JEMMA Stevenson has always loved to sing.
The 26-year-old from Govan has busked on Sauchiehall Street, entertained young patients at Glasgow’s Royal Hospital for Sick Children, performed at rave nights, sung her heart out on the roof of Elderpark Library…
Wait, what?
“Yeah, I was on the roof,” she says, with a laugh. “I was like Govan’s Adele up there, totally going for it. It was a fun day, for the local community, and it was amazing.”
After her baby son, Tommy, who is nearly two, was born, however, Jemma struggled with post-natal depression.
“I lost confidence, a wee bit,” she says. “A few things happened around that time, and I was finding it hard to cope.
“Then Covid came, and me and Tommy both got it. I remember sitting on Hogmanay at the bells, feeling miserable, watching the fireworks out the window. That was the lowest point, it was really tough. I think I needed a wee push, just to get back to the way things were.”
The wee push came in the form of Scotland Sings, a two-part BBC Scotland documentary which follows Scottish vocal-coach-to-the-stars Yvie Burnett as she puts together a choir to perform at the Hydro.
Yvie brings the same techniques and experience from working with the likes of Lewis Capaldi and Olly Murs to the choir. Celebrities like Myleene Klass pop in to give advice and Royal Conservatoire conductor and music arranger John Logan helps the choir prepare.
There is a twist, however, as this is not a talent show, nor a documentary about finding Scotland’s next big thing. This choir is made up of people who lack confidence, who have had setbacks in life, or who feel socially isolated.
There’s Stephen, who toured holiday camps until severe ulcerative colitis forced him to stop travelling; district nurse Linda, from Broxburn, who sings in the car en route to her patients but won’t perform in public; and Stephanie, from Inverness, who suffers from agoraphobia.
And there’s Jemma, whose natural talent and sheer joy at being part of the project shine through on the show.
“It was an experience, absolutely brilliant,” she beams. “It didn’t feel real, it was like I was in a film.
“I would never have done it but my mum encouraged me to apply. She is the best mum in the world, she has always encouraged me, and she has always said – you’ve got to believe in yourself. She said afterwards she was dead proud of me for doing it.
“I saw it as an opportunity to push myself, to see what I could do. If you never go for it, you’ll never get it…”
Jemma is well-known in Govan and around Glasgow, having performed at a variety of events since she was a teenager.
She won two local talent contests – Pride Idol, and The Voice of Glasgow – when she was 17 and 18 respectively, and every year since she was 16, she has sung at Drumchapel Fireworks Display.
Her passion is rave music and she is a regular at the Classic Grand club night, Uproar Scotland. She has recently recorded three tracks for the I Am A Raver collective and will be performing live at their album launch in the Classic Grand on May 6.
“It’s called Boys from the Scheme, and I’m a lassie from a scheme, so it fits,” she grins.
“I’m buzzing about it.
“My brother, John-Paul, is a DJ and his pals all know I can sing so I often get the chance to get on tracks with them. I love going to raves, letting my hair down. It gives me a chance to be me, and then I can go back to mum duties when I go home…”
Jemma, who says she will be watching the show with mum and dad, Phyllis and John, admits she still suffers from confidence issues.
“I watched the Lewis Capaldi documentary and I could really relate to what he was saying because he loves singing but he suffers from anxiety,” she adds.
“It’s exactly how I feel. I go through phases of wanting to hide away from the world. But when I start to sing, I just zone into the music and it doesn’t matter how I’m feeling, it just goes away.”
She pauses.
“I just love it, my dream is to be a singer,” she smiles. “When I sing, that’s when I feel like I’m me.”
The first part of Scotland Sings is on BBC Scotland on Thursday (April 27) at 10pm.
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here