The Three Belles

Introducing The Three Belles: Anneka, Sally and Bella. A trio inspired by The Andrews Sisters, they sing just as beautifully as they look! I figured that these lovely ladies would be the perfect first musical interviewees for our Vintage Fair blog. Let's see what they have to say...


Hello ladies! Let's start at the beginning. How and when did The Three Belles start?

The Three Belles started in 2010 at the University of Portsmouth. We formed as part of our course in Creative and Performing Arts. We had a mutual fascination with the history and music of the 1940s and decided to hold a themed experience night called 'In The Mood'. After singing in some local music venues for publicity we found that our bookings were getting more and more frequent. So, once we graduated we decided to take on performing as The Three Belles and running our 1940s nights as a full time career! We have never looked back since!

Why did you choose this particular avenue for your performing? What is it about the style and the music that got you hooked?
The music appeals to all ages because it's so uplifting and fun. It is great to dance to as well. The fashion is glamorous and flattering as they had seamed stockings, red lipstick and fabulous hairstyles! But the spirit of the people in world war two is so inspiring. No one was allowed to complain! People had a stiff upper lip and muddled on through helping each other through a very difficult time.

What music do you listen to when you're not rehearsing and performing?
 In all seriousness... The Andrews Sisters! But we do listen to some modern music too! Anneka's still into her swing such as Eliza Doolittle and Jamie Cullum, Sally likes a bit of rap! She is a big Eminem fan (and can secretly rap really well!) Bella is a bit of a rocker and loves bands like Muse and Elbow!
But we all love a bit of John Mayer in the car! And Louis Jordan for our 1940s fix.

Are you full time vintage lovers? And where do you shop for your stage getups?

Yes we dress quite vintage all the time! We like Portsmouth shops for some great finds such as Hideout, Dead Mans Glory and Anything Goes. They are very affordable too. Vintage Fairs are a great place to get good vintage clothes. Sometimes for what we do though it's best to get repro clothes so they can go in the washing machine and also not get worn out too quickly! 

What is your gig highlight? And equally, any gig horror stories?

I think our gig highlight has to be Victorious Vintage in Portsmouth down at the dockyards! There were 8,000 people there and when we arrived people were waiting at the gates to get photos signed! We felt like celebs it was really very exciting!  Our gig horror stories.... There has been a few! A classic was when our track for 'somewhere over the rainbow' started and one of us (who shall remain nameless!) started singing 'the white cliffs of Dover'! It worked for a while until it got to the bridge and then we all looked at each other and cracked up! There was no way out of that one! 

Finally, where can our readers find you and where can we see you sing?
You can find us on thethreebelles.com or facebook or you can tweet us @thethreebelles! We have a lot of gigs in the diary which are on our website but our next big events are 'Sing Sing Sing!' at The Stag in Sevenoaks on the 26th October. This is a 1940s show that we wrote with our writer friend Matt Wingett about our characters, Betty Gail and Dorothy through the war! It's with our fab swing band, The Bevin Boys. More details on our website. The other big event in the pipeline is The Blackout Party  which is a 1940s night out at the incredible museum called milestones in Basingstoke. For this night we have some great entertainment booked including electro swing djs, burlesque and The Bevin Boys again! We are very excited about these fantastic events and hope they make for a great end to the year!

Well it has been an absolute pleasure meeting the girls and I hope you manage to catch them at a gig soon! You never know, I might just persuade them to come sing at one of our fairs someday...! 

Gina x