ICMP Industry Guests | 2022/23

At ICMP, our industry connections are a vital part of the student experience. 

Not only are many members of faculty actively involved in furthering their own music industry careers outside our classrooms but we also bring many innovators, thought leaders and top artists onto our campuses to share their wisdom and insight with students. 

Whether it be through our masterclasses, Songwriter Circle events or 1:1 sessions, these visits give our students a fantastic opportunity to hear from those who have achieved great success in the business. 

Meeting these professionals also provides students with a chance to expand their networks and make invaluable connections that can help them take their careers to the next level. 

Here, we’ll profile some of the industry success stories who passed through our doors and classrooms during the 2022/23 academic year…

Grace Carter 

Grace Carter is a rapidly rising star who gave our Freshers an inspiring welcome talk during the first week of the academic year. 

Signed to Polydor, Grace has a string of releases to her name including debut single 'Silence', which have currently racked up more than a million streams per month. 

Her live endeavours have seen her tour with some of the pop music world’s heaviest hitters including Haim, Mabel and Dua Lipa. 

Connect with Grace on Instagram.

Matt Brooks (Drummer, Musical Director) and Nate Notes (Producer, Guitarist)

Matt and Nate visited students to give some advice and insight into the best ways to build a show.  

Matt is a musical director, drummer and programmer that has worked with a variety of artists over the last few years including Little Mix, Nicole Scherzinger, Jason Derulo, Nina Nesbitt, Raye or MNEK.

Matt put the band together for Meghan Trainor’s performance on The Graham Norton Show and has played at festivals such as Glastonbury, SXSW, Reading and Leeds.

Nate is a former ICMP student and working now as a producer, musician and performer in the industry. He’s performed with the likes of Wes Nelson and Becky Hill and written music for household brands, including Sky, Puma, Skoda, and PlayStation. More recently, Nate has been working very closely with Bree Runway, touring the US and the UK with her as well as playing at the MOBO Awards 2021.

Both Matt and Nate joined us for a masterclass during Freshers Week.

Affy Green and Tina Hizon

Affy and Tina joined ICMP for an interactive masterclass on how to be a session musician on 26th October in 2022.

Tina is a session musician, muscial director and producer with extensive experience touring worldwide. She is a vocalist and multi-instrumentalist; playing keyboards, violin and guitar. Over her career so far, she has played with many artists including Dua Lipa, Roger Taylor, Pet Shop Boys, Clean Bandit, Becky Hill and toured with Maisie Peters and Ed Sheeran on his stadium gigs.

British/American drummer, Affy, graduated with a first-class degree in music performance and is currently drumming for the Pet Shop Boys.

While touring, she completed her memoir which she hopes will give a candid look into the struggles and successes she has experienced during her musical career.

Malika

UK singer songwriter Malika's sound is rooted in soul music, amplified by big choruses and hip hop beats which she performed in the intimate setting of our Songwriters' Circle event.  

With a strong musical background, Malika’s father founded London’s first pirate radio station Time Radio, which introduced her to the melting pot of sounds that the UK is known and loved for. 

She honed her craft among Lovers Rock-era music legends, growing up around family friends Janet Kay and Carol Thompson. She went on to enjoy significant successes in music early on in her career, particularly with Crazy Cousinz when she asked them to remix her original r'n'b song ‘Go'.

Malika also co-wrote and featured on Nathan Dawe’s hit ‘Cheatin’ & ‘Flowers’  and built up a respected reputation as a songwriter and vocalist, having worked with Snakehips, Rita Ora, SG Lewis, Basement Jaxx, Ella Eyre, Jess Glynne and many more.

Listen to 'Cheatin' and Flowers'.

Aamir Yaqub

Grammy Award winning producer Aamir visited ICMP for a masterclass to share insights on his career and creative process. 

Taking his influences from a broad palette of contemporary styles from soul, hip hop, pop and more, Aamir is well known as a producer, writer and engineer.

After graduating with a degree in music production, Aamir undertook an internship at Metropolis Studios which proved to be his way into the industry.

His numerous career highlights include winning a Grammy for his engineering role on Rihanna’s 2013 album ‘Unapologetic’ and collaborating with high profile artists such as David Guetta, Ne-Yo, Sia, Alicia Keys and Will.I.Am. You can connect with Aamir on Instagram here and watch our interview with him from his previous visit. 

Hamzaa

23-year-old, east-London singer, and songwriter known as Hamzaa is a musical force to be reckoned thanks to her 'pop-soul-alternative' sound. She visited ICMP to share her experiences with our students for a masterclass.

Hamzaa initially broke through with her 2018 EP, 'First Signs Of Me', which was described by The Native Mag as a ‘six-track EP that highlights music’s ability to help us feel better’, and since has used her inspiring lyrics and vocal skills to build an audience of more than 300,000 Spotify listeners. 

Her gigs have seen sold-out headline shows at London’s St Pancras Old Church, Omeara and Scala alongside collaborations with artists such as Wretch 32, Dave, Rudimental, and Ghetts. 

Matilda Mann

Championed by the likes of BBC Introducing, BBC Radio 1, 6 Music, KCRW and NPR, Matilda has played a string of festival appearances including the prestigious Park Stage at Glastonbury and previously supported the likes of Arlo Parks, Beabadoobee and The Staves.

Her live skills – hushed, magnetic performances that quietly draw you in and lock you into the tales she recounts in her songs – have also seen her win acclaim.

Her single 'Paper Mache World' recently featured in Netflix’s uplifting LQBTQ+ drama 'Heartstoppers' and she was recently nominated for an Ivor Novello in the Rising Star category. Matilda was a guest at our Songwriters' Circle event and you can listen to 'Paper Mache World' below: 

Jon Gomm

Jon Gomm is an innovative singer-songwriter and acoustic solo performer based in Yorkshire, UK, known for his once-seen-never-forgotten virtuoso guitar style.

