ENJOY a beautiful mix of gospel, soul, jazz and blues with An Afternoon with DaPaul at The Courtyard.

DaPaul is a talented singer and songwriter from London who began singing in church as a young man and has since worked as a session musician and backing vocalist with stars such as Eternal, Alexander O’Neal and Gabrielle.

DaPaul, whose influences range from gospel music to soul, pop, jazz and blues, releases his second album, London Town, later this year. "It has a different focus to the first, Soulful Spirit (released in 2013). While I was in Asia for eight months promoting the album, I really missed being in London which is one of the reasons I am writing a tribute to London and it also reflects how I've developed as a musician by being a Londoner."

Although he grew up surrounded by music and going to piano lessons, DaPaul didn't go straight into the music industry from school: "At the time it wasn't something that seemed a viable place to work," he recalls. "I was encouraged to train as an electronics engineer and worked doing that for a while.

"But I always had a passion for music and continued doing it in my spare time. Then I had the opportunity to go and study music and afterwards got the chance to work in the industry.

"In the time that I was developing in the mid-80s there was lots of support available for the arts, so I had lots of opportunities to go to various training programmes and to perform, then in the early 90s I started working professionally and since then I've been able to travel the world with various artists."

After years working as a session musician and backing vocalist, DaPaul launched his solo career: "Around 2008 I was thinking about what to do next when I got back from a tour - I started looking at my catalogue of songs and decided to go out on my own.

"It was quite daunting, but I thought I had the potential to do it and it was a burning desire waiting to happen."

Free transport to this event is also available as part of The Courtyard’s new transport scheme on selected events in its Autumn season. There will be mini buses to take customers to and from The Courtyard from Leominster and Ross-on-Wye, please ask at box office when booking.

An Afternoon with DaPaul on Sunday, September 20 at 2pm. To book tickets, arrange transport or for more information contact the box office on 01432 340555 or visit courtyard.org.uk.