Simon Vance
 Simon Vance began his recording career at the age of 6 when he read Winnie-the-Pooh aloud into a microphone. At age 11 he was given his own tape recorder and mike. “I was very much into the BBC Radio comedy shows, so most of what I did was to make up silly stories and record them using lots of silly voices.” He laughs. “That set the stage for my career.” In his 26 years as a narrator, the Englishman with the gorgeous voice and remarkable facility for characterization has recorded hundreds of books for many producers. The ever-growing stack of Earphones and Audies encourages Vance, who, despite his popularity, says, “I’m very judgmental, and I often find it too painful to listen to my own work. I only accepted that I was any good at this after getting my first Audie Award a couple of years ago." Read More...
John Lee
 John Lee’s explanation for why he narrates so many long books is “stamina.” “My dad worked as a carpenter until he was 79. The rest of the men in his family were blacksmiths. Some of my cousins are bricklayers and pipe fitters. We’ve got stamina.” His trademark rich, smooth voice with its hint of a growl turns the word into a seduction. “I’ve done farm laboring, so I know that narrating audiobooks ain’t as hard as picking fruit. But it is effort. It gets insanely claustrophobic. Not because of the size of the studio, although you do work in tiny rooms, but because you’re concentrating so hard.” He says that his voice--English with an echo of the family’s Irish heritage--will hold out “for a pretty long recording day. Maybe 90 minutes at a stretch for five to six hours.” Read More...
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