20 Nov 2022

Anne-Marie Speed, voice coach to the stars

From Standing Room Only, 12:16 pm on 20 November 2022

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Anne-Marie Speed

Anne-Marie Speed Photo: supplied

Anne-Marie Speed

Photo: supplied

When actress Sheridan Smith played Cilla Black in a recent biopic, the critics were knocked out by how much she sounded like the Sixties singer.

It wasn't a fluke.   When it comes to teaching actors to sing like Cilla Black or Johnny Rotten, or simply helping singers to protect and enhance their voices, expat Kiwi Anne-Marie Speed is the person to call.

Anne-Marie's the director of the London based company The Voice Explained.  And for 30 years now she's worked as a singing teacher, and vocal, acting and accent coach within film, TV, theatre and music theatre.

Her CV includes TV shows like Doc Martin, Dr Zhivago and Pistol, Danny Boyle's series about the Sex Pistols.  She worked on the live-action Disney films Beauty and the Beast and Pinocchio, as well as numerous West End productions. 

Anne-Marie's about to head home to Aotearoa to take a workshop in Dunedin.  Lynn Freeman called her in London to find out how she got into vocal coaching.

Anne-Marie Speed's voice training workshop at the University of Otago starts on 28 November.