Royston's Hayley gets in the swing

LIFE is up tempo right now for Royston girl Hayley Faulkner.

The 17-year-old won Royston's Got Talent at the opening night of Royston Arts Festival last September, singing and playing her double bass.

Now she is set to go on tour with a top swing jive band.

At the time of her competition win, Hayley was on a performing arts course at Cambridge but has since decided to pursue another direction as a musician alongside taking a dance-teaching course with Stage Right Studios.

She took up playing the double bass at the age of 13. Hayley now regularly plays with The Jive Aces up and down the country. She has performed at the Royal Festival Hall and the Pigalle Club in London plus many big dance events.

The Jive Aces have invited her on tour with them to the Derry Jazz Festival in Northern Ireland at the end of April. She will be performing at least 15 gigs with them.

The music Hayley plays with the band is up tempo rhythm and blues from the 1940s and 50s. It was the time just after the big band swing era and just before rock'n'roll arrived on the scene.

Hayley will be performing in Leicester this evening (Thursday) on the same billing as Kenny Ball and his Jazzmen plus the Jive Aces, then tomorrow night in Manchester with some other youngsters as part of a new young band The Swing Kids.

There's a chance to see her play more locally when she performs with a band called The Ding Dong Daddios at a jive and swing dance at the Weatherley Centre in Biggleswade on Saturday.

For tickets and info see www.getintheswing.com or call 01763 242949

Hayley is hoping to get her own band together and would like to hear from any interested musicians.

To see Hayley perform on line and follow her career, see www.lilmisshayley.co.uk or on You Tube "lil' Miss Hayley with the Jive Aces ".