I starting plonking on my nan's piano when I was four, and nan ordered mum to find me a piano teacher. Through my childhood, when I got bored I added a new instrument to the mix. In my teens I rebelled by learning drums and guitar.

I have had nine non-musical jobs in my life, and I was sacked from all-but-one of them.

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Massive Attack, aged 17, at Sheffield Arena. It was mind blowing. I sat in an almost empty auditorium listening to Teardrop, drinking a cup of tea.

Nothing I have seen since has topped that performance, although The Waifs at Cambridge Folk Festival (2007) came close.

Nord Electro for gigging and Roland FP5 stage piano for home.
Golden Melody (Hohner) harmonica's.
Miyazawa flute.
My favourite guitar is my Washburn electro-acoustic but my most played guitar cost 29 from Argos in 1993.
I haven't gigged as a drummer in years due to a hand injury but have a vintage Premier Blue Oyster kit I found on ebay for 50 quid.

People to share the funk with.

I started going to the Grimsby folk club as a teen, but was hard-wired into the classical scene from a young age, mostly because that's what my music teachers taught me.

Moving to London was the best thing I did musically: I found Jazz, Blues, Latin, Funk, Soul, Indian classical music and world music.

During college I studied Opera but gigged as a Jazz singer. I wanted to do both but it didn't work: the freedom of jazz won out. I never fully appreciated my opera training until recently. It has really made me the singer I am.

I'm taking a break right now to focus on writing my own material and to co-write with others.

I normally earn my bread gigging in jazz ensembles and covers bands but have been leading choirs and MDing a lot since 2010, and received my first big composition commission from Arts Council England this year.

I still bandlead Abnormally Funky, a wedding and party band made up of lovely jazz players and motherfunkers from the South East, and I perform around Kent with my funk band Emily and the Beats. I also do dep work and occasional jazz gigs.

Growing up, aside from playing folk clubs as a singer-guitarist, I played in a host of bands on instruments I don't play now:

Turkish Impact (named after a microsoft word font, we were cool, us 14 year olds) as a drummer.

The Dinner Ladies, aged 17 as a bass player. The only chick in an all male band, I wore a suit to look like a dude and they dressed as.... dinner ladies. Oh the irony.

Ghandi's Hairdryer, as a drummer, aged 17. Good name. Shit band.

Metallica Tribute band, Grimsby, drummer, aged 18. Never got out of the guitarists shed. Awful. Awful. Awful.

Xsavia, heavy metal, drummer, aged 19-22, around the dodgy rock clubs of East London.

Bush Taxi, aged 22-26, London, a cool collective of afro-cuban people and musicians, flute, vocals, drums.

More recent bands have included band-leading and singing with Ladyfunk - an all female big band I co-lead with Vanessa McGowan, playing hammond and harmonica for all female blues band Chix Wiv Pix, singing with pianist Frances Knight and singing and playing piano with harmonica player Brendan Power.

Jon Cleary because he's got the funk.
Lonnie Smith because he's got the serious funk.
Allen Toussaint because he's got the more serious funk.

And the guys I play with in Abnormally Funky because they're awesome players and lovely people.

The biggest was probably at Prestatyn Blues Festival in Wales with a girl band I played Hammond with called Chix Wiv Pix. Second are festival gigs: Moare Music, Lounge on the Farm, The Hop Festival and the Oyster Festival.

The smallest was at the East Kent in Whitstable to 2-3 people on perhaps 12 different occasions. But they kept having us back. It was painful really. But bloody hell, the acoustics were smoking in that place and we were funking it.

The Best Of Pentangle.
The Piano soundtrack - Michael Nyman.
Queen's Greatest Hits 1.
Rumours - Fleetwood Mac
The Best of Radiohead.
The Legend of Johnny Cash.
Home - Beady Belle.
Beautifully Human - Jill Scott.
The Sound Of The Smiths - The Smiths.
The Jazz Singer - Neil Diamond.
Blue - Joni Mitchell.
Hatful of Rain - Del Amitri.
Johnny Clegg & Savuka - Cruel, Crazy, Beautiful World.
Ain't Nobody Hear But Us Chickens - Louis Jordan.
Kind Of Blue - Miles Davis.
Headhunters - Hancock.
Kate Rusby - anything by her.
Jon Cleary & The Absolute Monster Gentlemen - Jon Clearly
The Meters - Anything
Nilsson Schmilsson - Harry Nilsson.

There's more.