I still remember getting caught singing badly and loudly… oh sweet Lord, the shame still haunts me now, and I’m talking about the late 80s here.

I thought I was home alone, so I was standing in the kitchen in my shell suit, belting out the theme tune from a cartoon called 80 Days Around the World. The main character was a lion in a top hat called Willy Fog… and for some reason it resonated.

That’s not the point.

The point is, I was singing, palms pressed to the fridge, then the oven, serenading the birds through the window, belting this song at top volume, maybe even doing a few twirls... when I turned around to find them gawping at me.

My little brother. And his friend.

The friend turned to my brother very slowly, and said, “Your sister is so weird.”

And that was it.

DONE. I was done singing to the fridge, done with Willy Fog. Done with boys. (Well, until the mid-90s, in a hot tub in Florida, but that’s another story).

And then, in my 40s, I joined a women’s choir here in The Netherlands. One of our songs was Circle of Life. And there I was, back to singing about a lion, half expecting my brother’s friend to stick his head around the door and call me weird.

I found my voice again.

But this time, no one called me weird, because you know what… possibly everyone in that choir had a story like mine. Where they were afraid to sing, or told they couldn’t sing, or assumed for some reason that they shouldn’t sing.

And now, we’re all just singing anyway. Because life is short, my friends, and why should we be quiet?

So, when I was asked to help with this book, SING ANYWAY, by my choir director (also a vocal instructor), I jumped at it. It shows you how to sing confidently, step by step.

It’s all about finding your voice, even if you think you don’t have one.

Trust me, you have one. And don't let any little brothers tell you otherwise.

Here's the book, friends! And if you get it this week, you'll get a special launch price too.