Focus On................BIANCA NICHOLAS

BIANCA NICHOLAS

Bianca Nicholas always wanted to perform, and began acting at the tender age of 5 when she took the lead role in a Cannes Film Festival Award Winning short titled "Is It The Design On The Wrapper?” She continued acting professionally in various adverts, documentaries, and films (including "Sleepy Hollow” with Johnny Depp) until her mid-teens, when she decided to concentrate on her love for music. Bianca suffers from cystic fibrosis, a condition that affects all the body's organs, especially the lungs. At the age of 15 she applied to be granted a wish from the charity Starlight Children's Foundation. Bianca was taken to a top recording studio in London, where she had her very first taste of what it would be like to be a real recording artist - and she absolutely loved it!

Since then, Bianca has appeared at many high profile events on behalf of the Cystic Fibrosis Trust and Starlight Foundation, singing a duet with pop idol Will Young at the Starlight Ball before a celebrity audience, and performing for HRHs Princes William and Harry and the Duchess of Cambridge.

In 2011 Jon Diamond, who had produced a television series about the Starlight Foundation, offered to help manage Bianca, introducing her to producer and songwriter Bill Gautier. Bianca was delighted to release her first single, "Hold On To Your Dreams”, on the 1st of October 2011. She hopes the song, a ballad with lyrics very close to her heart, will lead to her ultimate dream of being a successful recording artist.

Bianca says: "Not only is singing something I have loved to do for as long as I can remember - my consultants say it could be the reason my lungs are keeping so well. Physiotherapy, which is used to treat CF, involves a lot of breathing exercises, which singing is brilliant for ­ I feel so lucky that the thing I love to do more than anything in the world could also be improving my health! I always like to say that I have CF but it doesn't have me. I feel like it is really important to separate yourself from an illness, concentrate on being an individual, and live life to the full - being who you were born to be!

"I just feel like I was born to sing. It is all I have ever wanted to do with my life, so to make it as a singer would not only mean the world to me; I also hope that by performing as much as possible while I am still well enough, I can help to inspire more children and other young people like myself to 'Hold On To Their Dreams' and achieve their goals in life, no matter what they are facing, simply by doing the things they love!"