London-based vocalist and vocal coach Becca Wilkins is a versatile musician with an assured sense of style and vocal identity. An experienced live and studio singer across a wide range of musical genres, Becca has an excellent understanding of vocal styles and technique as well as harmony and arranging.
Having found her musical home in jazz during her undergraduate studies at the University of Birmingham, Becca has been building her jazz portfolio for the last five years, and in 2022 embarked on a Master’s degree at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama. A highly flexible and creative musician, Becca’s projects range from artful storytelling to energetic showmanship and commanding extemporisation.
In 2018 she released the self-promoted jazz duo EP with pianist Tom Harris, wilkins/harris, with an accompanying UK tour the same year. The tour took this collaborative music to venues across the UK, including the Crazy Coqs at Brasserie Zédel, the Lescar, and most notably a support slot for Kandace Springs at Cheltenham Jazz Festival. Tony Dudley Evans (Cheltenham Jazz Festival, B:Music) has described this project as having ‘a real energy and joy in their performances and I believe that they will always captivate audiences'.
A confident side-woman, Becca is a powerful communicator and song interpreter, whether working with lyric or textural melody. She has collaborated extensively with multi-award-winning composer, Olivia Murphy. Their trio EP Moonrise alongside pianist Olly Chalk used lyricism, intertwining lines and textures to explore a distant dreamworld over one night’s sleep. The project was released on Lyte Records in July 2022 and was described as “ethereal” and “rich in detail” in Jazzwise Magazine. More recently, Becca also featured in the EP somewhere, not so far away with the Olivia Murphy Jazz Orchestra, as a soloist as well as a textural and storytelling element.
‘Murphy's long-time collaborator Wilkins has something of [Brigitte] Beraha's other worldliness'
~ Jazzwise Magazine
As a bandleader, Becca has most recently released a single with a more popular music venture, rouquine. Her debut single with this project cloud cover was released in February 2023 with production from Abigail Adams. The music is a blend across genres of soul, jazz and alternative songwriting, with more music in the pipeline.
'Her vocals, piano stylings, and creative approach to arrangement & production combine powerfully to draw us into her rich and distinctive songwriting world. Evocative and imaginative.....I’m looking forward to hearing the full release!'
~Oli Rockberger (Laura Mvula, Jordan Rakei, Becca Stevens)
Her range of creative output is impressive, with her previous original project, Gestalt, offering a much more intense contemporary, experimental musical experience. This band featured some of the UK’s brightest young talents, providing ‘a powerful accompaniment to Becca’s intimate lyrics and vocal textures, effortlessly shifting from abrasive electronic soundscapes to gentle piano textures and everything in between’. (Rohit Jepegnanam, Sofar Sounds). This project showcased their set of brand-new compositions to an eager audience at Symphony Hall, Birmingham, in late 2019, and the Vortex Jazz Club in London in August 2021.
More recently, Becca can be found performing with London Vocal Project, one of the UK’s leading contemporary vocal ensembles led by Pete Churchill, specialising in jazz, blues and groove music, as well as exciting jazz pianist Maria Grapsa. Elsewhere, she can also be found performing with the epic 22-piece orchestra and DJ experience Symphonica ft Mr Switch, as well as with high performance outfit The Distractions.
Alongside her performing career, Becca is an accomplished vocal coach, with students going on to join the Julian Joseph Jazz Academy, British Youth Musical Theatre Summer School and the Guildhall School of Music and Drama.