Mary trained at the Royal Academy of Music in both singing and piano
Following this, Mary spent 25 years as a singer with an almost unique range of styles, from opera at Covent Garden to stadium gigs with groups including Black Sabbath, Pink Floyd and Roxy Music.
She also worked extensively for TV and radio recordings (film scores, TV series, live broadcasts, BBC Big Band, Top of the Pops, and jingles) and television companies and record producers now frequently use her as a vocal troubleshooter and singing consultant.
She has worked on the first casts of at least 26 West End shows, including Les Misérables (stage and screen), Miss Saigon, Cats, Jesus Christ Superstar, Mamma Mia, Rent, Phantom of the Opera (stage and screen), Billy Elliot, Funny Girl, A Little Night Music, and Sweeny Todd. Mary also works as a vocal coach to many artists in current shows, including productions running at Regent’s Park Open Air Theatre, The Donmar Warehouse, Royal National Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, and touring productions across the world, together totalling over 120 shows.
Mary is also actively involved in commercial music and works with up-and-coming young artists, and a diverse mix of performers. Examples include Coldplay, The Kaiser Chiefs, Arcade Fire, Dido, Adele, Arlo Parks, Katherine Jenkins, Graham Norton, and Kimberley Walsh.
Mary’s TV experience includes working on The Voice for ITV and BBC, The Good Morning Programme, BBC Voice of Musical Theatre, and on Choir of the Year.
'The founder of the post-graduate Musical Theatre course here and an experienced teacher and singer herself as well as a vocal coach and consultant to numerous companies and groups, Hammond knows the field inside out'
What's On Stage - whatsonstage.com
This variety and experience has led to a lifelong interest and passion in the research and practice of voice science and vocal techniques. In 1993 Mary founded the post-graduate Musical Theatre course at the Academy – the first of its kind in a music conservatoire. She combined teaching at the Academy with a flourishing private singing teaching practice. She co-organised and presented two cutting-edge voice conferences in conjunction with British Voice Association at the Academy: From Rent to My Fair Lady and Rock Pop and Noise. She was also involved in planning and presenting at the Pan European Voice Conference in 2005, and she also presented a conference on contemporary sound in 2007. Mary has been a board member and closely involved with The British Voice Association for 30 years.
Mary was Head of Musical Theatre at the Academy from 1993 to 2012.
Co-author of Thank You – That’s All We Need For Today, published by Peters.