Meet a diamond geezer who will help you make it in the music biz

And that's what he'll be telling students who sign up for a course he's running about making it in the music business - how to "walk the walk and talk the talk" with the best of them.

Sean, aged 30, is a record producer who has his own label, Solid Sugar Smoke.

He lives in Sedgeberrow and is looking to share his experiences with other people who want to break into the biz.

He said when he was trying to get a foot in the door, there were few places to turn for advice, so is hoping his experiences can help other people get more of an idea of what they are in for.

Originally from the Coventry area, Sean grew up amid a mixing pot of musical styles.

"I was very lucky to be surrounded by extremely good quality music," he said. He listened to his parents' Motown and Northern Soul records, an uncle played him the likes of Earth, Wind and Fire and James Brown and he also spent time in a particularly multicultural area where he enjoyed anything from Ravi Shankar to Aswad to Japanese music.

But he was really taken with disco music even from when he was a young boy in the 1970s.

"It was nothing like I'd ever seen before. It was so much fun," he said.

Not a sportsman, he took to music instead as a youngster and had drumming lessons at the age of ten, later taking an interest in hip-hop and rap. As he grew older, his hobby was to search out obscure records and build on his huge collection. But when he left school, there seemed no avenue open into the music business so Sean followed a career as a pastry chef.

In the mid-1980s, hip-hop was getting bigger and dance music was becoming more popular but then, "in my opinion, the greatest thing happened," said Sean, he heard a track by Public Enemy which really inspired him to keep on the music path.

Then, the underground, obscure music which he had been searching out was becoming mainstream and he realised how the pop music underground culture would always lead the mainstream scene.

In his spare time he started sampling experiments, literally cutting tapes up to mix them, and again enjoyed being in at the start of what has now become a mainstream style. "I was meeting people then who are now very big," he said.

He continued his hobby by paying for time in a recording studio and both working and watching other people work at different levels in the industry.

But he still wanted to be a part of that world full-time.

He can't sing himself and didn't have the skills necessary to be a sound engineer, so he decided to pursue the path of a producer.

He still had his love for disco and soul and rhythm and blues and, keen to be more involved in producing quality vocals-led music, he decided in 1997 that it was make or break time.

So, he attended a music industry course to make sure he knew all he should and about 18 months ago cast aside his pinny and launched his label. He is now seeking out top class singers for his new disco tracks - which he tips as the next big thing.

He is ever searching for "the" singer and believes he has one or two top acts under his belt. He also said he would be happy to hear from local singers who think they may have what it takes. He has seven acts on his books at the moment, including Evesham band Saving Pedro and Cheltenham singer Laura Jay Bristo.

Sean is planning to run his full-day course in Cheltenham on February 4. He'll reveal how the life isn't as glamorous as people may think - it involves more office than studio work - but how it is rewarding and interesting and can be done from a base like Sedgeberrow - not a common showbiz address!

"It's a really hard living but it's worth it," said Sean. "It should be about having fun.

"I now want to help give people a guide and think I can be of use to anybody who's interested."

Contact Sean Forryan if you want to go on the course or if you're a budding singer on 07980 390135.