Smiley Sarah is Band of the Month

You can hear Sarah's music throughout November on BBC Coventry & Warwickshire

Our Band of the Month for November is Coventry singer-songwriter Sarah Ruddick.

You can see Sarah at various open mic nights throughout the area and she has made it through to the Open Mic UK finals.

Sarah first developed her interest in music when she was 16 years old after picking up her mother's guitar.

Two of Sarah's highlights in 2009 were playing at the Leamington Peace Festival and the Godiva Festival.

Talking to BBC Coventry & Warwickshire about getting started in music, Sarah said: "I started playing the guitar around the age of 16 and from then on started writing songs but never performed them in front of people until the age of around 23 when I was told about an online game/platform called Second Life.

"With this, I could sing using a virtual character, from my bedroom live to the world. After a few months of doing that, I got enough confidence to sing in 'real life' at a few charity events and then the creators of Second Life asked me to play at a recruitment drive in Brighton.

"From then on I realised that I need to do it for real and have been playing at open mic nights, charity events and festivals where I can ever since."

Alter-ego

And it was during this game that Sarah created her alter-ego Smily Raymaker. It was through this virtual character that she would perform.

Sarah added: "I created her so that I could sing to people all around the world and if they didn't like me I could just disappear and nobody would know who I was or where I was from! I chose the name because you have to choose from a list of surnames and then make up the first name.

Sarah got through to the Open Mic UK competition after a heat in Leamington

"I chose Smily because they didn't let me have Sunny and I never in a million years thought that I would be using the game for very long, so I didn't really think it through for very long!"

Heading to the final

The Open Mic UK competition looks to find the UK's best vocalists - of all styles - and it was after playing at the heat in Leamington that Sarah found herself heading to the finals.

Sarah said: "There were open auditions at the Leamington Assembly in August where the people who went through then went on to perform at a live regional final. Three acts went through from there and will perform in the national final in Manchester on 6 December."

Her music is very folk and country based and Sarah includes the likes of Eva Cassidy and the Dixie Chicks as influences.

To find out more about Sarah Ruddick, visit her official MySpace website by clicking on the link below:

MySpace: Sarah Ruddick

How to get featured

BBC Coventry & Warwickshire's Band of the Month feature aims to showcase the best local musical talent.

If you think you and/or your band are worthy enough of a feature then get in contact with us.

Email the details to us here at BBC Coventry & Warwickshire:

[e-mail]

Or use the postal address:

Martin Winch, BBC Coventry & Warwickshire, Priory Place, CV1 5SQ.

All we require is a short biography, a couple of decent quality colour images (in jpeg format) and a copy of your music.