Page 11 - Radiodowntown online March 2021

Helena Mace Singer/Songwriter and Radio Presenter
at Radiodowntown.ca
The journey into Original Music
I had been writing songs most of my life, pretty much since I was a young child. Whether it be writing my own lyrics to well known songs or writing poetry to perform in front of friends and at school. In fact, I was always chosen to perform solo from the young age of 6 in school performances.
I had my first taste in the recording studio at the age of around 21 where I had got to the finals in a search for a girl band through a well known UK magazine at the time. I had to go to London and perform an original song that had been written by the producers and went back a few times to do more of the same, however I wasn’t chosen for the group. The experience for a girl from the Isle of Wight (a small island off the coast of the South of England) was a big experience to record in our capital city.
I kept singing for a while and won several competitions on the karaoke scene as it was the only experience I could get singing live and I had found that it was really vital to myself as a singer to get used to performing in front of an audience as I had not done so , since school plays and musicals.
Several years later after I had moved away from the Isle of Wight, I was approached by someone who was interested in my fronting their band on tour in Germany after hearing me sing in a local pub. I actually turned it down as I felt the music was not quite right for me but I approached the producer about funding my own album. At this time, I could not play guitar so music was written for me and I started the journey of being a lyricist for my own album. The album was called Enlightened and was released by a German record label in 2008. It was a mix of pop/soft rock tracks and I was lucky enough to tour as a support act the following year. I went over to Germany a few times where we toured great places such as Stuttgart and Mannheim and recorded a few singles after.
The tours ended and I went back to the UK 11
determined that one day I would write all my own music but to tide me over, i recorded vocals for a dance label releasing a dance EP which got me a dance chart hit in Ireland
Still determined, I decided that a few years later I decided to learn the guitar. The rest is history as they say as since then I have released 4 albums from 2016 to 2020 and I am currently working on a new one to be released 2022.
In future articles I will tell you more about my experiences of writing these albums....
Please check out my website
www.helenamace.com