Gloria Garcia - Vocals

Soul direction is fronted by outstanding vocalist Gloria Garcia, who has extensive session singing experience under her belt and is also a vocal coach.

Gloria was selected in the last 75 in Pop Idol 2003, in the last 10 in the VH1 Divas London Auditions, has had TV appearances on MTV and has even supported Jools Holland. 

Her soulful, energetic and passionate delivery combined with a great stage presence and the ability to interact with the audience makes her stand out from the crowd.

Rob Gilmour - Bass

Having been playing and gigging for more years than he cares to remember, bottom end for Soul Direction comes courtesy of Rob Gilmour.

Rob has extensive gigging, touring and session experience having performed with a number of acts, all over Europe and the UK. Rob has had the chance to share a bill with some fantastic acts including, The Beastie Boys, Morcheeba, Grace Jones and Marlena Shaw, to name a few.

Passionate about music Rob loves to play an eclectic range of styles from Nu Jazz to Nu Metal, from Bhangra to Hip Hop, this passion and range of styles has kept his playing in demand.

Rob Harris - Keys & Backing Vocals

Rob ‘fingers’ Harris has been playing and performing live since the late 80’s (yes he really is as old as he looks)!

From Rock and pop to funk and soul, Rob has played in wide variety bands across the UK. Over the years Rob has performed at many prestigious events and venues including Glastonbury, Womad, The Royal Shakespeare Theatre, London’s Sound Republic and The Edinburgh Fringe!

When not running his fingers up the keys for Soul Direction Rob regularly composes and arranges music for a wide variety of projects and settings including, theatre, film, commercials and community arts.

Matt Siddall - Drums

Matt started playing drums at the age of 12 and has gone on to study music at secondary school and BTEC national Diploma in Music Performance and Production at East Berkshire College.

Since then Matt has played with a number of bands such as !daft! and Jamie and the first class and has gigged and toured all over Europe, getting to share stage with the likes of Boney M, Bad Manners, and Madness.

Matt is sponsored by Drumwright from Woodley, Reading  which has resulted in a Keyman artist sponsorship from Mapex. He uses a 6 piece Mapex Orion drum kit in Ebony Burst and Zildjian K series cymbals.

Links : www.mapex.co.uk/artists/matt-siddall www.Drumwright.co.uk

Adrian Hogg - Guitar

Adrian has been playing electric guitar for nearly 20 years, much of this time has been spent in gigging bands playing a variety of genres from Jazz to Heavy Metal to experimental Musique Concreté; and as such he is well placed to manage the wide variety of music performed by Soul Direction. 

Adrian is also an accomplished sound engineer and producer and can regularly be found hunched over a mixing desk in his studio 'The Makeup Room' where he mixes and produces artists and bands from all over the UK.

When not playing or mixing Adrian works for a manufacturer of recording studio equipment and travels the world training people how to use it properly.

Graham Ormiston - Trumpet

“Iron-chops” Graham has been gigging on the trumpet since he was 14. Originally  a classical player Graham moved over to the dark side (jazz) at around 16 and hasn’t looked back since!

A busy player Graham is constantly performing with a range of bands, across a range of genres, from soaring lead parts in big band to more mellow, intimate flugelhorn in jazz ensemble, as well as regularly working on shows in and around London.

As well as tooting his horn for a living, Graham can also been heard jamming out some hot riffs on the keys and electric guitar.

Sally-Ann Bynoe - Backing Vocals

Sally’s love of music stems from singing duets at Primary School, disco dancing as a child, through to competitive dancing over a number of years. With all of these influences, Sally loves a wide range of music.

Sally also performs regularly with a Samba band, with whom she has performed nationally, at venues ranging from major festivals to street parades.

Sally is the quiet one of the group, but as the saying goes, it’s always the quiet ones you have to watch!

Soul Direction is made up of experienced musicians with extensive gigging experience all over Europe and the UK.

Between them members of the band have performed alongside and shared stages with some major acts, including; Jools Holland, The Beastie Boys, Dhol Foundation and Marlena Shaw.

Lisa Maps - Backing Vocals

Lisa is the newest member to join Soul Direction accompanying Sally on backing vocals.

Lisa is a former student of Gloria Garcia who helped encourage her passion for singing and guided her successfully through Musical Theatre exams with the London College of Music. Her love of music covers a broad spectre of genres.

Lisa appeared on stage as part of a Musical Theatre Group and has also performed at The Old Ticket Hall in Windsor as part of a local showcase.

Lisa is very excited to be a part of Soul Direction.

Additional Musicians:

Soul Direction work with some additional musicians who are available to make your event even more special.

Please contact us for full details.

Jason Ballard - Congas & Percussion

From an early age Jason enjoyed hitting things and making noise around the house and in the classroom. He now understands that if he does this in rhythmical fashion he can create what people understand as music.

Over the years Jason has played in range of different bands and musical styles. His most recent projects are Tzee and the African roots, A fun Afro beat pop band and Chameleon a soulful blues band. He also can be seen playing Timba, and occasionally acting as Mestre with Beatroots samba band.

With his various projects Jason has performed tours and festivals all over the UK.

As a percussion player he looks for influence from all types styles of playing and in particular Afro Cuban. For more info www.primaldrummer.com

James Vigurs - Saxophone

Profile coming soon.