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David Toole | Martin
Bruch | Alice Martineau
Alison Jones | Steve Day
| Ben Cove
When singers say they've 'found their voice', they usually mean they've honed their vocal skills and developed a style distinctly their own. For singer songwriter Alice Martineau however, finding she had any kind of singing voice at all was a revelation. Born and bred in London, Alice has cystic fibrosis, a genetic disorder that causes chronic lung and digestive problems for sufferers.
Believing her voice to have been ravaged by cystic fibrosis, Alice never pursued her ambition to sing until she was in her early 20s, when lessons unveiled a deep and powerful voice that she describes as 'somewhere between Dido and Natalie Imbruglia'. Ironically, her constant coughing had strengthened her vocal chords and within a short time Alice was performing her own songs live to critical acclaim. Despite her declining health, Alice played gigs regularly until 2001, and was offered recording deals by several companies, only to have them withdrawn when music executives discovered how ill she is – Alice will die if she doesn't have a heart, lung and liver transplant soon. But that hasn't stopped her singing: if anything, Alice's situation has made her even more determined to get on the road again, taking her music to as many people as possible, as soon as possible.