Lizzie Emeh

Location: Notting Hill

Challenge: Intellectual

Website: www.lizzieemeh.com

Lizzie was born and brought up in West London. She currently lives in Notting Hill. Her mother is of Irish descent and her father of Nigerian.

When Lizzie was born, the doctor said she would not be able to walk or talk due to severe medical complications. From the beginning her father said Lizzie would be an "antibiotic baby", as he felt she would always need medication. However she started to walk and talk around the age of 4 years old.

Lizzie has a mild learning disability due to severe complications at birth. She does not read or write and she takes longer to learn new things than someone without a learning disability.

Lizzie says music is in her blood. Lizzie’s grandmother was her inspiration who used to sing jazz and blues. When Lizzie was 10, her grandmother would sit her and her cousin down and they would sing and harmonise. Her grandmother always thought that Lizzie could go far.

Lizzie attended a mainstream primary school, but at 13, went to special boarding school, Parkwood Hall in Swanley, Kent, for people with learning disabilities. She was there for 6 years before returning to London at 19.

In 1999 she met Mark Williams from disability arts organisation Heart n Soul. She was discovered on the open mic at Heart n Soul's Beautiful Octopus Club. She says: "at Heart n Soul I was allowed to express how I really felt."

From here her career really took off - she’s performed with Heart n Soul at the Glastonbury festival, in Asia and to thousands of people across the UK at numerous club events. She’s even met Nelson Mandela –her dad was so proud, he sent a copy of the photo to his family in Nigeria.

Lizzie made history in 2009 when she released her first album "Loud and Proud". She became the first solo artist with a learning disability to release an album to the mainstream public.

Lizzie co-wrote all the songs on the album and equates her songwriting approach to R.Kelly. She doesn’t write lyrics down, she writes them in her head and then works with the musicians to come up with the mood, beats, chords, melodies she wants. She says she writes about experiences in her life instead of getting angry or upset, this way she can relate to other people.

Since her album launch, Lizzie’s career has gone from strength to strength. In 2010 she embarked on a 3 month UK tour and consistently performed throughout the rest of the year. She also won her first national award at the Radar People of the Year awards for her achievements in music and the arts.

In 2011 she won her second national award, Champion of the Year, at the AMI’s (Ability Media International awards) for her achievements in music.

This year Lizzie is busy working on her second album, which she hopes to release in 2013/14. She’ll also be performing at September’s Beautiful Octopus Club and the Liberty Festival in Trafalgar Square.

Lizzie Emeh - "Hard Love"