The Waterharts

Jess

Jess has always been a bit of a dreamer. Drawn to art and music from a young age, she’d fill her evenings and weekends dancing, drawing and playing the piano, with the intent of either being an animator for Disney, or perhaps a West End chorus girl.

After graduating with a BA in Illustration from Falmouth University, she worked for a season as a hotel rep and ski guide before becoming an Art Technician at a secondary school. During this time she recorded a studio album with folk-Americana band Broken Boat and was given the opportunity to tour the UK and Switzerland.

In 2014 Jess succumbed to societal expectations to ‘get a real job’ and after hundreds of applications to ad agencies, fashion houses and dubious tech companies, was finally offered her first design role at Penguin books. She has risen from lowly junior to Deputy Art Director over the last ten years, and has found her true home in publishing.

AND, luckily, she hasn’t had to give up her dream of being a chorus girl since joining dance troupe The London Starlings, where she gets to live her best be-sequinned life performing and competing across London and beyond.

Tommy

From his teenage years onwards, Tommy has been working in music, cutting his teeth on bass in punk bands and moving on to rockabilly double bass in both function bands and with original material. He spent 12 years touring from Sardinian beaches to Alpine pistes, Hungarian basements to Estonian breakfast-telly and slept on sofas from San Diego to St Petersberg. Notable gigs include live on the Dermot O’Leary Show on Radio 2 and Children in Need live on BBC Northern Ireland.

During this time Tommy studied Media and Film Studies at college, moving into location scouting and managing for film and TV around London. He then studied Fine Art at the University of Hertfordshire where he graduated with a First Class Honours in 2012, showing in exhibitions at Truman Brewery, Digswell Arts Trust and Bodhini Gallery. He then apprenticed in carpentry, bespoke furniture making and sash window restoration.

Tommy left the touring scene in 2020 becoming more involved with Electric Umbrella, a charity which uses music to challenge peoples perceptions of those with learning disabilities, where he now works running interactive music sessions and adapting instruments to be more accessible for disabled people. In 2025 he appeared with the charity on Britain’s Got Talent, receiving a golden buzzer from Simon Cowell in their audition, winning the opportunity to perform at the Hammersmith Apollo broadcast live on ITV1.

Tommy currently studies life sculpture at Hampstead School of Art, with work featured in the 2025 Hampstead Summer Festival Arts Fair.