Professional singer Sophie Garner who grew up in Bury St Edmunds to hold Vinyl Voices Rewind...80s singing workshops at New Green Centre in Thurston

A professional singer, vocal coach and author who grew up in Bury St Edmunds is to hold a singing workshop next week and aims to prove anyone can do it.

Sophie Garner, 50, from Northampton, will run a one day singing workshop, called Vinyl Voices Rewind… 80s, on October 28 at the New Green Centre, in Thurston.

Sophie, who found her love of singing at a young age, will teach participants breathing exercises before they tackle three 1980s hits which are kept a secret until the day. There will also be tea, coffee, cake and biscuits, and a glass of prosecco or a soft drink on arrival.

She said: “It’s an incredible day. Anyone that wants to sing that has always wanted to release their 80s child this is the most amazing place to do it because I’m a really supportive vocal teacher.

“At the end we sing the songs together, we listen to it because I record them on my phone.

“Most people in the workshops that I’ve done leave wanting to hit the nearest karaoke machine or join a choir.

“People feel very differently about singing and more importantly they feel very differently about their confidence in their own voices.”

Sophie grew up in a dysfunctional household and missed days of school when she attended King Edward VI School, but she always had a dream to be a singer.

She attended the National Youth Theatre of Great Britain in London in the early 1990s at the same time as Matt Lucas. From there she decided that singing was her first love and found a band.

She was the first person to perform at the O2 Arena while supporting The Sugababes and McFly and had the opportunity to travel around the world.

She has released four albums and written two books, The Creative Songwriting Journal and If You Can’t Say it Sing it!

She has also been a vocal coach for ITV’s The Voice Kids and has featured and performed on BBC radio and TV.

Next year she hopes to run more workshops in Bury and across the country which focus on the 1970s, 90s and 2000s.

Participants will need to take a packed lunch for the day and there are about 15 tickets left.

Tickets cost £59 and can be purchased from the website here.

The event will start at 11am and finish at 5pm.