CHLOE Magazine Fall / Winter 2016 Volume 7 Issue 3 | Page 59

CHLOE MAGAZINE If You Haven’t Heard of BB DIAMOND yet...just wait. After all, the up-and-coming BRITISH POP STAR IS MANAGED BY THE SAME GROUP WHO MANAGE the likes of ZAYN MALIK (of former One Direction fame), Ellie Goulding and Rita Ora. Words by Jentzen Michael Shea @JentzenMShea But as far as new acts go, Diamond isn’t completely green; in fact, you may have already heard her voice singing back up.Growing up in Essex, UK, Diamond spent a lot of time with her tight knit family. As a girl she was always surrounded by music. She knew early on that singing was her passion, “I just always wanted to sing, it was never anything else for me.” As a young girl she performed in front of her family, her mom often introducing her from behind a curtain. She sang every chance she got but remembers her choir days, “fu nnily enough I was in the choir, but I got kicked out because I was singing too loud!”BB moved to London to pursue her dreams, first, by studying music in university, then singing backup vocals. “One of my friends started playing keys for Katy B,” she notes, “at the time she was looking for a back-up singer.” BB auditioned and played a few gigs. The musical director for Katy B was also working with Jess Glynne, one thing led to another and she began singing backup for her as well.Nothing was going to stop BB from eventually achieving her dream, “you get so many knockbacks and so many times where you think ‘maybe I should give up’ because you can’t keep grinding and not see any results.” But she drew strength from her mom stating that, “I think she’s been the inspiration I needed when I was feeling down to keep going.”