Biography

b. 9 February 1964, London, England. Raised in Hastings, East Sussex, and south London, Carroll studied piano from the age of three. During her early childhood, she recalls her parents singing and hearing jazz, soul and contemporary pop on records. She began composing from eight years old. At 15, Carroll joined Gemini, a jazz/funk band, playing keyboards and also singing a little. Her influences in these early years were varied, including a number of rock artists. Leaving school, Carroll worked with various bands, developing her performing and compositional skills. She played piano at Eastbourne’s Grand Hotel where she also sang at weekends with the dance band. In the late 80s, she became a member of Trevor Watts’ Moiré Music Drum Orchestra, visiting India, New Zealand, Canada and the USA. Carroll also worked in bands under Dave Holdsworth, Gerry Rafferty, Jerry Donohue, Long John Baldry and others and also became a respected session musician. She formed her own trio, a group that included bass player Roger Carey, whom she had met and married in the mid-80s, and recorded albums for the Jazz Art, Bridge and Ronnie Scott’s Jazz House labels. From 1996-2002, Carroll worked with singer-songwriter-guitarist Peter Kitley, with whom she composed many songs. They appeared together on a charity single for deprived Brazilian street children, on which Carroll’s backing singer was Paul McCartney. Among instrumentalists with whom Carroll has worked are bass players Steve Lamb and Colin Gibson, and drummers Greg Leppard, Dave Trigwell and Dave Mattocks. Her trio in 2006 featured bass player Carey and drummer Mark Fletcher. From 1996 onwards Carroll worked with Hospital Records and in 2003 toured internationally with a band formed by label owner Tony Colman that played at the Brazilian Electro Dance Music Festival in Brasilia. In the early years of the new millennium she began recording for the Splash Point label, releasing a series of superb recordings that embraced jazz, R&B and the singer-songwriter tradtion. In 2005, Carroll decided to concentrate on her jazz work and in mid-summer that year she became the first person to win two BBC jazz awards in the same year: Jazz Vocalist Of The Year and Best Of Jazz. The following year, she won the Marston’s Pedigree British Jazz Award as Vocalist Of The Year. In addition to performing, Carroll also teaches at jazz summer schools in the UK and Europe and also conducts workshops.