North East based singer Anna Reay is well known for reaching those high notes and now her new business, ‘Annagrams’ has certainly hit the right note!
Like so many other entertainers, Anna’s singing career came to an abrupt halt owing to the Pandemic. Normally she was kept busy with corporate events with her band, guitar and vocal duo gigs in restaurants, weddings with the North East Singing Waiters as well as cruises and theatre shows.
Anna said ‘When the Pandemic hit is was as if I’d tipped my diary upside down and all the gigs just fell out! It was a worrying time financially and stressful all round! ’
For her own sanity Anna started doing virtual gigs. She was also asked to do some surprise live ‘Doorstep Performances’ to help celebrate some special occasions such as birthdays, and other celebrations cancelled due to the virus. Social distancing strictly adhered to of course!
Anna also began a project which involved recording a weekly song every Thursday to coincide with ‘clap for carers’. This was a song recorded at home with music sent from pianist Steve Whitfield and guitarist Deon Krishnan. She asked people in the community to send in any images and videos of things they were up to through lockdown. Anna put these together in a musical montage and posted them on social media. The response was amazing!
Little did she know then that she was laying the corner stones of her new business ‘Annagrams’. Doorstep performances and virtual greeting songs. A business that has taken off with a bang! So much so that it has won Anna a finalist position in the Great British Entrepreneur Awards.
She said “I was thrilled at the response of my doorstop performances the recipients said it really made their day. It made me realise the power of music, in the memories it provokes, the emotion and healing it brings. People have been blown away by receiving such a welcome gift in these strange and lonely times.
As far as the personalised songs are concerned they are proving enormously popular. “I have done ‘Annagrams’ from as far away as Australia & Dubai for all sorts of occasions”
Anna does not see the end of lockdown as the end of Annagrams, she said “There is no reason why Annagrams can’t run alongside my usual career when normality returns. Even when venues re-open I still think there will be a place for these surprise performances. It does make the recipient feel so very special’. I have bookings for doorstep performances throughout the year and some great plans for the wedding and funeral markets, especially with the virtual greetings’.
