Happy 2020, everyone! My goodness! I'm so sorry it's been so long since my last newsletter! I hope you all had a lovely past couple of months, as well as a wonderful Christmas and New Years celebration! For those of you who may have been following my newsletters for a few years, you know I usually have a January recap of everything I did in the past year. It's an important exercise for me, as it reminds me of all that I've accomplished and makes me a bit more motivated at the start of a new year. As a freelancer, I do so many different things that I often forget what I did yesterday, let alone last week, month, or year! But enough with the intro: grab a cup of tea/coffee, get comfy, and please join me on this 2019 Rachel Retrospective! Photo ©2019 by Faby and Carlo |
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For those of you who follow me regularly on social media, whether it be Facebook or Instagram, you've probably noticed that I've been doing a lot of singing this year! I started out learning the ropes by singing solo for senior homes and busking on the Guildford High Street. These appearances, combined with my social media posts, led to many more gigs at birthday parties, holiday events, wedding fayres, and more! |
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Early in the year, Bee and I started working on getting some duets together so we could gig around London as a vintage duo! Unfortunately, Bee has had some rough health issues to deal with this past year, but we now have a set together and are looking for bookings! We're really excited to see what the upcoming year has in store for us! --- You can see some of our recent social media videos and learn more about our collaboration by visiting our website: www.beeandray.co.uk |
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Speaking of collaborations, I've been working with Innes Cardno for the past few months getting some songs together as a gypsy swing jazz duo. His wife actually saw me while I was busking on the Guildford High Street, and she gave him one of my flyers as they had just moved to town and he was looking for a singer to gig around with. Thus, Lady Ray Jazz Duo was born! --- You can see some of our recent social media videos and learn more about our collaboration by visiting our website: www.ladyrayjazz.co.uk |
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Last, but certainly not least, I checked off another huge milestone this year... I now have my very own CD! I am working on getting the online downloads/Spotify/ITunes options hammered out ASAP, but in the meantime I have physical copies that will be for sale in person and on my website shortly. In the meantime, you can email me (rachel@rachelmarquez.com) to reserve one for yourself and I'll let you know how to pay me. |
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I was lucky to have a lot of wonderful photoshoots this year! Some were collaborations with new photographers to create more content for our portfolios and social media. But it was also wonderful to re-collaborate with some of my favourite photographers and businesses such as Faby & Carlo, Tory Smith/Revival Retro, Terrance Mendoza, and Andrew Clifton-Brown. |
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VOICEOVER My voiceover agent, Soho Voices, has been wonderful to me and I've been kept busy with a bunch of corporate and commercial projects. Above is one of the projects those of you in the USA may have seen, but not known that it was me! You can also visit this page of my website to see a few other voiceover commercials I did this year (scroll to the bottom)! |
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Another huge milestone for me was being cast in my first animated TV series! I have several roles, and I'm absolutely loving character voiceover work! I'll definitely share more details when I can, so stay tuned! --- In similar news, I provided the voice for the character of Prudence in the new animated version of The Pilgrim's Progress that came out this year! I had almost forgotten this project, as I did the voiceover remotely about five years ago. But suddenly I was getting inundated with requests for interviews and appearances in conjunction with the UK release in September! Cool! |
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CORPORATE As I was so busy with singing, and I also switched agencies again, I didn't have as much acting work as I have in past years. I hope that singing will give me some good publicity/connections that will bring me some more acting work in the future. But in the meantime, I did do several workshops and corporate projects this year. These included roles in corporate videos with HSBC, Skillsoft, and BP; as well as more work with Method Roleplay. |
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ARTWORK Artwork also was pushed to the back burner this year, but I did have a Christmas Card commission, and I managed to keep up with my online sketchbook. Click the button below to see the past year's worth of sketches! | | |
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Erick and I were lucky to have the opportunity to travel to lots of fun places this year! We started off the year in Disneyland with my brother and his family, which was SO much fun! After that, we stayed in LA for a while to hang out with friends and get some winter sun. In March, we visited my friend Esther in Vienna and had some lovely cake and chocolate for my birthday! We traveled back to Paris in April to catch up on some museums we missed the first time around, then met up with some friends for Dapper Day at Disneyland Paris! It was so much fun we all are hoping to go again this upcoming year! We stayed put this summer, as work was nice and busy, but we managed to squeeze in a weekend at the end of September for an anniversary trip to Prague. Erick was then cast in a show which will be running through the beginning of March 2020, so I flew solo to Santa Clara, CA for my friend Laura's wedding. My friends Kristen and Nelson also came to the wedding and they took me for a day trip to Santa Cruz before I headed up to Portland to be with my family for Halloween and Dia de los Muertos! |
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Whew! 2019 was a busy year! Thanks for reading, and I hope that you had a wonderful holiday season with your family and friends. I'll try to get the newsletters back on track this year but, in case I fall behind again, please stay tuned to my Instagram and Facebook for all the latest news, and my Sketchbook for monthly updates! Much love- Rachel |
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