LONDON 1973: Penny then begged her mum for piano lessons for a whole year, meanwhile feverishly working out the harmonies to “God save the Queen“ on her beloved white “honky tonk”. Her patience paid off. By age 17, she’d got distinction in grade 8 piano, composed some ragtime pieces, and even crashed away on the cymbals at the back of her school orchestra. Penny didn’t want to ruin her love of music by academic study, so she did a degree in philosophy instead, as you do.

Journalism was next and ranged wildly from Chat magazine, the Independent, the Mirror, New Statesman. Age 30 was life changing… she’d discovered yoga and meditation, got all healthy and organic and decided to quit her job on the Evening Standard to run her own market stall in Clapham for 6 years - she travelled the world (Vietnam, Nepal, Bolivia, Madagascar, India) buying silk bags and alpaca ponchos, and running the first fair trade fashion “outlet” in London (and all from a hot pink barrow!)

Six years later the fresh sea air and beauty of the Downs called - she moved to Brighton. This was followed by the mandatory toe in the holistic pond… Penny qualified as a life coach, studied reiki and hypnotherapy, and trained as a yoga teacher in an ashram in Kerala, India. Her wellbeing magazine foundered and early 40s brought a health crisis - a year of debilitating chronic eczema, which turned out to be food intolerances: eggs, wheat, dairy, Boooo!!

After trading her Yeung Chung piano for a keyboard, Penny discovered the joys of technology, Logic and composing – the world of tracks, layers and multiple “Penny voices” opened to her. At 43, she took the leap to become a full-time musician, dusting off her classical music folder and doorstepping the manager at the Grand Hotel in Brighton until he gave her work as a pianist (it took 4 visits and a bribe of Freddie the Frog chocolates, yes, seriously!). Something kept niggling about exploring her voice professionally, though it was her greatest fear, too. She joined a Gospel choir and took singing lessons and taught herself painstakingly to play piano and sing at the same time (the first piece, Elton John’s “My Song,” took 12 solid weeks to learn). For three years she serenaded customers at the Grand with pop, funk, soul, jazz. Meanwhile, she formed a crazy and beautiful Quartet of Piano, violin cello and Clarinet (Brighton Film Quartet), playing local cinemas, art galleries and festivals with film visuals and her own cinematic soundtrack, playing immersive, cutting-edge concerts of her compositions.

By 2018 Penny was a key composer/performer at the International Composers Festival at the iconic De La Warr Pavilion (oh yearhhh!!). This all sounds ago, but she was still stony broke! A year later, age 50, she had married, become pregnant, given birth and, 4 weeks later, finding herself a single mum, everything needed a rethink. A solo career started to appeal, and during Lockdown, with a young baby, she had a vision of a concert where people lay down on yoga mats, with low lighting and candles and surround sound. Penny had noticed how her minimalist blend of piano and vocals had a hugely relaxing effect on audiences and, influenced by her holistic background, she began to work on a "healing concert" to create an immersive journey for listeners. She had begun to use her voice almost as an instrument, singing mostly hums and vowel sounds, blending with the piano and soundscape. It was utterly strange but it worked. Later, she discovered it was a known technique called “melismatic” singing which was used in ceremonies over 3,000 years ago due to its hypnotic effects.

After trialling her invention through Summer 2022, and receiving incredible feedback, the world's first PIANOBATH was born! Within a month of going public, 85 people were attending the sold-out events in a church in Brighton. With the grand piano in the middle, low lighting, 150 electric candles and people laying down cosy in blankets, her vision had come true.

About 18 months and 16 family court and divorce hearings later, however, Penny was diagnosed with stage 3 breast cancer and had to stop her blossoming career. Two weeks after moving into her new house in Shoreham she underwent a mastectomy, extensive chemotherapy and radiotherapy. She was bald, ballooned from steroids, half-crazy with chemo, frightened about dying, at times physically incapacitated and dependent on help (from angels who appeared!), and her sister who was her roccckkk. It was a frightening and traumatic time. But there were amazing lessons amongst the rubble of her life. When she could barely get out of bed, or had hit her lowest ebb, she found comfort listening to her own meditations and Pianobath music. She listened to the Meditation for Forgiveness, having felt this was important for her healing, and cried and cried. But it got a little easier each time, as though something was clearing. Going through the illness and treatment made her dig deep for what was important and showed her, at first hand, the healing power of sound.

A year later, Penny felt ready to start again. The experience had taken her music to another level, breaking down more of her inhibitions, helping her connect and have more compassion. She runs monthly PIANOBATH for women and day retreats from her beautiful Shoreham home. And has just set up Live Stream on Eventbrite and a whole new YouTube Channel as of September 2026 - it was time to take Pianobath to a wider audience, and people were still getting huge benefits from online Pianobath sessions.

Since taking her Pianobath recently to the Macmillan centre in Brighton, she is now setting up monthly Live Stream events for anyone on a cancer journey (or family and carers) - with the first scheduled to start in November. Although still on medication, and sometimes suffering from fatigue and “chemo brain” and a chemo leak (extravasation) to her right hand, that means she can’t always stretch the big chords, Penny is undefeated! In fact, she is thriving, glowing and getting on with her life. She believes that crises come to us to teach us valuable lessons. She has learnt not to “pink paint” her life, not to people please and abuse her own boundaries. She has soul searched, to make sense of cancer and to embrace a real and healthy recovery. Fear of death has pushed her into even more appreciation of the present., realising that with uncertainty it’s really the only place you can go.

Countless mornings, when Penny was too weak to move much, but could sit on the balcony and watch the starlings, allowed her to think. What was balance? How had she lost it, and how could she get it back. The truth, she believes, lies in both feeling the grief, sadness and utter abyss of it all, but also moving through to take strength from a stronger connection to herself, and to being truer to herself. Her passion is her music and healing through sound – she creates a space where others can feel their own truth and connection with themselves, or something bigger or higher than themselves… whether you call that love, the Universe, God or chi.

If you’d like to chat about hosting this unique wellbeing experience in your venue, retreat, spa hotel please get in touch. Penny can create a beautiful and bespoke event for you. Her testimonials say it all. She is also available for composing commissions, and press interviews about the world’s first and only PIANOBATH. Call 0788 1915593 or email her on penny@pianobath.co.uk.

🪷 Penny