ON Friday night The James Taylor Quartet will be on stage and supporting them will be Joanna Cooke from Plymouth.

Joanna’s musical journey began in her home town of Lyme Regis, where her passion and obvious talent for performance singing was nurtured by teachers and she was given lead roles in local musicals and talent show appearances.

With a voice that mesmerises whenever it is heard and from live performances in intimate local venues to recordings on tracks played across the world, her versatility and soul shine through.

Further encourag-ement from listeners, fans and family convinced Joanna to study music and continue singing in her later school years.

An old music department keyboard provided the opportunity to write some of her first songs.

Even then they were heartfelt and looked to capture deep emotion beyond her years. This is hardly surprising when growing up included the sounds at home of old blues masters like Muddy Waters and Howling Wolf.

Later, Joanna soaked up the sounds and skills of leading ladies of soul and jazz such as Aretha Franklin, Nina Simone, Bessie Smith and Ella Fitzgerald. Though Joanna has since written songs across many genres, from blues to electro and soul to pop, these great artists remain sources of real inspiration to her.

Joanna gained a music degree in Plymouth, the city where she is still based. Successful ventures into both the local live music scene and recording dance music vocals followed.

Since then, Joanna has been busy building a blossoming career on both these fronts. Her high quality vocals and top-line writing skills have been used internationally by dance music producers in Brazil, Australia, South Africa and Europe.

Yet, it’s with her own music that some of the biggest strides are being made.

A first single Last June with long time collaborator Nathan Austin, was followed in 2015 by Joanna’s well-received debut EP Remember Me.

Featuring four of her own compositions, the record saw Joanna’s expressive and distinctive vocals work the full range of emotions from warm, cultured and classy to heartfelt powerhouse expression. Live show work leapt to well over 100 appearances a year plus several radio sessions.

That momentum has been maintained. The release of another EP, 2016’s Wound Up, with four more self-compositions, displays a strong range of material, providing the perfect platform for the soulful vocals and melodic qualities at the heart of Joanna’s growing reputation.

Together with a busy live schedule and a growing fan-base, there has been increased media interest too, with TV and radio appearances for Joanna on both BBC One (South West) Spotlight Summer Sessions and the BBC Introducing Devon shows.