Adeline Addruse with son Cassidy

Published: 7 March, 2013
by PAVAN AMARA

ADELINE Addruse wanted to be a rock star but she ended up working for a big City bank.

But after losing her father to cancer, becoming a mother and rethinking what it means to be a musician, the 35-year-old has started busking with her guitar under the bridge in Regent’s Park Road, Primrose Hill.

She said: “I realised life was too short, and my priorities had changed. I always thought being a popular musician meant being signed by a record label and being in HMV.

“Once I started busking I realised my music was resonating with people. I often wonder why people give me money during particular songs, I wonder about their lives too, what memories they’re associating with a song.

“When I first started in the City the long lunches and the boozing were new, but after a while it all fell a bit flat on its face.

“I became pregnant with my two-year-old son Cassidy and looked forward to being a full-time mother. My son became the most important person and that took away an element of fear and self-sabotage from doing things I wanted to do.

“The busking laws are incredibly hazy so I used common sense. The trick is to keep moving so you don’t irritate anyone for such a long time they can complain.”

Adeline grew up in Kuala Lumpur but has lived in Gloucester Avenue, Primrose Hill, since she was 12.

Her 75-year-old father Raja Aziz Addruse died in July 2011 after he was diagnosed with lymphoma, a type of blood cancer.

On April 2 Adeline begins “Busking The Monopoly Board to Beat Blood Cancer” at Camden Town station, before moving around the board and going on to Old Kent Road and finishing in Mayfair, all in aid of the Leukaemia & Lymphoma Research (LLR) charity.

She will spend around 20 minutes busking at each of her stops.

Adeline said: “I wanted to do something for my dad and a cause I felt strongly about, but I didn’t know what. Then I was sat thinking about when we were kids – we used to play Monopoly about five times a day, and I thought it would be comforting to revert back to that.”

She added: “I’ll probably ‘pass go’ a few times, but I’m hoping to reach at least £1,000.

“It’s my first time fundraising but it’s for something I really care about.

“I’m hoping to care for what I really want to do – that wasn’t working in the City – but being a rock star in my own way.”

• Visit Adeline’s blog at http://buskerunderthebridge.com/about/