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Zoë, who is just 10 years old and has an incredible operatic singing voice.
Zoë’s sister Jodie, who was born on 24 August 2000, with Downs Syndrome and three holes in her heart and was due to have open heart surgery on 1st March 2005. She was under the care of the Children’s Department at the John Radcliffe Hospital in Oxford. Zoë wanted to raise funds for the new Oxford Children’s Hospital as a token of gratitude to the doctors and nurses who had looked after Jodie. She came up with the idea of recording an album in September 2004.
Andy Lovegrove from The Courtyard Recording Studio in Sutton Courtenay Oxford, very kindly recorded her album free of charge on Tuesday 19th October 2004. Zoë named her first album “Little Ray of Light” after her sister Jodie.
The disc went on release on Monday 8th November 2004 via WH Smith branches and CO-OP stores throughout Oxfordshire, in 6 days Zoë sold 1500 copies making it the “best seller” in Oxfordshire. She went on to sell all 5,000 copies in just 5 weeks and presented a cheque to the Oxford Children’s Hospital for £27,000 in January 2005.
Newsquest Newspaper Group began the publicity by printing Zoë’s album cover on the front page of the Oxford Mail and to this day follow her story together with The Courier, ITV Central News, BBC South Today, Fox FM Radio and BBC Radio Oxford.
GMTV invited her to sing live on Wednesday 10th November 2004.
Zoë was awarded “Young Person of the Year” by Fox FM at their annual fund raising Gala Dinner in November 2004, where she sang on stage alongside Estelle and Brain McFadden.
After singing at the Down Syndrome Association SOLD OUT Christmas Concert in December 2004 in Teddington, Middlesex, Zoë decided that she wanted to record a second album to raise funds for The Downs Syndrome Association, which she named “Songs For My Sister”.
Zoë sang in many concerts in aid for the Tsunami Appeal, including being the youngest person ever to sing at The Sheldonian Theatre, in Oxford.
She was honoured to sing and speak at The Downs Syndrome Association’s Ball, which was held on Saturday 19th February at Sheraton Park Lane Hotel, London, where she received a standing ovation for every song.
Unfortunately, Jodie did not survive her heart operation and passed away on 2nd March 2005. Zoë and Jodie had the most incredible bond; they were devoted to each other. Zoë cared for her sister like a parent cares for their child, nothing was too much.
Although Zoë is finding it extremely hard to carry on without her sister, she was very determined to carry on with her planned album and make this a tribute to Jodie.
Just 4 weeks after the tragic and unexpected death of her sister, Zoë recorded “Songs for My Sister” during her Easter school holidays.
The tracks for “Songs for my Sister” were chosen to appeal to a wide audience so sales of the album would be high. Many of the songs were Jodie’s favourite, which have many memories for family and friends. We have been extremely lucky that Zoë’s music teacher, Ben Heaney, wrote 3 songs for the album, Little Ray of Light, Love Song and Moonlite Lullaby, which are all about little Jodie.
The track listings are as follows
Scarborough Fair - The Wonder of You -- Only Love - Little Ray of Light - Summertime - My Favourite Things - Over The Rainbow - A Night in Berkeley Square - Moonlite Lullaby - Our Love is Here to Stay – Hushaby Mountain - Spread a Little Happiness.
BBC Radio 2 presenter, Don McLean invited Zoë on his Good Morning Sunday programme to talk about her album and her sister Jodie on Sunday 5th June and played tracks from the album.
“Songs for My Sister” was released nationwide on 6th June 2005, in conjunction with Downs Syndrome Awareness Week. Zoë returned to GMTV on that day to officially launch the album and the immediate response was huge! All good music retailers, Oxfordshire & Swindon Co-op, WH Smith, Borders, Virgin, HMV and Amazon.co.uk were all holding stock.
Six days after the release date Zoë’s album reached No 2 in the Solo Classical artist charts, No 5 in the Classical Charts and No 120 in the National Charts.
Zoë now has all major record retailers selling her album nationwide.
Zoë stunned an audience of 900 people when she was asked to support Brian Conley in a one-night charity special at The New Theatre, Oxford on Monday 23rd May. The money raised was donated to The New Oxford Children’s Hospital.
In April 2005, Zoë was voted by the public as, ITN Central Television’s “Local Hero” for her charity work and she went on to win the overall regional final.
The Downs Syndrome Association’s of New Zealand, Canada, Malta and Ireland all promote her album to their members and have all invited Zoë to visit and help promote awareness of Downs Syndrome.
On 16 October Zoë was awarded “Young Mencap Person Of the Year” for her outstanding charity work. The award recognises young people's efforts in helping others understand learning disability.
Zoë has also won "The Year of the Volunteer Award" from the CSV charity. She was presented (by the HM Lord-Lieutenant for Oxfordshire) a medal coined by the Royal Mint on 23 November at the County Hall in Oxford.
Zoë is one of the 50 regional finalists from the 2,500 medal winners from around the UK, to be put forward for the national awards. The winners will be announced on 22 January 2006 at the Theatre Royal, Dury Lane, London. The event will be a showcase and celebration of the winners and attended by VIP's and celebrities who will present the national winners from the 50 put forward. (www.csv.org.uk
On Sunday 20 November Zoë sang at The New Theatre in Oxford along Brian Conley, Rob Bryson, Emilia Fox, Stephen Tompkinson, Christopher Purves, James Purefoy and David Armand, in the charity show “Childish Things 2” which is raising money for Helen House Hospice, were Jodie was laid to rest.
On Saturday 26 November Zoë sang live on BBC’s Dick & Dom then swiftly returned to sing in Oxford City Centre at the “Big Switch On of the Christmas Lights”
On 7th December Zoë was awarded "The Chairman’s Outstanding Achievement Award", by the West Oxfordshire District Council.
