A PAISLEY-BASED singer and property Good Samaritan aims to woo audiences at the world’s biggest arts festival.
Christine Sparks, lauded by Scots folk guru Watt Nicoll, is now on a new crusade, launching her International stage career at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe.
Renfrew-born Christine has been working with distressed home sellers for the last four years.
She and her Portsmouth-born husband John helped them stay in their own homes.
Christine said: “We became experts at preventing repossession, and saved many couples from being thrown out of their houses, often with only hours notice.
“Sometimes only one partner knew about the massive arrears that had been built up and we had to broker relationship saving meetings at the same time as saving their home from being repossessed.”
Initially, they called the company Property Samaritans and she revealed: “We felt that the name most suited our approach and the way we worked with couples in extreme financial trouble.
“However, The Samaritans objected so we changed it to Property Saviours.
“We worked with many couples and eventually created a portfolio of 50 houses and flats.
“Most of our tenants are still the original owners of the properties and they are likely to remain in the properties indefinitely.”
However, the lure of a stage career lingered and John added: “Christine has been singing since she was 16 and has always intended doing music full-time. When the property market changed, we decided to stop buying, manage the portfolio as a family business and concentrate on our music.
“Now my crusade is to enable Christine to sing to as many people as possible in the right kind of environment. A theatre is ideal as people are there to listen.
“Christine is accomplished in several genres. She is a genuine Celtic singer, a genuine jazz singer and a genuine rock and blues singer.
“We’ve tried to separate the genres, having been told that they don’t mix, but time and time again we find ourselves in situations where the variety of what Christine can do is the thing that people love.”
The couple appear at The Acoustic Music Centre @ St Bride’s on August 28 and John, a former professional sound man, added: “There are essences of Celtic, jazz and blues music woven throughout the show.
“The Fringe is a big stage for us because of its International reputation.”
No comments:
Post a Comment