A FAMILY AFFAIR

CHARASMATIC AND ENABLING MUSICAL DIRECTOR

LESLEY CARSON

Profile

Lesley's singing and directing experience expands over 28 years.
Not only has Lesley been directing for over fourteen years she is the founder and co-founder of three successful Cheshire based choirs.

Lesley's love of singing began when she joined the Maia Choir as a child, some years later in her twenties she joined the Stockport Liberty Belles where she also gained huge success singing lead in her gold medal winning quartet Montage. After many years with The belles she helped found The Cheshire chord company and fouteen years ago founded and directed the Heartbeat chorus up until March 2010. Lesley lives and breathes singing and is so passionate about giving people the chance to enjoy what has brought her so much over the years she has again formed another group. June 2010 saw her start another project and so came the birth of Affinity show choir.
Years of experience and learning the craft have led her and her groups to many a success, there really is no stopping her!.

Lesley believes that in addition to performance, musical education and self-development must be an important part of her choirs ethos, she enables and encourages every member to grow as individuals as well as a team players. Her feel for the emotion of a song is renowned. She often invites regular guest educators to her groups and insists that her teams both present and attend singing and performance workshops.

Lesley was the first to see the potential in the award winning quartet Tone-Acity and has mentored them for many years.

The family connections

Jeni (tenor), Lorna (baritone) & her sister Lesley (lead) got coaxed into helping Lesley (Carson senior – more of the incestuous family details in a minute!) when she decided to form a barbershop chorus some 14 years ago. Initially enlisted purely to boost the numbers they soon became hooked and there was no thought of leaving. Not only are Lesley & Lorna sisters, and Jeni their lifelong friend, but their parents are lifelong friends also!. Rose, Lorna and Lesley's mum also was a co-founder of their last choir, and again with "Affinity" (just for the record Lesley in Tone-acity was named after Lesley Carson senior) and to complete the triangle Lesley junior married Lesley senior’s son (Jeni’s brother) to become Mrs Lesley Carson the 2nd in September 2008. We told you it was incestuous and sometimes confusing too!!

And just to make it even more confusing, Lesley Sheridan joined Tone-acity as the bass in March 2010, how many Lesley's?.

The meaning of "Affinity"

After the huge success of her last group she has once again formed another choir in Hazel grove which has been given the name "Affinity show choir" (Affinity's meaning is Kinship generally; close agreement; relation; conformity; resemblance; connection; as, the affinity of sounds, of colors, or of languages) these are all the quality's lesley believes in, so a very fitting name for the group.
Along side Lesley are the original founders of her last venture, three members of Tone-acity Jen, Les and Lorna and her lifelong friend Rose. It is still very much a family affair.