Little Sound Pop Academy

Mike Evans – co-founder & director

Mike’s passion for the arts started at the age of 7 when he joined his local drama club and then continued to be involved in performing arts groups through to the end of his time in education.

At the age of 18, Mike started his arts career at Mayflower Theatre where he spent 9 years working across the theatre in a variety of roles, but with a focus on community arts and education.

During the summers, Mike would spend time in Pennsylvania, USA, where he led the drama and performing arts department at a co-ed private summer camp for children and young people aged 6-19. Mike’s passion for acting continued throughout his twenties and he spent time working on productions such as EastEnders, Star Wars, The Witcher and most recently The Batman and Fantastic Beasts which were released in 2022.

In 2017, Mike found employment at Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane, Australia where he worked alongside the Chief Executive at Australia’s largest arts centre.

Mike co-founded Sound Pop Academy with Dan in 2018 with the aim to offer contemporary, affordable and high-quality arts to children and young people across the whole of the UK.

Dan Cooper – co-founder

Dan’s journey started when he was 11 years old where he joined a singing group. At 17, he trained to become a certified vocal coach becoming the youngest certified Speech Level Singing vocal coach in the UK.

Dan has taught thousands of one to one singing lessons and has also worked on TV shows including ‘The Voice’ on ITV as well as ‘Little Mix The Search’ for the BBC.

Dan is the leader of Love Soul Choir who perform regularly throughout the course of the year. Love Soul Choir have performed with Take That, Susan Boyle & have worked with Gareth Malone in the past too.

He is also the founder and lead-coach of SingForce, an organisation that provides workplace choirs to companies to improve wellbeing in the workplace.
Dan co-directs a choir collaboration show (One Sound) which takes place at Mayflower Theatre in Southampton. Over 400 singers come together to perform to a sell out audience.

In late 2022, Dan also performed alongside Derren Brown as part of his Showman tour and globally, Dan has hosted singing sessions both virtually and in-person across a number of different countries including Ireland and the USA.

Dan co-founded Sound Pop Academy with Mike in 2018 with the aim to offer contemporary, affordable and high-quality arts to children and young people across the whole of the UK.

BECKY GRIFFIN – associate director

Becky began her performance training in dance, competing at competitions around the UK throughout her childhood & teens.

She then moved into studying music & performance throughout college and university, graduating with a BA (Hons) in Music from the University of Southampton in 2016 specialising in Musical Theatre Performance and Direction. Since graduating, Becky has led various choirs around Hampshire, including projects for Gareth Malone’s BBC Military Wives Choirs & Britains Got Talent winners, Collabro.

She founded her own choir, Raise Your Voice – Southampton’s Musical Theatre Choir, in 2018.

She has experienced teaching singing to all ages from youth choirs, theatre groups, workplace & community workshops to dementia groups for the Alzheimer’s Society!

Faye agnew – memberships Manager

Faye is our Memberships Manager and has always had a love for performing arts. She enjoys going to shows with her family and has four children who all love singing and performing! 

Faye is enthusiastic about encouraging young people to engage in learning in a fun and inspiring way, having assisted at local schools for many years.

In her spare time Faye enjoys spending time outdoors and loves having both the forest and coast on her doorstep!

LORRAINE BARBER – finance officer

Lorraine is our Finance Officer and has always had a keen interest in music and shows. She loves nothing better than seeing live acts, and if she can bring songs into her other love, cooking, then Lorraine is at her happiest, making a cake whilst singing along to Belinda Carlisle!

Helping young people achieve their goals and ambitions has always been a priority to Lorraine, often attending careers open days in schools.  There is nothing more satisfying than passing on knowledge and experience, to aid growth and development.

Any spare time Lorraine has, she loves to get out and explore.  Whether that’s the local countryside, beach, the New Forest or the Purbecks, there is always a new place to visit, and an adventure around the corner!

Bethany Howard – Academy leader

Bethany’s love for the arts stemmed from a very young age when she joined in with Southampton’s Scouting and Guiding shows full of singing and dancing.

This experience fuelled a passion for performing which led to Bethany joining a youth theatre where she performed many musicals. Throughout her education, Bethany’s love for drama and music grew and she started singing lessons which developed her skill and love for music.

Bethany has always had a passion for working with young people and loves watching the way singing and performing with others builds their confidence.

Grace Warne – Academy Assistant

Grace has always had a love for performing, growing up in a musical family helped her grow this love into a passion.

Through her youth, Grace took part in many different choirs and youth theatres around Southampton and used any chance she could to sing and dance.

In 2019, Grace attended the University of Chichester Conservatoire studying Musical Theatre Performance, where she was trained in vocal technique and different dance styles including ballet, tap and jazz.

Having performed and worked with young people as a teenager, Grace is excited to see how a young person’s passion can grow as their confidence does.

LUKe groen – Academy Assistant

Luke’s love for performing arts started at the age of 7 where he began taking saxophone lessons at his local school. A few years later he trialled for a choir looking for volunteers and has continued to sing to this day!

Over the years, he has accumulated a grade 8 in both the rock&pop singing exam and the Trinity Jazz saxophone exam. He has used this experience to perform all over the country and in France. Throughout his performing arts career, he has been a part of multiple choirs in which he’s loved sharing his passion for music and has loved seeing the confidence of people around him grow every week.

mia charlton – resident choreopgrapher

Mia fell in love with dancing at the age of 3. Whilst at school, Mia trained at SJ Academy Dance where she not only completed grades in different dance styles, but also danced competitively, achieving much success at local and National levels.

Mia has performed at a variety of large scale venues around the UK, including the Royal Albert Hall. She has also been cast in the Winchester Christmas Pantomime for 4 consecutive years. In 2019, Mia secured a place at the renowned Italia Conti where she studied Musical Theatre and graduated with a BA (hons) degree.

Mia was competed my DDE qualifications in tap and modern. Since gaining these qualifications, she has taught at various dance schools including Italia Conti and Guildford School of Arts, as well as offering 1:1 lessons. These opportunities have allowed Mia to pass on her passion and love for dance by engaging students in creative, inspiring and fun classes.