How to Become a Professional Singer

If you have read my hub Anyone Can Sing, you might want to consider taking things one step forward, and that is to become a professional singer.

Now nobody expects you to release a record that’s going to get to Number 1 in the charts. Most of the artistes, who get there, just got lucky. They knew the right people at the right time or were in the right place at the right time.

No matter how good you think you are, or even are, your chances of international success are slim.

However, you can still make a very good living as a singer – give up your day job and sing full-time. If you are serious about your chosen profession, you can make a very good living, without the hassle of being tied into recording contracts, and managerial restrictions that have sent most high profile singing stars doolally! It’s no accident that many recording stars have died an early death at the hands of drug misuse. The strain they were under was horrendous.

Don’t even aim yourself in this direction. Aim yourself at local bars, clubs and anywhere else that puts on music shows.

If you enjoy singing, and are good at it, there are endless opportunities for you to make a living singing, which makes you a professional.

You may not like having to sell yourself, but that is what you need to do.

Get some business cards made up, with your chosen stage name, phone number, and preferably photo on it. Hand this card around. Give it to your local council, your local library, all your local pubs and clubs.

Phone newspapers advertisements for cruise boat entertainers or holiday-camp entertainers. Even better, do your own research on the internet and contact the probable companies directly.

Have recordings of yourself singing ready in .mp3 format to email companies. More and more are online nowadays.

Listen out for bands needing singers. Sometimes they advertise, so keep your eyes peeled on local newspaper adverts.

The problem with singers are that even when they are good, they are plagued with insecurity problems. There are very few out there with an inbuilt natural confidence.

Once they actually get up and sing, they are brilliant, but until then they need constant reassurance. This makes the good singer a ready target for thieving agents. They KNOW the singers don’t have the confidence. They are background men with no talent whatsoever.

At this point, I need to point out that not all agents are like this.

But the most ruthless, the most ambitious, will be able to wheel and deal their chosen victims into signing contracts that will make the singer famous while making the agent extremely rich – richer than the singer could ever dream to be.

I would advise anyone who wants to be a professional singer against this type of person. Recognising them is difficult.

My best advice is don’t sign anything until you have got to know this person who wants to be your agent.

Do an internet check on their name. Don’t feel over-awed because they are well-known enough to be on listed on the internet.

Contact their other clients. Ask their opinion. Just say no until you are satisfied they are bono-fide.

Meanwhile, agent or no agent, you need work. You have handed out your business cards, and still the phone isn’t ringing.

You haven’t found a band to join, and so are stuck in your day-job.

What can you do now?

Entering localkaraoke competitions is one way to be heard. If you’ve followed everything suggested in order to be a singer, you have probably already acquired a home karaoke system.

Practice at least six songs until you have them down to a T, and enter a local karaoke competition. Remember to not drink alcohol until after you have finished performing. Alcohol dulls your vocal ability.

Chances are the pub or club is full of people and during the course of the competition, you have the opportunity of meeting other people involved in the music business, whether they be music bar owners, other singers or bands looking for singers.

The bar you perform in may even need a karaoke compere!

Any kind of dealing with the public requires social interaction. A karaoke compere has to not only socially interact, he has to be able to work the equipment, and sing.

In fact, if you are a good singer but in need of singing practice to become a great singer, consider becoming a karaoke compere. The pay isn’t bad either.

Remember to always introduce the singer and song with gusto, and thank them after their performance. Praise them no matter how badly they sang. It is not your job to destroy someone’s confidence. At least they have made the effort to choose a song and get up and sing it.

Occasionally you will meet singers that are better than you, sometimes a lot better than you. That is the time to put on the charm. You not only praise them, but remind the audience they heard this singer first in [whatever the bar’s name is]. This pleases not only the singer, but the bar owner – your boss.

A professional singer is a paid singer. Paid singers get a lot more than the minimum rate of pay. There are many opportunities to become a professional singer and you should be on the lookout for them at all times, provided you have practiced and learned

1. Singing diction

2. How to sing high notes

3. Your vocal range

4. How to breath while singing

5. How to scream sing

6. How to sing vibrato

7. Vocal health

Singing is fun. Be the best you can. Not all professional singers are wonderful, or note perfect, or have perfect timing and tone.

How many times have you gone on a night out, and the band was rotten. The singer off tune, the whole thing heading for disaster until everyone had enough to drink?

At the end of the night everyone had a great time. It would be easy to blame the drink, but in actual fact half of it would have been down to the ability of the singer to reach out to the audience – the so-called ‘stage presence’. It doesn’t always kick in at the start of a performance, especially if the singer lacks talent, but if it is there by the end of the night, the singer has earned his money and can go home knowing he has done a good job.

You can do better, if you really want to be not only a singer, but a good singer.

Become a professional singer. Be all you can be.