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The bubbly Julie Dawn sings as well now as when I first saw her way back in 1991 in the newly formed New Dawn Trio.
Julie was born in Norwich, Norfolk in 1967 and has lived in Norfolk all her life. From an early age she enjoyed singing and it quickly became her ambition to be a singer. She started learning to play guitar when she was 12 and having mastered it, she entered and won a talent contest in a local pub. She went on to reach the regional finals at the Talk of East Anglia cabaret club in 1982 where she came third. ‘The Talk’, as it became known, was one of the most popular music venues in Norfolk and attracted some of biggest names in the business. This contest launched Julie’s singing career and with more guitar practice she soon had bookings in local pubs, clubs and hotels singing a mixture of middle of the road songs including 60’s,rock ‘n’ roll and some Country. At this time Julie was still only 13 so had to rely on her parents to drive her to gigs.
In 1987 Julie had a major career change when she teamed up with her younger sister Linda in a duo. Julie played guitar and was the lead singer while Linda played bass and, being siblings, their beautiful harmonies quickly became their strength and they won many friends in the local pub scene.
The following year they moved onto the Country music circuit where they proved to be an immediate success. The local radio station, Radio Broadland’s Country music presenter Bob Morgan got them a booking for the summer season at the Winter Gardens, Great Yarmouth where they supported acts that included Mary Duff, Raymond Froggatt and Mud.
Their first cassette album, Breaking It was sponsored by Bob Morgan’s company Houndog Music and they also chose the name, New Dawn for the new duo. Houndog Music also managed them for a while.
Bookings came in quickly for New Dawn, or New Dawn Sisters as they were sometimes known, including some prestigious gigs like the Best of British talent show at the Wembley Conference Centre, part of the Wembley Country Music Festival.
A second cassette album, Songbird quickly followed. In 1991 the sisters were joined by Kevin Tonks a fine singer, guitar and banjo player and former member of the Down County Boys and New Dawn became New Dawn Trio. Kevin joining the girls enabled them to get many more bookings at Country music clubs, theatres and festivals all over the UK.
They picked up a number of different Country music awards, one of which was the Country Music Round Up Award for Best Newcomers, which was presented to them by George Hamilton IV.
The trio toured extensively until the mid-1990s. Kevin and Linda married and Linda decided to leave the trio to concentrate on starting a family. The trio continued with other musicians including guitarist Wayne Golden who went on to play with Dominic Kirwin and, later, Mickey Bembridge on keyboards; he used to play with Campbell’s Country.
In 2003 Julie and Kevin decided to continue as a duo retaining the name New Dawn. In 2006 Julie and her husband Chris celebrated the birth of their son Jed, which prompted Julie to want to play more locally again to spend more time with her family. At the end of 2008 New Dawn disbanded after more than 18  years on the road together.
Julie and Kevin both launched solo careers working mainly in East Anglia and they are both very much in demand today. Kevin uses the name Kevin Barry; Barry being his dad’s middle name.
In 2011 Julie teamed up with Lindsey Ball (Lindsey St John) and Victoria Hydon to form the Moonglow Sisters, a swing and boogie-woogie close harmony trio (in the style of the Andrews Sisters) singing with the Jonathan Wyatt Big Band.
Julie was nominated for Female Vocalist of the Year at the 2021 CCN Awards and it was quickly apparent why she has been proving so popular even though she rarely travels far from East Anglia. The thing that stands Julie out from many other singers is her bubbly and infectious personality.