life
INTERVIEW
Photo: Donna Benjamin Photography
didn’t see why I shouldn’t so I went up there
and did the splits. The crowd just fell about,
they loved it.”
She has her sister to thank, indirectly, for
her choice of instrument. Claire was pianist
in a children’s orchestra, and at a concerto
JoJo watched the adult leader tune up the
children’s instruments and hand them out.
“I thought she was giving them away, and
I said to my mum ‘go and get me one of
those things you stick under your chin, I
want one!’ ”
It was Father Christmas who later came
up with the goods, and only years later
did Joanne discover that her grandfather,
who had died before she was born, was a
violinist, and she hugs the family connection.
It was not easy financially for her parents,
but they paid for Joanne, Claire and little
brother Chris to have music and dance
lessons. “Our parents have never, ever been
pushy, just really supportive. They came
from nothing and their parents came from
nothing. They wanted to give us the tools to
get out of that situation.”
So from the age of four she began dancing
lessons, and at 11 had become a cabaret
dance champion – the disciplines she had to
master being tap, modern, song and dance.
Her elder sister was already at Chetham’s
24
but the audition was no nepotistic
push-over. Joanne had to work for her place.
After a couple of years there, she clicked
with a violin teacher who, exotically, was
Australian and had trained in Russia.
Unusually, given the prestigious nature
of Chethams, Jo chose to change schools
for her A levels. But she and many of her
compatriots were badly shaken when the
IRA let off their bomb in Manchester, which
devastated the city. “Manchester was really
grim, and the bomb had frightened us.”
So she moved to St Mary’s Music School in
Edinburgh, where she was able to continue
to study with her violin teacher. “He smoked
a pipe during all my lessons – it wouldn’t be
allowed now! I loved it, it was a comfort,
like having a granddad in the room.”
For despite living away from home since
the age of 12, Joanne’s family was, and
still is, very important to her. She loved
Edinburgh and still does, but went home
every weekend. This was also the means by
which she kept up her dancing. She’d be in
Doncaster by 7pm and at her dance class
by 7.30 until 10pm. Then she’d get up for
her morning lesson at 8am. “That’s how
I managed to juggle the dancing and the
music.”
Her siblings were no slouches, incidentally.
Sister Claire has an established career as
a pianist, playing backing for live X Factor
shows, and was the pianist of choice for
England footballer John Terry’s wedding.
Brother Chris is a singer/songwriter who has
toured with Will Young, and his songs have
been recorded by the likes of Alisha Dixon.
Joanna took a year out before university,
but rather than back-pack to exotic places
her destination was home, with her family.
Resting on her laurels did not come into it,
however. She travelled to London every ten
days for a violin lesson, funding herself with
a bit of television work, and got some more
dance exams under her belt.
Middlesex University was the ideal place for
her, the Performing Arts course enabling her
to pursue both her disciplines. Nonetheless,
she still faced opposition when she began
to get professional gigs. “I heard, through
my friend Shalisa, who had been in the girl
band She with me, that Robbie Williams
was looking for violinists for his band. The
university wasn’t very supportive – you were
supposed to get permission to work as a
professional musician, though it was fine if
you got a bit of bar work!”
The Robbie Williams thing she almost
mentions in passing. It was one of those
who-you-know connections that you just
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