Caroline Vanessa Grant ( Gray, born 17 August 1965) is an English television presenter,

vocal coach A vocal coach, also known as a voice coach (though this term often applies to those working with speech and communication rather than singing), is a music teacher, usually a piano accompanist, who helps singers prepare for a performance, often al ...

, and singer.

Career

Grant is known for her work on the television talent contests ''

Fame Academy ''Fame Academy'' was a British television talent competition to search for and educate new musical talents. The winner would receive a chance to become a successful music artist and part of the international franchise ''Star Academy'' known un ...

'', ''

Comic Relief Does Fame Academy ''Comic Relief Does Fame Academy'' is a spin-off of the original ''Fame Academy'' show where celebrities students sing as students of the Academy. The programme was launched in 2003 to help raise money for the charities supported by Comic Relief ...

'', and ''

Pop Idol ''Pop Idol'' is a British music competition television series created by Simon Fuller which ran on ITV from 2001 to 2003. The aim of the show was to decide the best new young pop singer (or "pop idol") in the UK based on viewer voting and pa ...

'', and the children's television series ''

Carrie and David's Popshop ''Carrie and David's Popshop'' was a children's musical television series aired on CBeebies, originally broadcast in 2008. It is presented by celebrity vocal coaches Carrie Grant and David Grant, with their pet dog Riff, puppeteered by Dave ...

'', together with her husband and colleague David Grant. She first came to fame as a singer in her own right with the pop group Sweet Dreams in 1983, when they represented the United Kingdom at the

Eurovision Song Contest The Eurovision Song Contest (), often known simply as Eurovision, is an international Music competition, song competition organised annually by the European Broadcasting Union (EBU) among its members since 1956. Each participating broadcaster ...

that year with the song "

I'm Never Giving Up "I'm Never Giving Up", written and composed by Ron Roker, Jan Pulsford, and Phil Wigger, was the 's entry at the Eurovision Song Contest 1983, performed by the trio Sweet Dreams. Sweet Dreams won the right to perform at Munich by winning the UK ...

". They finished in the top six. In

2008 2008 was designated as: *International Year of Languages *International Year of Planet Earth *International Year of the Potato *International Year of Sanitation The Great Recession, a worldwide recession which began in 2007, continued throu ...

, she was the spokesperson for the UK vote. In 2009, Grant was featured in the tenth episode of the second series of ''

Total Wipeout ''Total Wipeout'' is a British game show hosted by Richard Hammond and Amanda Byram which first aired on the BBC on 3 January 2009. In each episode, contestants competed in a series of challenges in an attempt to win £10,000. These challenges ...

''. Since 2010, Grant has been a regular reporter on

BBC One BBC One is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It is the corporation's oldest and flagship channel, and is known for broadcasting mainstream programming, which includes BBC News television b ...

's magazine programme ''

The One Show ''The One Show'' is a British television magazine and chat show programme. Broadcast live on BBC One weekdays at 7:00 pm, it features topical stories and studio guests. It is currently co-hosted by Alex Jones, Roman Kemp, Ronan Keating ...

''. In 2012, she appeared on the

ITV ITV or iTV may refer to: Television TV stations/networks/channels ITV *Independent Television (ITV), a British television network and company, including: **ITV (TV network), a free-to-air national commercial television network in the United Kingd ...

documentary, ''The Talent Show Story'' where she spoke about her time as a judge and coach. In May 2014, it was announced that Grant would be head of the United Kingdom national jury in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2014 The Eurovision Song Contest 2014 was the 59th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Copenhagen, Denmark, following the country's victory at the with the song "Only Teardrops" by Emmelie de Forest. Organised by the European B ...

. In January 2018, Grant participated in ''

And They're Off! ''And They're Off!'' (also known as ''And They're Off!... for Sport Relief'') is a British television programme hosted by Ore Oduba with commentary from Dave Lamb and demonstrations from Daryll Neita and is shown on BBC One, featuring contestants ...

'' in aid of

Sport Relief ''Sport Relief'' was a wikt:biennial, biennial charity event from Comic Relief, in association with BBC Sport, established in 2002. It was the idea of Kevin Cahill, CBE, who had joined Comic Relief in 1991 to establish a new department as Dire ...

. In 2020, Carrie appeared in the

Channel 4 Channel 4 is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by Channel Four Television Corporation. It is state-owned enterprise, publicly owned but, unlike the BBC, it receives no public funding and is funded en ...

soap opera ''

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which originally began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera ''Brookside (TV series), Brookside''. From 2005 to 2023, episodes h ...

'' as Zoe, alongside husband David and Tylan, who regularly portrays

Brooke Hathaway Phoenix Hathaway (also Brooke Hathaway) is a fictional character from the Channel 4 soap opera ''Hollyoaks'', played by Tylan Grant. Grant made his first appearance as the character in episode 4947, originally broadcast on 10 July 2018. Phoenix ...

in the soap. In 2023 she was a guest on Channel 5's ''Eurovision: 30 Unforgettable Moments'' a chart countdown based on the song contest, with David, a regular music business talking head expert for Channel 5, joining her for the programme.

Personal life

Carrie and her husband David have four children:

Olive The olive, botanical name ''Olea europaea'' ("European olive"), is a species of Subtropics, subtropical evergreen tree in the Family (biology), family Oleaceae. Originating in Anatolia, Asia Minor, it is abundant throughout the Mediterranean ...

, Tylan, Arlo and an adopted son, Nathan. All of their children are

neurodivergent The neurodiversity paradigm is a framework for understanding human brain function that considers the diversity within sensory processing, motor abilities, social comfort, cognition Cognition is the "mental action or process of acquiri ...

, and Grant herself was diagnosed with

autism Autism, also known as autism spectrum disorder (ASD), is a neurodevelopmental disorder characterized by differences or difficulties in social communication and interaction, a preference for predictability and routine, sensory processing d ...

in January 2023. Carrie and David are both Christian, and run a church plant in their home. Grant has suffered from

Crohn's disease Crohn's disease is a type of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) that may affect any segment of the gastrointestinal tract. Symptoms often include abdominal pain, diarrhea, fever, abdominal distension, and weight loss. Complications outside of the ...

since the age of 18 and has been praised by science education charity Sense about Science for her efforts in raising the profile of the disease without making any scientifically unsound claims about available therapies. She is a supporter of the Labour Party and addressed its conference in 2012, about why she valued the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the term for the publicly funded health care, publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom: the National Health Service (England), NHS Scotland, NHS Wales, and Health and Social Care (Northern ...

. Grant is also Patient Lead at

The College of Medicine The College of Medicine (CoM) is a United Kingdom-based organisation founded in October 2010 that grew out of The Prince's Foundation for Integrated Health after it was shut down due to accounting fraud. It is chaired by Michael Dixon, a former d ...

and has spoken at their conferences on involving patients in treatment choices. Grant was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(MBE) in the

2020 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2020 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to music, media and charity.

References

External links

* * *
''Carrie and David Grant''
on

BBC Radio London BBC Radio London is the BBC Local Radio, BBC's local radio station serving Greater London. It broadcasts on FM broadcasting, FM, Digital Audio Broadcasting, DAB, digital TV and via BBC Sounds from studios at Broadcasting House in Langham Plac ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Grant, Carrie 1965 births British vocal coaches Living people Place of birth missing (living people) People from Enfield, London English women singers English television presenters Labour Party (UK) people People with Crohn's disease Autistic musicians English people with disabilities Television presenters with disabilities Singers with disabilities Members of the Order of the British Empire English Christians