Enrolling in drama school at the age of eight set SONIA on the path to becoming a professional singer and actress where she gained a LAMDA gold medal with honours. Her determination paid off and shortly after leaving school she made appearances in the popular sitcom Bread as well as the soap opera “Brookside.
She was only sixteen when she first entered the music business. Whilst playing the Liverpool club circuit, she was spotted by record producer Pete Waterman who signed her on the spot!
Sonia’s debut single ‘You’ll Never Stop Me Loving You’ was released in 1989 and peaked at number 1 on the UK Singles Chart for two weeks, at 18, Sonia became one of the youngest female British singers to ever achieve this in the UK, the single went on to selling a staggering 350,000 copies. Numerous television appearances revealed her bubbly personality and natural enthusiasm endearing her to a large audience. Sonia’s debut album Everybody Knows, sold half million copies.
All five singles released from the album became top 20 hits in the UK, making Sonia the first British solo female artist to achieve this with the songs Can’t Forget You, Listen To Your Heart, Counting Every Minute and End of the World.
Sonia also sang on the 1989 UK number 1 Christmas single ‘Band Aid II’
Sonia achieved a sixth top 20 hit in the UK in 1990 with “You’ve Got A Friend”, recorded with the group Big Fun, released as a charity single for Childline.
In 1991 Sonia secured a recording contract with Simon Cowell at BMG. Sonia was able to develop her song writing talents and released the album Sonia. Further hits followed including Only Fools, Be Young, Be Foolish and You To Me Are Everything .A tour of Europe, The Far East and North and South America strengthened her already substantial following. She also presented Wetter the Better, a Saturday morning children’s TV show.
Sonia’s next step clearly displayed her versatile voice and genuine love of performing as Sonia was invited by the BBC to be the UK representative in the 1993 Eurovision Song Contest. Whilst she was pipped into second place by the Irish, her single Better The Devil You Know scored another top 15 hit, and album also featured the hit single Boogie Nights.
Sonia then entered the world of theatre receiving excellent reviews as she performed with Dennis Waterman in ‘A Slice of Saturday Night’ in London’s West End. On meeting the producers of GREASE, Sonia was once again signed on the spot for the lead role of ‘Sandy’. For twelve months, until April 1995, she performed to a full house and critical acclaim alongside Craig McLachlan and Shane Richie. Sonia recorded her own version of Hopelessly Devoted To You to coincide with her time in the hit West End show.
After the success of GREASE, Sonia appeared as one of the major stars in the What A Feeling tour with Irene Cara, singing songs from the hit movies and musicals and travelling throughout the UK. This proved to be so successful that a 2nd UK tour was arranged and also an overseas tour.
For the 1996 Summer Season Sonia appeared in Blackpool in The Lily Savage Show which again proved to be so successful she was singing to a full house every night. This led to Sonia playing ‘Bunty’, the daughter of Lilly Savage in BBC’s Lily Savage Show.
