Hedge End Team
Mike Evans - Academy Leader
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 and most recently a featured role on Series 2 of Netflix's 'The Witcher', which is due for release in 2021.
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 in 2018, with the aim to offer contemporary, affordable and high-quality arts to children and young people across the whole of the UK.
Jia Jia - Academy Assistant
Jia Jia began her musical journey at the age of 6 when she began participating in local music festivals in Hampshire. She dedicated the majority of her childhood years to classical music and actively involved herself in school orchestras, jazz bands, and choirs, through which she had numerous opportunities to perform abroad in European cities. While music was her primary focus, she also found much enjoyment in her ballet and jazz dance classes and it was through her dance school that Jia Jia was able to get a taste of the performing arts in a more contemporary form. At university, Jia Jia continued to further her passion for performing on stage by joining the award-winning female a cappella group “The Rolling Tones” where much success was attained. Jia Jia was awarded ‘Best Soloist’ while competing in the UK Quarterfinals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella UK Quarterfinals, then sang as a soloist on Broadway while representing the UK with the group in the final round in the USA. Her three years of singing with the Tones were extremely rewarding, and Jia Jia continues to sing a cappella with her new group ‘VERSA’ while working at Sound Pop Academy.
Portsmouth Team
Jenni Monday - Academy Leader
Since she was only a child herself, Jenni has loved singing and performing. She spent many years singing in a pop and soul choir where she fell in love with harmonies. In 2010 at the age of 18, she started her professional career in popular UK function band, The Deloreons, which she still remains busy with today. They have performed to thousands of people at weddings and events all over the UK.
With a taste for travel, Jenni has spent down time from the band performing on cruise ships across America. She has visited and performed out of Texas, Alaska, Florida, South Carolina and the Caribbean Islands to name a few, in intimate concerts to full production shows!
Jia Jia - Academy Assistant
Jia Jia began her musical journey at the age of 6 when she began participating in local music festivals in Hampshire. She dedicated the majority of her childhood years to classical music and actively involved herself in school orchestras, jazz bands, and choirs, through which she had numerous opportunities to perform abroad in European cities. While music was her primary focus, she also found much enjoyment in her ballet and jazz dance classes and it was through her dance school that Jia Jia was able to get a taste of the performing arts in a more contemporary form. At university, Jia Jia continued to further her passion for performing on stage by joining the award-winning female a cappella group “The Rolling Tones” where much success was attained. Jia Jia was awarded ‘Best Soloist’ while competing in the UK Quarterfinals of the International Championship of Collegiate A Cappella UK Quarterfinals, then sang as a soloist on Broadway while representing the UK with the group in the final round in the USA. Her three years of singing with the Tones were extremely rewarding, and Jia Jia continues to sing a cappella with her new group ‘VERSA’ while working at Sound Pop Academy.
Southampton Team
Jayne Glynn - Academy Leader
Jayne has been part of the Sound Pop Academy team since the very beginning and is passionate about providing exciting sessions that develop social skills, confidence and emotional resilience along with the development of vocal and performance skills.
Jayne has always had a passion for working with young people. After graduating from Winchester University in 2007 as a qualified teacher, Jayne has gained lots of experience supporting young people with their educational, emotional and social development. Throughout her experience as a teacher, Jayne has led school choirs and singing assemblies in different schools.
Alongside her role as a teacher, Jayne also works for SingForce providing workplace choir sessions for a variety of businesses. Jayne is also a session vocalist. She records guide backing tracks for choir leaders to use during the teaching process for many different choirs, including Sound Pop Academy.
Jayne also sings for pleasure in her own time. Since joining Love Soul Choir in 2014, Jayne has performed at many different events. These performances include a Westquay flashmob, ‘One Sound’ at Mayflower Theatre and performing onstage with Take That at St Mary’s stadium in May 2019.
Sophie Allen - Academy Assistant
Sophie has loved music for as long as she can remember and was inspired to start singing at a young age after joining a choir. She decided to pursue this hobby more seriously during her teens, achieving a BA (Hons) degree in Professional Musicianship from the British and Irish Institute of Modern Music, and is currently studying for her master’s degree in Music Performance at the University of Southampton.
