Caroline Vanessa Grant, (''née'' Gray, born 17 August 1965) is an English

vocal coach A vocal coach, also known as a voice coach (though this term often applies to those working with speech and communication rather than singing), is a music teacher, usually a piano accompanist, who helps singers prepare for a performance, often al ...

, television presenter and

session singer Session musicians, studio musicians, or backing musicians are musicians hired to perform in recording sessions or live performances. The term sideman is also used in the case of live performances, such as accompanying a recording artist on a t ...

Career

Grant is known for her work on the television talent contests ''

Fame Academy ''Fame Academy'' was a British television talent competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner received a chance to become a successful music artist and part of the international franchise ''Star Academy'' known under va ...

'', '' Comic Relief Does Fame Academy'', and ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and par ...

'', and the children's television series ''

Carrie and David's Popshop ''Carrie and David's Popshop'' is a children's musical television series aired on CBeebies, originally broadcast in 2008. It is presented by celebrity vocal coaches Carrie Grant and David Grant, with their pet dog Riff, puppeteered by Dave Ch ...

'', together with her husband and colleague David Grant. She first came to fame as a singer in her own right with the pop group Sweet Dreams in 1983, when they represented the United Kingdom at the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), sometimes abbreviated to ESC and often known simply as Eurovision, is an international songwriting competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU), featuring participants representing pr ...

that year with the song "

I'm Never Giving Up "I'm Never Giving Up", written and composed by Ron Roker, Jan Pulsford, and Phil Wigger, was the 's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1983, performed by the trio Sweet Dreams. Sweet Dreams won the right to perform at Munich by winning the UK n ...

". They finished in the top six. In 2009, Grant was featured in the tenth episode of the second series of ''

Total Wipeout ''Total Wipeout'' is a British game show, hosted by Richard Hammond and Amanda Byram, which first aired on the BBC on 3 January 2009. In each episode, contestants competed in a series of challenges in an attempt to win £10,000. These challen ...

''. Since 2010, she has been a regular reporter on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's flagship network and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television bulletins, p ...

's magazine programme ''

The One Show ''The One Show'' is a British television magazine and chat show programme. Broadcast live on BBC One weeknights at 7:00 pm, it features topical stories and studio guests. It is currently co-hosted by Alex Jones, Jermaine Jenas, and Ronan K ...

''. In 2012, she appeared on the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network, consisting of: ** ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network covering the United Kingdom, the Isle of Man, and the Channel Islan ...

documentary, ''The Talent Show Story'' where she spoke about her time as a judge and coach. In May 2014, it was announced that Grant would be head of the United Kingdom national jury in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2014 The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European ...

. In January 2018, Grant participated in '' And They're Off!'' in aid of

Sport Relief ''Sport Relief'' was a biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002. It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Director of Educati ...

. In 2020, she appeared in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television network operated by the state-owned enterprise, state-owned Channel Four Television Corporation. It began its transmission on 2 November 1982 and was established to provide a four ...

soap opera ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on ...

'' as Zoe, alongside husband David and Tylan, who regularly portrays

Brooke Hathaway Brooke Hathaway is a fictional character from the British Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', played by Tylan Grant. Grant made their first appearance as Brooke in episode 4947, originally broadcast on 10 July 2018. Brooke is introduced as an ...

in the soap.

Personal life

She and husband David have four children:

Olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'', meaning 'European olive' in Latin, is a species of small tree or shrub in the family Oleaceae, found traditionally in the Mediterranean Basin. When in shrub form, it is known as ''Olea europaea'' ...

, Tylan, Arlo and Nathan. All of their children are

neurodivergent Neurodiversity refers to diversity in the human brain and cognition, for instance in sociability, learning, attention, mood and other mental functions. It was coined in 1998 by sociologist Judy Singer, who helped popularize the concept al ...

. Grant and David are both Christian, and run a church plant in their home. Grant has suffered from

Crohn's disease Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea (which may be bloody if inflammation is severe), fever, abdominal distension ...

since the age of 18 and has been praised by science education charity Sense about Science for her efforts in raising the profile of the disease without making any scientifically unsound claims about available therapies. She is a supporter of the Labour Party and addressed its conference in 2012, about why she valued the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

. Grant is also Patient Lead at

The College of Medicine The College of Medicine (CoM) is a United Kingdom-based organisation founded in October 2010 that grew out of The Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health after it was shut down due to accounting fraud. It is chaired by Michael Dixon, a former di ...

and has spoken at their conferences on involving patients in treatment choices. Grant was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2020 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2020 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to music, media and charity.

References

External links

* *
''Carrie and David Grant''
(BBC Radio London) {{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Carrie 1965 births British vocal coaches Eurovision Song Contest entrants for the United Kingdom Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 1983 Living people Place of birth missing (living people) People from Enfield, London English women singers English television presenters Labour Party (UK) people People with Crohn's disease Members of the Order of the British Empire English Christians