My name is Sharif and I express myself for a living, more specifically, I’m a performer, singer and songwriter. I can’t quite recall when I first started singing, but it must have been around the same time when I learned how to talk, unless you count crying as some sort of attempt at expressing yourself. Since then I have continued to do that, and with “that” I don’t mean crying, but expressing myself. I eventually expanded from only singing in the shower (I still like to do that though), to getting out and performing in front of larger audiences.

When I was in school, I performed as a lead singer of big bands and smaller band constellations on a regular basis. I also had classical singing lessons for several years, and even did my A-levels in it, but decided I wouldn’t want to go the opera singer road, even though my grandfather and mother had done it. Next thing I remember I was studying music at Paul McCartney’s University, Liverpool Institute for Performing Arts (LIPA) (there were of course some things in between, but that’s a story for another time).

At LIPA I learned how to produce and write my own songs in a professional way, and had the opportunity to write and perform with some amazing people. I also got taught by guest teachers like Dave Stroud, Paul McCartney, Mark Ronson, Natasha Bedingfield and Sasha Skarbek. During and after my studies, I became a sailor and traveled the seven seas, sort of. In retrospect I would say I was actually more of a singer than a sailor, performing as part of an acoustic duo called “The Prestige" on Carnival’s cruise ship AIDA. After going ashore I decided to move to London to take the next step in my career. So here I am.