Sophie has experience performing in a variety of bands and choral groups both as a lead and backing vocalist and has been lucky enough to perform in some prominent music venues across Southampton and Bristol including The Brook, Thekla and The Fleece. She has also gained significant experience within the recording studio, recording original music for release on various music streaming platforms.
Winchester Team
Kerry Chamberlain - Academy Leader
Kerry is a professional dancer and teacher with a BA (Hons) degree in contemporary dance. She has been training in the Performing Arts since the age of 4, specialising in Ballet, Modern and Tap. From a young age, she performed in many dance shows through The Florian School of Dance and attended yearly summer schools taking lessons in drama, singing, musical theatre and a variety of dance genres. Kerry has a BTEC Diploma and an HNC in Dance, and is a graduate of Arts University Bournemouth. Alongside her education, Kerry volunteered at her The Florian School of Dance, supporting young students as they train and prepare for their vocational dance exams. This inspired her to start her teaching career and complete a Diploma in Dance Instruction. Kerry is a qualified ISTD Modern and Tap teacher and she is now focused on further pursuing her career in teaching. She is passionate about inspiring, encouraging and building confidence in young people through her love of Performing Arts.
Sound Pop Academy HQ Team
Mike Evans - Academy 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 and most recently a featured role on Series 2 of Netflix's 'The Witcher', which is due for release in 2021. 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 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 - Academy Director
Dan's journey started when he was 11 years old where he joined a singing group. At 16 Dan was teaching the singing group, helping young singers develop and grow into competent performers and at 17, Dan trained to become a certified vocal coach. Dan was once the youngest vocal coach in the UK. As a vocal coach, Dan has taught thousands of one to one singing lessons and has also worked on TV shows including 'The Voice' on ITV (working alongside Universal Music Group & Modest! Management) as well as 'Little Mix The Search' for the BBC. Dan is also the leader of Love Soul Choir who perform regularly throughout the course of the year at theatre shows, weddings and corporate functions. Love Soul Choir have performed with Take That, Susan Boyle & have worked with Gareth Malone. Dan is also the founder of SingForce which is an organisation that provides workplace choirs to companies to improve wellbeing in the workplace. SingForce is at the forefront of employee wellbeing in the UK. In early 2020, Dan co-directed a sell out choir collaboration show which took place at Mayflower Theatre in Southampton with 600 singers. Globally, Dan has hosted singing sessions virtually across a number of different countries as well as hosting a term for a pop choir based in Portland, Oregon, USA.
Jayne Glynn - Training Manager
Jayne has been part of the Sound Pop Academy team since the very beginning and is passionate about providing exciting sessions that develop social skills, confidence and emotional resilience along with the development of vocal and performance skills.
Jayne has always had a passion for working with young people. After graduating from Winchester University in 2007 as a qualified teacher, Jayne has gained lots of experience supporting young people with their educational, emotional and social development. Throughout her experience as a teacher, Jayne has led school choirs and singing assemblies in different schools.
Alongside her role as a teacher, Jayne also works for SingForce providing workplace choir sessions for a variety of businesses. Jayne is also a session vocalist. She records guide backing tracks for choir leaders to use during the teaching process for many different choirs, including Sound Pop Academy.
Jayne also sings for pleasure in her own time. Since joining Love Soul Choir in 2014, Jayne has performed at many different events. These performances include a Westquay flashmob, One Sound at Mayflower Theatre and performing onstage with Take That at St Mary’s stadium in May 2019.
Sue Rogers - Finance Officer
Sue has always enjoyed supporting the arts and has a keen eye for detail and numbers. Sue has been part of Sound Pop Academy since the beginning but prior to this worked for the Forestry Commission where she developed her passion for the New Forest, its flora and fauna. Sue has also spent many years working in secondary education helping young people with their learning. Sue’s hobbies include walking, cycling, hoola hooping, generally any outside activity which will keep her fit. Animals have always been one of Sue’s interests. In her spare time Sue spends time horse riding. Sue has recently become a first time Grandparent so will need lots of energy to support her Grandson. Spending quality time with her family is something Sue treasures.