An Orléans songbird at Sing House Studios

At Sing House Studios, not only will you learn to sing and have a fantastic time doing it, you’ll be building confidence, making friends, increasing your brain function – and setting up your first gigs.

Do you – or your little ones – love to sing? Really let loose and belt out a song without a care in the world?

Chantal Hackett did – and still does. In fact, she can’t remember a time in her life when she wasn’t singing. And, she transformed that love of singing into a part-time career at the young age of 15. That’s right, she had her first student – a 45-year-old man – when she was still a teen. The lessons she offered took place in her mother’s living room in Orléans and she remembers those days with great fondness.

Fast forward through her high school education at the French-language arts high school De La Salle, a university degree in Communications, and working in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors. She still felt the pull to sing.

So, in 2013, she took an entrepreneurial leap, and started up Sing House Studios and offered lessons in her own living room and her basement studio in Orléans. Before long, she had outgrown that space and set up shop near Innes and Tenth Line Road where Sing House now has hundreds of students and a crew of teachers.

In addition to singing, Sing House offers lessons on instruments and teaches students about the business of music, such as setting up your first gigs – since, as we all know, music is a form of artistic expression but it’s also an industry.

But, at Sing House, the focus is always on learning through fun.

For example, Sing House has hot cocoa parties for kids, French vanilla parties for pre-teens, and caffeine parties for young adults where they have karaoke singalongs and, because many of the students are shy, this provides a low-stress, built-in way to learn how to network. Kids turn off their devices and have face-to-face fun!

This year, Sing House is offering their second “pop star camps” held during March Break and summertime that end with producing a music video on the final day.

With more teachers on staff, Chantal now has more time for her own music than she had in the past. Syndicut, based in Ottawa and Nashville, is now working with her. Somebody’s Gonna Love You, her original single, will be released soon. Keep an eye on her Instagram account for updates about the launch party.

Chantal, of course, has an incredibly beautiful voice. You can hear her dulcet strains on Spotify and iTunes. She does our town proud when she sings My City at Christmas and you may get goosebumps listening to Where Were You.