Little Belters out to charm TV dragons into parting with cash
OPERA singing sisters Claire and Tina O’Brien are to be seen facing the daunting panel in Dragons’ Den this Sunday (August 21) – pitching for investment into their Manchester-based children’s choir Little Belters.
Millions of views will watch the youngsters sing their hearts out on BBC 2 at 9pm as the duo bid for backing from the famous entrepreneurs.
The O’Brien duo, brought up in Wythenshawe, teach five to 11-year-olds to sing in a group setting, ranging from rock anthems and chart hits to classical and folk.
They launched Little Belters in Altrincham in 2011 and now have around 150 members, running classes in Cheadle Hulme, Didsbury, Sale and Chorlton.
Claire said: “We were initially very unsure about pitching in front of the dragons for investment and whilst we can’t say anything about what happened, until after the show airs on Sunday evening, both Tina and I found it to be a great experience.
“Most of all we’re really proud of our Little Belters who truly melted everyone’s hearts.”
The sisters come from a high pedigree of vocal talent.
Tina studied at the Royal Northern College of Music before joining Glyndebourne as a trained opera singer, performing at the last night of the proms.
Claire studied music at Hull University and then sang with highly respected chamber choir, the Joyful Company of Singers.
Tina added: “We started off simply wanting to provide a high quality group for local children where we train them to be great singers and confident performers.
“We have a strict no audition policy so any child that loves to sing can join. Little Belters has grown quicker than we ever expected so when the chance to audition for the dragons came our way we thought, why not.
“We’re not your average choir – we take on things that people would never expect children to sing like Arctic Monkeys, Kaiser Chiefs and we have recorded with European House DJs.
“We certainly like a challenge and after teaching a room full of 5-11 year olds every week we weren’t too scared of Deborah, Peter, Nick, Sarah & Touker.”
