Tony Cummings talked to Welsh singer Bethan Ellis, better known as BEBE VOX

BeBe Vox

The so-catchy clubland groove that is "She Got It Bad" by BeBe Vox will, by now, be known to all Cross Rhythms Radio listeners. The Welsh-born singer has already had another download single out, "All This Time", which made the BBC's Top 20 Dance Chart - no mean feat for a single that neither BeBe nor its producer Zarc Porter thought had sufficient clubland appeal to connect with dancers. BeBe is the latest artist to emanate from Manchester's Innervation Trust which, down the years, has given us such acts as the World Wide Message Tribe, Shine, TBC, thebandwithnoname and Pop Connection. There were initially high hopes that "All This Time" would make the pop charts. Was BeBe disappointed that it didn't reach such rarefied heights? "Well, obviously I was a little disappointed, but I was still really pleased and surprised to make the dance chart. Considering that we didn't have any Radio 1 play, this was encouraging!"

BeBe, real name Bethan Ellis, was born and bred in Swansea, South Wales. The 26 year old singer spoke about her home life. "My mum and dad have always been involved in ladies fashion. That's all I've known growing up, so I've been very, very fortunate and getting loads of free clothes all the time. They imported and shipped in a lot of clothing and various warehouses that they purchased from, and we've had numerous shops. I'm saying 'we' because I worked with them; every Saturday I've always worked with my parents. And yes, they've still got a couple of shops still in Swansea now."

When BeBe was about seven her parents became Christians. Church was something BeBe took to like a duck to water. She said, "Church was just amazing; it was like everyone was your friend. It was just a great atmosphere, a great place to be. I couldn't tell you when it actually happened, but I fell in love with church, I fell in love with God, and just the people that were around."

BeBe's enthusiasm for spiritual things was almost equalled for her enthusiasm for music. "I've always loved music, always loved singing, performing, but it's usually been something behind closed doors in my house, in my bedroom with a hairbrush! It's something I've always desired to do, but I suppose growing up, going through comprehensive, and college, it was - at that time performing arts wasn't very popular. These days you've got your High School Musical, you've got your Glee. You've got everything, you know, singing, dancing, performing, it's totally in-trend. But back then it just seemed like I'd be stepping out and all eyes would be on me, so I kept it to myself."

Things changed for BeBe when in her late teens she was doing a gap year. She explained, "I had a London university accept me to go and study graphic design, and I really felt torn. I wanted to go and do it because I thought it would be great to have that on my CV, having gone to St Martin's in London. But something was tugging at me saying that this wasn't where I was supposed to be going, and I just re-evaluated what I was doing. And I thought, well I could study here, and maybe I could pursue some other things that I'm passionate about. And singing was always just tugging at me, so I actually, on the quiet, went and asked a lovely lady who was part of my church back home. Her name was Pauline Mayberry(?). Sadly she passed away two years ago. She took me for singing lessons for about an hour, and only charged me £5 for a singing lesson. She was fantastic and she told me that she'd taken me to a point where she couldn't take me any further. She said, "You need to go and find another singing teacher now." That's when I discovered singing lessons were rather expensive. For 20 minutes it was like £20. But before I knew it I was singing in my local church, singing in youth groups, weddings, anywhere anyone would let me."

BeBe's big break was when, in 2007, she entered Hope Academy in what was effectively a Christian X-Factor style competition. BeBe made it to the finals held in London and won the competition. Amongst the judges was Mark Pennells of Innervation Trust. It was a momentous time for BeBe as, having returned from a trip to Egypt, she got engaged to be married. Then she received a phone call arranging for her to visit Mark and Zarc at Innervation. Up in Manchester the meeting went well. Said BeBe, "We did explore a variety of things, would I work on my own, would I work in a group, would I have a band? So I was in the studio a few times recording various different styles of music, different genres. So it was a process. It took us about a year and a half I think to get to the point where we thought, yes, this is it. The biggest problem was the amount of distance between us. I lived down in South Wales; they're in Manchester. It's a good four and a half hour trip. All of it costs money. At the same time I had a full-time job working in graphic design for Elim International Missions Department, so it was difficult to find the time to get up and work with them."

Eventually a strategy began to develop to launch BeBe through a vast array of engagements in Britain's schools. So, a couple of months before Christmas 2009 BeBe found herself playing her infectious electro pop, which one reviewer described as "one part Lady Gaga, one part Girls Aloud and one part sheer originality," at numerous schools and colleges. The idea came up that we probably hit a hundred schools. It was before Christmas and we just started phoning, ringing round schools that Innervation have been into before with thebandwithnoname and TBC and Pop Connection as well. We asked, 'Would you like a free school assembly?' Before we knew it we had them all knocking on our doors wanting a free assembly."

With the single for "All This Time" set to be officially released by Movation on 26th April and thousands of BeBe Vox fliers being distributed among Britain's school kids and with BeBe performing highly acclaimed sets at Spring Harvest, the scene seemed set for the singer to storm the pop charts. However, a series of factors quenched such dreams with the BBC ignoring the Lady Gaga-styled "All This Time" and Innervation being hit by scurrilous poison pen emails, full of erroneous accusations about the integrity of Innervation. Even the generous offer of the Rev Alistair Kent to utilise his Facebook campaign which had successfully put Delirious?' "History Maker" high in the pop charts backfired when numerous d:boy enthusiasts, bemused by a piece of electro pop light years away from the guitar rock of Delirious?, felt it appropriate to make sweeping criticisms of the song on the internet.

Thankfully it seems such traumas are behind BeBe and Innervation. Her new single is picking up considerable exposure in clubland and despite the gruelling schedule of her schools work BeBe is enjoying herself as she becomes a Christian role model for a young generation of school kids.

On both her singles BeBe is joined by rapper Ad-Apt, who long time devotees of thebandwithnoname will know as MC Presha (real name Adam Brown). BeBe thinks Ad-Apt's contributions to her singles are vital. "He came into the studio and recorded with Zarc a few bits and pieces that he thought he could put in there. And Zarc did his magic and merged us together."

BeBe can still vividly remember the day when producer Zarc Porter tried her out on a piece of catchy electro pop. She said, "I could feel myself dancing in the studio as I was singing, and I could see myself performing it, and I could just see myself really enjoying it. Now that's just what I'm doing. There are two main versions of 'She Got It Bad' and one of these is a dance version which I always use live and the crowd love it. The song is a story about someone who is chasing the wrong things in life."

BeBe takes very seriously her task as a positive role model for young girls. "It is really sad. These children are so impressionable, they're looking to look to people to be role models in their lives. If I had a little girl I would not want her to be seeing some of the images that artists like Lady Gaga and Madonna are bringing to the pop arena. My hope and prayer is that I can promote something which is wholesome and godly."