Hilary Canto - Biography

[DAME HILARY CANTO]

My father was a fabulous big band singer, at one point sharing the same billing with Judy Garland. He sang like Perry Como but he could sing anything from Frankie Laine’s Jezebel to Sinatra, Bobby Darin, Sammy Davis Jr, Nat King Cole, Bing Crosby, Elvis & Pop. I grew up with the music of the great era! People queued in his home town to hear him imitate Gracie Fields! As a child I would climb on his knee on stage and he sang “Daddy’s Little Girl” to me. He was BIG in the Northern Club & UK circuit and I was honoured to work with him as his daughter. We shared a very special musical time together.

I learned to play the flute at age 8. At 10 I trained in classical piano - Royal Schools of Music to Grade 5 Piano & Theory. At 12 I learned to play the organ (Hammonds inc C3, & Lowry’s). I had a great jazz organ teacher using Harry Stoneham music to teach me jazz, swing & contemporary. I supported my father and other artists. I began singing with him before entering the club circuit in the UK as a solo artist, at that time, an excellent training ground. I self taught myself basic guitar and sang country/folk/MOR in those days. I was semi professional until 18 then went professional 6 nights a week for 4 years; I had a great time singing, including some very large music festivals in Holland.

I then spent 25 years in the creative, media, sales/marketing & design business. I employed & trained 12 staff and recruited at the highest level of creative expertise in the UK Advertising Agency scene. A top 3 UK specialist Creative recruitment agency and the first to operate nationally from one office outside London! I sang at the weekends too, but the pressures of business led me to give up singing for 10 years.

In 1998 a major traumatic event, opened me to start writing songs and I returned to music and singing. Whilst running the business, I trained in Natural Nutrition (Naturopathic) & Vibrational Medicine (Flower Essences, Energy Healing and Sound Healing mainly using the voice). I started singing swing/blues with a 12 piece band for a short spell.
I began to draw back from business and worked alongside some enlightened Doctors and complementary therapy leading lights. I set up a healing clinic and was the first person in the UK to use Sound & Voice Healing in a professional situation. I trained with the best and am grateful to Chris James (Australia) for teaching me the power of tones and my first teacher Simon Heather who gave me the start and the science!

From this work, I began performing and teaching again in Greece. I realised that integrating voice healing and perforance singing would be powerful. The quality and sound of my voice has come through mastering tones and applying it to performance singing. I had a shaky start as a baby nearly dying from choking on bottled milk; later on I had a collapsed lung, so my breathing was never great! I learned to manage my breath whilst singing and playing the organ at the same time (hands, feet and voice), and my true power, technique and breath control came from mastering tones. My global thinking led me to develop my vision to bring the world together in love through singing! To influence the commercial world to sing from the heart and soul and make a positive difference to our world.

Singing is an expression of the heart and soul. Science shows how music bypasses the mind and the voice is the ultimate healing instrument. I was told I could heal just by speaking to people and many clients say my voice affects them powerfully. I have a gift for teaching & healing intuitively through love. I have taught and run workshops throughout my life! I facilitate a student to trust their own wisdom, because wisdom is different to knowledge. I am especially good with beginners, and have re-trained trained voices to better resonance and technique! I love to see the joy in a student as they free their voice! I make it easy with my True Voice Course®.

I am blessed to be here as a Universal Heart to all, to help you share your voices with LOVE!