBC Nottingham Children in Need event at the Nottingham Concert Hall a year later, celebrating the songs of the Beatles.
At the age of 16 she left Grantham, Vince’s band, her family to go in search of her own musical path.
She studied a BND in music performance for two years at NCN Clarendon in Nottingham. It is here she formed many bands, from a Sly and the Family Stone cover band, a Fleetwood Mac cover band and a Trip Hop band called The Onions based in Radcliffe-on-Trent. It was also where she formed her first real rock band (progressive metal to be exact), Clockworkz.
They wrote their own music and did gigs all over the UK and a tour in Germany.
She passed the course with a Distinction grade and then in 2008, went on to study a three year BA Hons Degree in Sonic Arts.
While studying my degree Sarah began working as a session vocalist for local recording studios, providing them with vocals for their demos and projects.
It was also where Sarah Knight and the Blue Stones would form.
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