“AGE HAS NO PLACE IN MUSIC…. EXPERIENCE AND TALENT IS EVERYTHING”
At primary school I was practically the only pupil not to get into the choir, due to my extreme shyness.
All through my teenage years myself and my friends would listen to vinyl records and have posters up on our walls, but not once did we ever think of becoming a singer…it was simply unheard of back in the 80’s.
People began commenting nice things to me, when I was singing along to a song. I didn’t believe them at first, and it took me until the age of 23 to start getting singing lessons, which led me eventually at age 28, to successfully auditioning for Ayr Amateur Opera Company. It was during these years that I finally started believing in myself, going from the chorus line to principle parts.
I stopped doing the musicals after I had my son at age 37, to concentrate on being a mum.
I was 43 when I joined a four piece covers band called The Splinters, a punk/new wave band and that’s when I started to notice the comments people would make when they found out my age.
Some friends and even a family member would suggest that I was too old at 43 to be going out and who would want to see me singing anyway! I just ignored them as best I could and fully intended to immerse myself in doing something that i had come to love.. I had finally shaken off my shyness!
My partner Robert, is a poet and lyricist and he used to pass on song lyrics to me and I would then work on melodies with my friend and guitarist, Scott Nicol. It was very exciting dipping my toes into doing my own songs.
Eventually, at the tender age of only 53, I recorded my debut album, “About Time” in October 2023 at Dramatic Studios in Ayr with Brian MacDonald.
Again the negative comments came … “who would want to listen to you”, “aren’t you just wasting your money” “you are a bit old to be doing that” etc.
Those remarks cut like a knife.. I just couldn’t understand why they would say such things.. sometimes to my face and others I heard from other people who had heard such comments from others.
I soon learned to grow a thick skin and tried to focus on the lovely feedback I was actually getting too about my music. It wasn’t all negative but at times it was hard not to get hung up on other things.
I do think people presume as I am older, that I have been performing since I was very young. I was a late starter…
There have been times where I have been totally ignored after a gig where perhaps some younger people have also been playing at… and they are the ones that people speak to!
When being interviewed by say, radio DJ’s, I have been asked what piece of advice can I give young and upcoming coming artists! What about us older upcoming artists? Why is it only for the young?
I have also been made to feel quite guilty of going out gigging … why, when I have a family to look after, would I want to sing? Etc
I see it on Social Media platforms too. Trying to get engagement is rarer than hens teeth. You have to be under a certain age, look a certain way and it doesn’t matter if your music is top quality, if you don’t have “the image” it makes it twice as hard to get noticed.
One positive thing being an older female musician is that I love networking wherever I go, and I have turned into a chatterbox, you just never know who you are going to meet! I also fully support other older musicians as well as younger acts, and try to give as much support as I can.
My second album, “Crimson Horizon” is coming out at the end of March 2026 and I am super proud of myself and how far I have come since those shy days of school.
Music is like therapy and has helped me through some awful periods of my life. I don’t intend to put on my slippers and housecoat just yet, and will keep gigging and writing music for years to come.
Debbie Campbell Music – Linktree
SAGE 