About Marcia Richards
From the West End stageto your voice.
ArtsEd-trained performer, West End singer and vocal coach with more than twenty years in the industry.
- Trained at ArtsEd
- West End: including The Lion King · Dirty Dancing · Hairspray
- Backing vocalist, The X Factor
- 20+ years in the industry
- DBS checked
My story
Serious about your voice. Full of joy about singing.
I trained at ArtsEd and have spent more than twenty years in the industry. I've performed in West End shows including The Lion King, Dirty Dancing and Hairspray, and sung backing vocals for artists on The X Factor.
Performing night after night teaches you what a voice needs to stay free, strong and healthy. It also teaches you how much of singing happens in the mind: the nerves, the doubts, the moments you hold back.
That is what I bring to every lesson. I believe singing should feel joyful, never painful, and no one should spend a song worrying whether the next note will be there. Singing is a physical skill, like sport or dance. Once the coordination is in place, you are free to focus on your story and your sound.
Today I coach beginners, students and graduates, emerging soul, gospel, pop, R&B and jazz artists, musical theatre performers and public speakers, in person in Croydon and online with students in the UK, Spain and the USA.
How I teach
No single method. Whatever helps your voice.
My teaching draws on methods and teachers I have studied and admire, and I keep learning and refining my approach as voice science and teaching evolve.
- Estill training: the technical shifts that let the voice move with ease
- Speech Level Singing: keeping the voice balanced and connected from bottom to top, as easy as speaking
- Roger Love: simple, effective exercises and breath control
- Andrew Byrne: finding what's out of alignment in the body to unlock breakthroughs
- Cheryl Porter: agility and strength, practised over soulful backing tracks
Student voices
Her technical expertise was phenomenal and her way of communicating technical or complex information in very simple, understandable terms was very helpful.
Marcia has been truly impactful in not just my singing but my overall confidence. She is knowledgeable in what she does, enabling me to create sounds I never thought possible.
A teacher who instinctively knows how to find a solution, as if by magic! Of course this is carefully crafted.
A friendly first hello
Curious? Let's talk.
Book a free 15-minute call. Tell me about your voice and your goals, ask anything, and find out how we could work together.