LIFESTYLE
kelly bomb Most Maltese will know KELLY SCHEMBRI from her participation in the Malta Eurovision Song contest in 2011, but she has been steadily building herself a following as a model and singer in the United Kingdom since 2004.
Photo: Adam Robertson Dress: Dead Lovers Clothing
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FIRST JANUARY 2014
As a child I remember spending a lot of time writing songs, and I also went to piano lessons and studied dance at the Alison White Dance Studio, so I guess I was always going to end up a performer. My career direction took its current path in 2003 when I entered a reality TV talent contest called Bravi at age 16. We had to dance, act and sing to keep our place in the competition. In the final I was awarded a scholarship to a performing arts college in the UK. The next year I moved there and graduated three years later with a Diploma in Performing Arts. I’m currently in a London-based three-piece girl band called Monroe and we perform commercial pop music that has a bit of an edge to it. We write all of our songs and the songwriting side is something that I personally love. I seem more inclined to write either the dark and sad stuff or the inspiring stuff, rarely the happy stuff for some reason. In Malta people may remember the song Love Me like your Money and my collaboration with DJ JJoy on a song called Love Hangover which won the Best Dance Song prize at the Bay Radio Music Awards. I have also collaborated on a dance track called Strip Search with Miami-based reggae artist Honorebel and fellow Malteser Stephen Davids. My main occupation, however, is working as a commercial model here in the UK. I’m very lucky as with this type of work I have enough time to do music and other things around it. As a model I try to eat reasonably healthily during the week and give myself the space to be a bit more relaxed on the weekend. I ‘graze’ which means I eat little meals often. This speeds up the metabolism. I like having curves and I love food, though I’m not a
fan of anything that has a face… My mum raised me with a taste for healthy food so although I do enjoy the odd pizza and bowl of ice cream (who doesn’t?), I also really enjoy healthy food. I have a very active lifestyle as I am constantly running around from place to place which keeps me reasonably fit. I think dance is also a great way to keep fit and it doesn’t feel like hard work to me. I’ve had a steady stream of modelling work and a done some great campaigns, while the band is steadily raising its profile. We opened the London New Year’s Day Parade 2013 in Parliament Square to a street crowd of 500,000 and a global television audience of 280 million. We’ve also performed at the Malta Music Awards and at the Isle of Wight Music Festival. Life in London is very busy. Every day is different. Some days I am rushing around to castings, fittings and jobs. Other days I’m completely free. On days off I work from home or go to a recording studio with the band. I love my London life and working in the city, but Malta is where my heart is and it will always be home to me. I would love to be able to move back one day. Given my choice of profession I don’t know if it will ever be possible, but at the moment I am blessed to have the best of both worlds and travel between the two. I’m constantly working on developing myself as an artist and music is definitely going to be a big part of my future. After spending a few months last year working on a film as Mila Kunis’s body double, I’m also interested in doing more acting. Many people had told me I would never build a career as an artist. and I’ve enjoyed proving them wrong. If I had listened to them I wouldn’t have done half the things I have done. I believe that if you really want something you should be persistent and never give up. Even if you don’t get exactly where you want to, by pushing yourself you will do a lot of things you never imagined you could do. Keep up with Kelly’s career via www.kellyschembri.co.uk or www.monroeofficial.com