High Peak singer has the world at her feet ahead of debut album release

She’s sung in Qatar and China, done a video shoot in Italy and will travel to Majorca this summer for filming.

But nothing compares to the natural beauty of the Peak District – a place she is proud to call home.

Heidi Anne said: “It’s so scenic.

“Some of the views that you get in the Peak District, you just can’t compare them to anywhere else in the world.”

She’s chosen some of the best backdrops in the area for her promo photos, including Waterfall Swallet in Eyam and Combs reservoir.

And Heidi Anne put the beauty of the area to good use when she teased social media followers with her latest photo by asking where in the Peak District it was shot.

Solving the puzzle, she said: “It was on Ollersett Moor, literally a two-minute walk from where I live.”

That photo shows her glammed up in high heels soaking up the sun’s rays, not footwear that she’d worn to make the steep climb from her home in Birch Vale.

Laughing, she said: “I had a pair of trainers by the side.”

The keen walker is now setting her sights on venturing to other parts of Derbyshire’s National Park.

Heidi Anne said: “I need to get out and explore a bit more of the Peak District as there are so many nice places.”

Wild swimming is another of Heidi Anne’s passions.

She said: “You have to get out of really cold water after about 30 seconds because your body is numb but that’s a good thing because that’s when you get the most benefit from it… you realise afterwards that it is so invigorating.”

Heidi Anne prefers a swimming costume to a wetsuit for her plunges into the waters of the Peak District.

Asked if she goes skinny-dipping, she says, “Absolutely not, I don’t want to be arrested!”

She’ll make an arresting sight in June when she goes to Majorca for a photo shoot to promote her next single, I Won’t Let You Down.

“I’m also putting together a calendar,” said Heidi Anne.

“It’s going to be mildly sexy but nothing too over the top.

“Like the Peak District, I’ll be looking for scenic backgrounds.”

Summer is shaping up to be a busy time for the 34-year-old singer who has just put the finishing touches to her first album which she hopes to release in June.

“The album is called Back In The Day,” she said.

“A lot of my style is kind of old school r ’n’ b, soulful kind of stuff.”

Heidi Anne keeps her 100,000 followers on social media happy by posting her music and photos.

She said: “I’ve brought out lots and lots of singles.

“It’s only the last three years that I’ve been focusing on it properly.

“I had a few years off because I was working in hotels abroad and in the Middle East and Asia.

“I was the singer in a five-star hotel in Doha, the capital of Qatar, which is a mini-Dubai in the Middle East and was staying in a villa which was lovely.

“I did China after that which was not quite so glamorous; I was living in a little dormitory that was like a prison cell. I also did cruises for a couple of years.”

Christened Heidi Anne Burford, she began singing professionally when she was 21 and started writing her own songs a couple of years later.

She said: “I released a single with some A-list rappers from America.

“A licensing company contacted me and said we really like your voice and we really like your image.

“They put T-Pain and Lil Wayne on one of my songs, When The Sun Goes Down, which was really good and got me great exposure. T-Pain and Lil Wayne filmed their bit in Miami and I did my bit in Verona, Italy.

“I got very lucky but the problem was that the company tried to control everything.

“They wouldn’t even let me write my own songs because they wanted as much money as possible for themselves.

“I ended up breaking out of the deal and focusing on what I wanted to do.

“The days now are for online musicians, independent musicians that have taken their career into their own hands.

“My goal is to be successful, have a decent following and people who appreciate what I’m doing and support me.”

Heidi Anne does a lot of gigs around the Manchester area where she performs r ’n’ b and soul covers.

“I don’t do gigs where I’m performing my own music but sometimes I’ll be a bit cheeky and put my songs on in the background,” she said.

“I also sing with a 10-piece band called The Groove Hustlers, we are a Motown and soul band with a horn section.”

A full-time healthcare worker, Heidi Anne said: “I do long days – 12 hours of home care which means I get my hours in so I can have three days off a week.”

To follow Heidi Anne’s career and to listen to her music, visit her Facebook page at www.facebook.com/heidianneofficial.