Don't Tell Me I Can't......Become A Rock Chick!

Janet Littlewood explains why it’s never too late to do something you love...

- Emmie Harrison

Sitting before an audience of 150 people, they cheered as if Debbie Harry had performed. Guitar in hand, I bowed, my eyes brimming with tears. ‘They’re clapping for me!’ I thought triumphantly.

Except, I wasn’t an award-winning rock star with multiple records under my belt, I was a mum-of-two who’d transformed into a rock chick — aged 63.

Music has been the love of my life since the age of 14. As soon as I heard Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band by The Beatles, I was hooked. I spent hours dancing to the radio and singing into my hairbrush back home in West Yorkshire. And, when I was old enough, I went out clubbing. I didn’t need booze to have fun, the music was mesmerising.

When I turned 21, moved to Swindon where I went to gigs, pubs and clubs most nights. I fell pregnant a few years later and I loved playing music to my bump. Lee was born in February 1974, followed by Gavin, seven years later.