'Tourette's no longer defines me - I can put my music out to the world'

Just six months ago, musician Grace Cope, 19, was unable to perform in front of anyone. Now she is lead vocalist on a song to raise awareness of Tourette's syndrome and being mentored by a veteran producer who has worked with The Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and Duran Duran.

Diagnosed with Tourette's in 2021, Grace, of Bedford, has campaigned for three years on TikTok to reduce the stigma around her neurological condition.

Yet over the same period, her own tics have worsened, derailing her A-level exams and forcing her to leave her job as a teaching assistant at a special educational needs and disabilities (Send) school.

"I was in a big pit of depression," she says. "I'd lost all hope and I thought I wasn't going to ever be able to do anything.

"I was like, 'What is the point of leaving the house? What is the point of even getting up in the morning to do anything?'"

Writing and playing music, alone in her room, offered Grace some rare moments of solace.

"Music is really the thing that's saved me from my Tourette's," she says.

"When I play, my tics calm down instantly. Music calms me down. I focus on the drumbeat or I work out which chords are being played. Music is a massive escape."

That is why, despite some hesitancy, she auditioned to sing as part of a national awareness campaign organised by charity Tourettes Action.

She led a choir, all of whom have Tourette's, on a cover version of Nina Simone's Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood, recorded at London's Olympic Studios.

The song was described by the charity's chief executive Emma McNally as a "heartfelt plea for understanding and acceptance" from the Tourette's community.

According to Tourettes Action, the condition affects one in 100 school-aged children and more than 300,000 people in the UK.

"Meeting people with Tourette's, being together in that space, it was so nice," says Grace.

"It's like taking a big deep breath and letting it all go when you're with other people with the condition."

During the recording, Grace met veteran music producer Chris Kimsey.

Over six decades, he has worked with some of the music industry's biggest names, including Marillion, Killing Joke, INXS, Jimmy Cliff and Peter Frampton, as well as the Stones, Led Zeppelin and Duran Duran.

After hearing Grace's own music, he vowed to help her.

"Immediately, I went 'Oh my God, this woman's got so much talent,'" he says, recalling their meeting.

"Not only does she have a beautiful voice but her lyrics were very good, her sense of melody was excellent but, above that, the production of what she did - her use of reverb and balance and instruments - was quite incredible."

Kimsey is now mentoring Grace as she writes and records her own music.

"What I can do is I can help introduce her to some other musicians; add an instrument or a string arrangement or a bass guitar," he says.

"She's got a very special talent and she needs help... it's a very exciting cause to be on board with."

Grace released her first single Dead or Alive in March and it has since been streamed in more than 50 countries.

She's also been playing at open-mic nights across Bedford, attempting to conquer her fear of performing in public.

She is writing and recording new music and plans to release an EP in the coming months.

Grace says her dream is to tour, performing her music to live audiences and continuing to raise awareness about the condition she says no longer defines her.

"I always saw Tourette's as me; like I was just Tourette's, and that's all I was," she says.

"I don't feel like that any more. I can now say I'm a singer-songwriter. I produce my own music and I can put it out to the world."