What Are We Made Of?

Inspired by diverse influences like Five Finger Death Punch, Metallica, and his mother, Leon holds the creator of the original He-Man and ThunderCats theme tunes in the highest esteem, while Jacqueline’s formulative experiences were more along the lines of Jinty/Misty/Tammy/Bunty/Whoopee!/Beano/Whizzer and Chips and Target novelisations, and she prefers the theme tune to Fraggle Rock, although Jamie and the Magic Torch is up there too.

Between the two of them, they have two sets of twins plus a non-twin taekwondo champion; two French Bulldogs; four rescue cats, and a couple of very patient spouses.

Below you can find the bits where they each have to make themselves sound incredible.*

*(They both think the other one is the key to the partnership, so this was hard. Until they realised that

Beyond Song is actually much more than the sum of its parts...)

Leon Parris

Leon Parris is a British composer, writer and performer whose boundless creativity and flair have made him a distinctive figure in musical theatre. Born in Bedford, England, Parris has created a career filled with enchanting works such as The Famous Five, Monte Cristo and the beloved Bananaman. His talent for blending compelling narratives with vibrant musical compositions was noticed at a young age, earning him the prestigious Vivian Ellis Prize in 2000 as the youngest-ever winner. He has also won the Warner Chappell Award and the Mercury Workshops Award, among many other accolades. His early work, including Going Once, showcased Leon’s ability to weave intricate stories with memorable music in dark and often challenging storylines, and his first commissioned musical, The Fallen, was performed when he was just 17. He has continued to captivate audiences ever since, with pieces like Wolfboy, Epic Musical, Stig of the Dump, Scary Musical, Shakespeare’s Secret, Naughty Pour Homme and Dreamweaver, each reflecting his unique style and approach. His versality extends to acting, where he has brought various characters to life on stage and screen, with roles in Desmond’s and Casualty. His voice work includes projects such as Earthsearch: Mindwarp, Doctor Who, Star Copsand a quite astonishing body of work relating to amorous werewolves. Additionally, Parris is an accomplished sound designer with credits including Doctor Who, Gallifrey, OCAS and Call Me Master. He has a professional dance background that began at the Royal Academy of Dancing aged 7, as well as being a trained singer and vocal coach. Beyond his professional achievements, Leon is a dedicated family man who attributes his slow but steady descent into madness to fitting in too many jobs into too little time, but he writes songs about it to make him feel better. In his spare time, Leon recharges by the seaside in the south of Spain, so he has enough energy to do it all again tomorrow.

Jacqueline Rayner

Jacqueline is the writer of over 50 books and plays, including The Stone Rose, the highest-selling Doctor Who book ever (topping The Times bestseller list); works for World Book Day and International Women’s Day, and has been noted as ‘with Jacqueline Rayner’ on the title page of novels by actors Alex Kingston and Bonnie Langford. She’s written for franchises including Doctor Who, Peppa Pig, Power Rangers, Merlin, Robin Hood and Blake’s 7; she was also the very first writer for Big Finish Productions Ltd (now the world’s biggest independent audio drama company) and has gone on to write, script-edit and produce for them many times in the decades since. Her proudest moment as a Doctor Who producer was introducing the first wheelchair-using Doctor Who companion and fitting ramps to the TARDIS! She was a member of Doctor Who Magazine’s original Time Team, as well as writing a regular column about family life. Rayner’s writing often reflects on themes of identity, loss and hope and her biggest joy is delving deep inside the characters she creates. Well, that and chocolate. Her work is characterised by a blend of humour and emotion, and has been variously described as ‘heartwarming’, ‘poignant’, ‘affecting’, ‘magical’ and ‘really quite disturbing’. However despite having written numerous books, plays, short stories and comic strips, she’s mainly known for a viral tweet about toilet seats that is, according to their podcast, the favourite tweet ever of revered novelists John and Hank Green, and was used in a presentation to the entirety of Walmart by its CEO. She’s not bitter. Jacqueline also likes to recharge by the seaside in the south of Spain, but it’s slightly more difficult for her as she lives in Essex.

Decorative image of white floating figure.

The Song Begins

Leon and Jacqueline met in Spring 2024 while working on a Doctor Who drama for Big Finish Productions Ltd., as sound designer and producer respectively, and decided it’d be a lot of fun to collaborate on a musical. That musical became the horror musical series Bellwood which proceeded to take over their lives… But it didn’t stop them having a whole host of other ideas, for both further projects and ways to make everyone’s lives just a little bit more musical. Making the partnership official was the inevitable next step, and Beyond Song was born. Beyond Song’s roots, however, go rather deeper than either of them initially realised… In June 2001, Big Finish Productions released a dramatisation of James Follett’s novel, Earthsearch: Mindwarp. Jacqueline Rayner adapted the book for audio. Leon Parris had been spotted at the Edinburgh Festival in the breakout hit New Boy, and Big Finish head honcho Jason Haigh-Ellery offered him the lead role in Earthsearch. But Leon’s musical success meant he took on an additional role – as composer. Which means their first collaboration as writer/composer actually occurred last century. (Jac also played Leon’s character’s datapad, which he dropped down a hole at some point in the proceedings and never mentioned again. Oops.) It took them some time to realise all this. And it can get quite complicated when anyone asks how they met. But it’s fun to be able to say they’ve been a creative partnership for over 25 years! If you’ve read this far, why not listen to some of our music?! We don’t think you’ll regret it. Spotify, Apple Music or our YouTube channel are good places to start. (A few tracks are labelled 'Explicit'. Some contain a mere 'shit' or similar, others have very adult content. Think of it as a sort of sweary Russian roulette.) NB Jacqueline misused her British Library membership to gather a ton of clippings on Leon's past artistic endeavours. She has promised not to make them publicly available, but never underestimate the power of bribery. She is especially fond of Cadbury Wispas and Fry's Turkish Delight.

Extended Second Family & Friends.

We owe anything and everything to these people. We'd like you to know more about all of them, because you know Beyond Song is more than just these two people writing songs, it's about this whole family. If you wanna know more about them dadadadada!!