The Sun Article

SHE likes to teach the celebrity world to sing but Fame Academy’s Carrie Grant has one piece of advice for any chart wannabe – no more bad renditions of Angels!

The rocking redhead has, along with husband David, spent much of the past two weeks putting 13 stars through their singing paces in aid of Comic Relief.

But now she’s back in the real world, 39-year-old Carrie is preparing herself for yet another assault on her eardrums… from train passengers.

She said: "I love it when people come up to me in the street or supermarket, I’m a chatterbox anyway.

"But all the time I get on the tube, people burst into song. They sing two lines and then don’t say anything.

"It’s like they expect me to get a contract out of my back pocket and sign them up.

"I hear a lot of bad versions of Angels."

This year’s Celebrity Fame Academy saw Radio 1 DJ Edith Bowman crowned the winner as part of Friday night’s Comic Relief fundraising extravaganza.

She finished just ahead of EastEnders star Kim Medcalf - who plays Sam Mitchell – and Carrie reckons the pair truly shone throughout the show.

She said: "The biggest voice is Kim’s but the person with the most vocal identity, the one whose records you’d want to buy, is Edith. You just know her voice immediately.

"Kim would be brilliant at musical theatre. She could go straight into that and do eight shows a week and her voice wouldn’t tire.

"It’s bright and really easy to listen to.

"But with Edith, you’d want to put her album on. It’s that kind of stuff.

"She wouldn’t be interested in it, but she’s the only one who could have a career in music."

Helping out with Comic Relief – which looks set to raise more than £60 million to aid deprived areas in Africa – is particularly poignant for Carrie.

Her father is buried in Sierra Leone where he died in 1996 of malaria after working as a missionary.

Carrie explained: "If the world could raise £1bn it would wipe out malaria in Africa and people like my dad would never have to die. We’ve been talking about going out there to record a video piece for the charity.

"Dad led a really mad life and got completely taken over with his faith and went to be a missionary for the last four years of his life. He died out there aged 62.

"So for me Comic Relief is very personal. There’s still suffering and absolute poverty everywhere you look."

Now out of the Academy, Carrie is looking forward to taking a holiday with David and their two children.

"It’s really important to do that," she said, "because otherwise you’re just working with each other all the time. One morning last week we saw our kids for just five minutes."

Having worked with a who’s who of the music business, artists as diverse as Diana Ross, Rod Stewart, Take That and Will Young, Carrie is well placed to spot singing potential.

She said: "My favourite singer to coach was Melanie C. She’s a really lovely person. She’s got new stuff coming out and I wish people would get behind her.

"She’s tarnished with the Spice Girl brush so much."

Carrie is also a massive fan of chart star and 21st century soul man Lemar, who she continues to work with after first coaching him in the Fame Academy.

"I spent the whole of that series saying Lemar should win," she said. "He is really talented and there’s nothing I like better than that.

"My background is developing talent and seeing it breakthrough so it is so brilliant.

"But it’s still very hard in this country. There’s never been a voting programme where a black person has won.

"Alex Parks won, who was a girl and a lesbian, but we still have a way to go.

"It proves that people who vote on these shows are not the same ones who go out and buy records. That is shown with someone like Michelle McManus from Pop Idol.

"They get the votes because the TV loves the idea of someone like Michelle but people don’t go out and buy the album."

Another star who Carrie marks out for praise is Coronation Street stunner Debra Stephenson.

She was voted out of Celebrity Fame Academy before the final but Carrie says: "Debra has so much potential. She could be as good if not better than Kim but just needs more time.

"And as for John Culshaw, I could have done so much more with him. He really improved but wasn’t in for long enough to make a massive difference.

"Someone like Reggie could also barely sing when he started."

You rarely hear Carrie say a bad word about anyone but the evil Fame Academy judges, including headmaster Richard Park, cannot escape her wrath.

She said: "Richard, bless him. I love him off the show, but loathe him as a judge. He has a lot of good constructive things to say but sometimes he gets it badly wrong.

"The worst thing is when he gets personal."

"Craig Revel Horwood called one performance ‘a disgrace’ and I remember thinking a disgrace is people dying in Africa and that’s why we are raising money."

Carrie has three tips for anyone hoping to hit the right notes as a singer, including a special concoction that she reckons works wonders.

She said: "Make sure you are breathing properly because that supports your voice. So take nice deep breaths and don’t raise your shoulders.

"A little cocktail we make up is honey, lemon and ginger. All fresh. Honey soothes your throat, lemon cuts through flem and ginger is an anti-inflammatory .

"And if you are going to sing, choose a song that is within your capabilities.

"Just because you love singing along to Mariah Carey or Angels in the car, it doesn’t mean you are going to be able to do it on the karaoke floor. Keep it simple."

The Grants are now planning two new projects for the BBC and for Carrie – who suffers with the crippling stomach illness Crohn’s Disease – just being able to work is satisfying enough.

She said: "Everyone deals with illness in different ways but I try to ignore it as much as I can. Sometimes I can be in 10 or 20 per cent pain but I don’t notice as I just block it out until it gets worse.

"Then I curl up in a ball at home and don’t come out for a day."

She added: "Nothing focuses you the way illness does. You see life in a different way. What I have learnt through this illness is immeasurable.

"I’m grateful for every day that I have. If I’m out of pain and able to get out of bed and walk I just think what a great day it is."

Well, as long as that day isn’t marred by yet another Robbie Williams impersonator!