Teachers & Staff

office team | guitar | piano/keys | vocals | drums | bass | bands | woodwind | mascot

Office Team

Kim Bradley
kim.bradley@musicmakeracademy.co.uk

Kersten Luts
kersten.luts@musicmakeracademy.co.uk

Sam Reed
sam.reed@musicmakeracademy.co.uk

Guitar

Kersten (K) Luts
MI G.I.T graduate 1997 (hon.)
K has been a professional session guitarist and teacher in the London area since 1996 and performed with countless artists including Bernard Purdie, Tom Lang, Annie Lennox, Mark Morrisson and Jenniffer Kae to name but a few.
His versatility as a guitarist allows him to teach a great variety of contemporary playing styles including Rock, Metal, Jazz, Funk, Latin, Folk, etc. K also teaches Harmony & Theory, Songwriting, Recording and runs the hugely successful Bandstand band workshop at the Academy.
Nobody really knows why he's just called 'K'...

David Allen
Dave has studied and performed in all genres of music over the last 20 years, so you may well see him walking through the Academy armed with an assortment of electric, accoustic and classical guitars. Teaching guitar for the last four years, Dave has played in a number of rock and indie bands and is currently recording an album with Straw Men, a local accoustic project. Dave started learning classical guitar at the age of six and soon got the music bug. Through school he studied the cornet to Grade VIII playing at the Royal Abert Hall, Royal Festival Hall and St Albans Cathedral and sang in Opera's at the English National Opera House.

Craig Russell
ACM graduate 2004
Having studied classical guitar up to Grade 8 from the tender age of 8, Craig is known at the Academy as an expert in rock and metal guitar playing styles. He spent years working for several record labels including Atlantic Records and Warner Bros whilst developing his studio and live performance career. Viewing teaching as a passion he specialises in contemporary techniques as well as more traditional approaches to guitar playing. His favourite is the 7-string guitar, so listen out for those low down heavy riffs coming from his classroom. Craig also sings for various metal projects and can be seen playing live across the UK.

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Piano & Keyboard

Richard Heyes
Richard studied the piano at the Royal Academy of Music with Alexander Kelly and participated in Tatiana Nicolaieva's master classes at the Mozarteum Summer School in Salzburg whilst reading Music at Cambridge, where he was Organ Scholar of Gonville and Gaius College. He is Head of Piano at Bedford School and Regional Organiser for the European Piano Teacher's Association. Much in demand as an accompanist, he also gives recitals as piano soloist, duettist and chamber musician and plays the organ for church services. He directs the Sherwood Choral Society in Bletchley and the Newport Pagnell Singers. He also accompanies the Bedfordshire Police Choir.

Chelsey Huckle
more info coming soon

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Vocals

Sam Reed
MI V.I.T graduate 1997
Sam trained at London's famous Sylvia Young Theatre School for 10 years from the age of 7 in singing, dance and drama. She went on to appear on TV for the BBC and lend her voice to several Sony advertising campaigns. Whilst continuing her vocal studies at the Vocal Institute of Technology, she performed nationally with Funk/Acid Jazz band MHMP and various acoustic line-ups. She specialises in contemporary singing styles such as Rock, Pop, Jazz, Blues and R&B.

Santella Austin
Santella began his journey in the world of performing arts at the age of 21. He spent 4 years at the West Street Ballet School and the world famous London Studio Center.  His first work experience was as a resident singer/Dancer In “Gardaland” Italy, where he also toured with Italian pop star Franchesco Baccini. Santella also sung  in ITV’s talent show  “Pot of Gold” hosted by Des O’Connor, where he came a proud runner up. He then joined the German cast of “Starlight Express”, shortly followed by “Gaudi Musicals” and “Joseph and his Technicolored Dream Coat”. Singing on a royal Caribbean cruise liner was his next stop before turning his sights on producing/songwriting. After working with several producers as both lead and backing singer, he went on to write and produce an album “It's Time to Party” for artist A.B,  which was released on his own label and toured Germany and Austria with German pop group “Bed and Breakfast”. He  also opened for Montell Jordon at Club Zero, Germany.
Santella is proud to be a part of the Music Maker Academy where he specializes in Pop Rock R&B and Musical theatre lessons and continues to write his own songs.He is currently in negotiations with Danish pop star Soren Bregendal for a 2011 autumn  release of one of his songs .

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Drums

Pete Hedley
Pete started hitting things with drum sticks at the tender age of 4. Since then he has been taught by Sam Kelly, Steve Laffy and Darren Ashford of London's renowned Drum Institute. Pete has been performing professionally since he was 12 and now holds a National Diploma in Artist Development. He has played with artists as varied as Lilly Allen, Sean Webster, delta blues artist Giles Hedley, toured Europe with the TJ Johnson Band and recently shared a stage with none other than the legendary Eric Clapton.

Matt Wainer
Matt began his musical career by playing the CASIO keyboard at the age of 8, which was (in his own words) 'brilliant fun'. However, it was decided shortly thereafter that hitting drums with real drum sticks was a much more enjoyable idea. After having played with various local bands ranging from alternative Rock/Pop/Punk to outright Metal, Matt can currently be seen performing with his original band 'Spark Theory'.

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Bass

Dave Evans
Dave is a versatile bass player with natural groove and the ability to adapt to any style of music. He has previously supplied the low end for Leftfield pop artist Lilly Allen and works as the MD for gifted vocalist Mark-Anthony Abel. Dave is also currently working for the Guitar X School in West London, involved in various forms of bass guitar tuition. In the past he has provided lead vocals and bass for unique alt/rock band [front.headlight.failure]. Dave is a diverse musician, he is a songwriter at heart and is constantly collaborating with various musicians on his own compositions.

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Woodwind

Anthony Lawton
Anthony is a fully qualified and trained teacher who has had a huge passion for music as long as he can remember. He started on recorder before venturing onto the clarinet and then onto the saxophone before finally completing the woodwind trio and taking up the flute. His musical training was primarily through the Doncaster Youth Jazz Orchestra which enabled him to play throughout Europe and the United States. Anthony went to work onboard P&O Cruises as a saxophone player in the orchestra for two and a half years.
Anthony returned home to work as a freelance professional musician. In this time, he worked with a variety of function bands, big bands as well as teaching in various schools, both woodwind and jazz improvisation. For the last 3 years Anthony has worked primarily on a variety of West End Musicals including Blood Brothers, Cabaret, The Rat Pack and Jersey Boys.

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Band Workshops

The Bandstand is taught by Kersten (K) Luts and Dave Evans.

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Academy Mascot

Millie the Dog
Millie is a 5 year old Border Collie who currently resides with Sam & K. She occasionally accompanies Sam in her vocal classes - whenever her busy dog schedule permits it. Her favourite music ranges from Contemporary Howling to Bark Rock.

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