Biography of Rachel Brand

Rachel Brand graduated from the prestigious Guildhall School of Music and Drama postgraduate jazz course in 2006. She came to jazz late having first had a career in business. Her business career was curtailed by her second brain tumour and she decided to take a chance on a jazz summer school. That was the Fionna Duncan Vocal Jazz Workshop in Edinburgh, August 2002. She has since studied with a raft of illustrious jazz singers, including Sheila Jordan, Mark Murphy, Ian Shaw, Liane Carroll, and Madeline Eastman. She has also worked with outstanding instrumentalists including Mark Lockheart, Darius Brubeck, Brian Kellock and Mike Walker. She has an extensive repertoire and a witty, captivating delivery. "She swings like a bitch" said Fionna Duncan – a true compliment.