This involves slapping, tapping and retuning as he plays, producing a huge, multi-layered sound filled with bass, drums and near-orchestral depth and complexity, all from a single instrument.

His breakthrough came in 2012, when he released his first ever single, 'Passionflower', along with a video of him performing the song, which went viral, totalling well over 20 million views across platforms. He has so far released a number of solo albums and continues to astound with his musical skills, both as a composer and performer. 

In 2020 Jon was voted "Best Acoustic Guitarist In The World" in the largest online poll of its type, conducted by MusicRadar and its sister publications including Total Guitar and Guitar World. You can read our previous interview with Jon.

Kelli Leigh

Kelli-Leigh's signature vocals have landed three UK Top 10 records, two UK number ones, two Billboard Dance chart toppers and Grammy nominated record.

Hailing from South London, Kelli-Leigh’s voice can be heard on ‘I Got U’ for Duke Dumont & Jax Jones, ‘I Wanna Feel’ for Second City & 2017 summer smash ‘More Than Friends’ with James Hype.

As an artist and songwriter, Kelli-Leigh's writing credits include records for Low Steppa, Sonny Fedora, Aluna, Duke Dumont, Tiesto, Kream, Michael Calfan and more.

She visited ICMP to share her expertise with our students as part of a masterclass.

Holly Manners, Warner Records A&R Manager

Holly is an A&R Manager at Warner Records UK.

In her current role, she has signed an array of top artists including Thomas Headon, HYYTS, Jalle, The Stickmen and Sleepwalkrs.

Previous to this, Holly worked at Bucks Music Publishing, where she set up a new arm of the Sync team. Holly also writes freelance for Line of Best Fit and The Most Radicalist, and holds the MPA’s Richard Toeman Scholarship.

She also runs She.Grows, a female mentoring project for SheSaid.So – a network of women in the music industry, and sits on the UK Music Futures First Board.

Andrew Schepps

After graduating from the recording engineering course, at the University of Miami, Andrew Schepps spent some time working for New England Digital as a field service technician for the Synclavier, one of the first digital synthesizers / samplers / workstations, then on the road with Stevie Wonder (as a keyboard tech) and Michael Jackson (mixing live sound), before focusing on studio work.

Since then he has worked with some of the leading pop, rock and hip hop artists and bands including Jay-Z, Lady Gaga, Beyonce, Lana Del Rey, Green Day, Bon Jovi, Linkin Park, Hozier, Metallica, U2, Justin Timberlake, Black Sabbath and Limp Bizkit. He received Grammy Awards for Best Rock Album for his work on Red Hot Chili Peppers' 'Stadium Arcadium', Album of the Year for Adele's '21', and Best Reggae Album for Ziggy Marley's 'Fly Rasta'.

Watch our previous interview with Andrew below:

Amane Suganami and Jas Kayser

After touring the US and Europe with Jorja Smith in 2022, Amane and Jas gave ICMP students a masterclass on how they developed the live show. 

Amane Suganami is a London-based musician, musical director and producer with a career spanning across a wide range of genres and artistry. Over the last several years Amane has served as an MD for Jorja Smith, Amaarae, Ego Ella May and Maverick Sabre. 

Jas now drums for Jorja Smith, Alfa Mist and has featured in bands with leading British lights Nubya Garcia, Ashley Henry as well as American drummer Ralph Peterson’s Big Band. 

Alexandra Ampofo 

A live music promoter at Live Nation Entertainment-owned Metropolis Music, Alexandra has worked on live shows by an array of acts including Arlo Parks, Ms Lauryn Hill and Robbie Williams. 

She has also found the time to launch events company Acoustic Live, female collective Women Connect and helping to lead LNE’s diversity initiative Embrace Nation.

Dan Gillespie Sells 

The Ivor Novello awarded songwriter and lead vocalist of The Feeling, Dan Gillespie Sells, joined ICMP for a masterclass in February.

His 20 year career has taken him (and his songs) into the worlds of dance, theatre, TV and film. He has composed, arranged and produced for and with artists as varied as Becky Hill, Sophie Ellis Bextor, Rufus Wainwright and Chaka Khan.

The Feeling’s debut album, ‘Twelve Stops and Home’ sold over a million copies, whilst their second album, ‘Join With Us’ reached the top spot in the UK Charts.

Dan wrote the theme to BBC’s ‘Beautiful People’ TV show in 2008 as well as the music for the hit musical 'Everybody's Talking About Jamie'.

Watch our interview with Dan below:

Jordan Gray 

Jordan Gray is one of the UK’s most celebrated rising comedians and screenwriters and we were delighted to welcome her for a masterclass. She is also the creator and co-star of Comedy Central’s recording breaking sitcom, 'Transaction' – now being developed for television by Simon Pegg and Nick Frost.

Jordan has gone on to change the face of British TV with an iconic performance on Channel 4’s 'Friday Night Live', and a week later became the first transgender person to take a solo show to The London Palladium.

She has recently appeared on The Russell Howard Hour, Joe Lycett’s Got Your Back and Jack Whitehall’s Safe Space. Before comedy, she was perhaps best known for being the first ever transgender contestant on 'The Voice'. 

Jeremiah Gogo

Following a degree in Economics and Mathematics, combining his passion for music, business and data, Jeremiah built a career that's been and still is going strong.

Cutting his teeth as part of the commercial team at Universal Music, he then joined Warner to lead Commercial Analytics and now works as Head of Data & A&R Analytics at Atlantic Records UK. 

Listen to his previous guest appearance on ICMP's Sound Like These podcast.