It is a happy, fulfilling time in Patrice Tipoki’s life at the moment. She is in the cast of the very successful production of Les Miserables– now booking well into July- which is currently playing the Capitol theatre. And she has just released- as of the beginning of the month- her first album titled A MUSICAL HEART.
The album features an impressive list of popular songs from hit musicals:- Shall We Dance, I Dreamed A Dream, Defying Gravity, Can You Feel The Love Tonight, Anyone Can Whistle, Unchained Melody, Tonight, Somebody To Love, I’m Not Afraid of Anything, and Beauty and The Beast.
It’s a lovely album and Patrice’s pure, warm voice serves these popular standards well. Listeners will be surprised by a very different and appealing arrangement of Can You Feel The Love Tonight.
Patrice spoke briefly to The Guide, and talked about how music has always been a part of her life. Both her parents and grandparents are musicians and entertainers, and she spent a lot of time in her childhood traveling around the country with them.
Patrice first performed on stage when she was just seven years old in the classic musical The King and I. Not only is she a legendary singer but she also grew up learning a number of instruments. She is able to fluently play the piano, the saxophone and the violin.
She went straight from high school to WAAPA, one of Australia’s finest theatre schools that has been the training ground for many of our finest music theatre artists.
Patrice is happily married and has two young daughters- Elizabeth and Adelaide- who are on the road with her, maintaining the family tradition.
A Musical Heart was released on the first of the month and has been performing very well on the I Tunes Classical Music chart where it featured as Number 1 on the first weekend.
As Fantine in Les Miserables Patrice delivers a beautiful version of the classic song, I Dreamed A Dream. So far in her relatively young life Patrice has not only dreamed her dreams but lived them. She is one of Australia’s leading music theatre performers, she is happily married with two beautiful young girls, and has now released her first album. It’s all coming together for this very talented and special performer.
Patrice’s debut CD A Musical Heart has been released on The Planet Label and is available on I Tunes and through her website- http://www.patricetipoki.com/.