Melody Rose Cabana had been born in the Caribbean and moved to the UK with her family when she was five years old. They had settled in the East End of London, her mother working as a teacher and her father a bus driver. Melody was the youngest of seven children and had been singing on the stage since she was a young child. Elizabeth stirred her coffee and listened as Melody explained how she had left school with one GCSE and had been snapped up by an agent who had spotted her singing in a gospel choir.
‘My agent got me a gig working as entertainment staff on a cruise ship. I sailed around the Mediterranean for ten years. It was hard work but a lot of fun and I got to travel for free.’
‘It sounds wonderful,’ Elizabeth said. ‘So what bought you back to Britain?’
‘I missed my family,’ Melo
