Sheila Chandra

Sheila Chandra began her career in the arts as a child actress on Grange Hill playing 'Sudhamani Patel' (1979 -1981). She went on to front the band 'Monsoon' who had a top ten hit around the world with 'Ever So Lonely' (Phonogram, 1982) and was the UK's only professional Asian Fusion artist for a full five years before the term 'World Music' was invented in 1987. She eschewed singles and went on to make an album with Monsoon ('Third Eye', Phonogram,1982), and a further five solo albums on the independent Indipop label (1983 - 1991) before licensing four solo albums to Peter Gabriel's Real World label (1992 - 1999). Music from her albums has been a favorite with dance re-mixers and her recordings have featured in numerous films and TV programs. In 2002 composer Howard Shore wrote the song 'Breath of Life' for 'Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers' film especially for her voice. Voice problems forced her to retire as a musician and composer in 2010 due to scarring on one of her vocal chords which occurred during an emergency operation to save her sight, followed by the onset of Burning Mouth Syndrome. Talking and singing cause her long lasting pain and although she has to speak sometimes to stop her vocal mechanism from atrophying, she spends long periods remaining silent. She became an author and informal mentor to artists, coaching Stik from homelessness in 2008 to international acclaim as one of Britain's best loved and most collectible street artists in just five years. Masterclasses for her second book 'Organizing for Creative People' (Watkins 2017) prompted her to formally launch a creative career coaching service in 2018.