A LUMPHINNANS singer has hit the high notes to turn her passion into raising a four-figure sum for charity in her gran's memory.

Carly-Jane Schiavone, with support from dad, Rab, and brother, Chris, has raised more than £4,000 for Alzheimer Scotland after selling more than 150 copies of an album put together this year.

The charity is close to the hearts of the 26-year-old and her family after her 'Nonna', Marie, passed away in 2018 after a losing a battle with dementia.

Since then, Carly has embarked on several fundraising efforts, including walking part of the Fife Coastal Path, to support the organisation but has now utilised her love of music to raise the magnificent total.

Last year, with regular performances on hold due to the outbreak of COVID-19, Carly began streaming live videos on Facebook on Friday evenings and soon gained an audience that even included viewers from as far afield as the United States, Canada and New Zealand.

From there, the idea to produce an album to raise money was born, and such has been the demand, more copies have had to be ordered!

"I started doing my own live videos about a year ago and, every Friday, I've been going on about eight o'clock," explained Carly.

"It's been pretty good and it's been interesting the public more because I've been doing it for Alzheimer Scotland. Every week that we've been on, we've been doing little auctions to win one of my t-shirt's.

"We've had generous people that have come forward every week that have put their own money into the gofundme page, and that's been absolutely amazing.

"After all that, people were giving me an idea that I should make an album, so myself, my dad and my brother, Chris, all went to the studio. We did an album with 16 tracks on it and we sold them for £10 each.

"Even if we got 20-30 sold, that's still £300 for dementia, but we've actually sold over 150. It's just went absolutely crazy; it's amazing.

"We've actually had to buy another 50 because there's that many people wanting them!"

Carly continued: "Everyone's been so generous, it's insane.

"We're hoping to keep that money going up and up for an amazing cause because it's so close to our hearts. My dad's mum, my Nonna, passed away with dementia four years ago.

"Straight after then I've always had a mindset of I want to raise money for this charity because we all had to experience it. It was just so horrible to watch her suffer.

"There's always been something we've been done, but this is way beyond what we ever imagined we'd get."

Having her dad and brother sing with her - in what she described as the 'woohoo' hut at her parents house - has made her remarkable fundraising effort all the more special for Carly, who said she would happily sing for free to see people enjoy themselves.

"My dad came on, just for a joke, one week because he likes to sing Elvis," she added.

"He came on and it literally turned into this amazing thing, and everyone was like, can we get him back on?

"My dad was absolutely loving it and, every Friday from then, it's been me and my dad. Then one weekend, my brother came down and had a wee go, and that was just a massive success for him as well. He did a duet with me and that went crazy; that went all over Facebook.

"Ever since then, every Friday, we've been keeping it up. I've been back in the pubs but I just decided to keep going.

I never ever thought in a million years that I would be at this point with all these people following me and appreciating my music."

Plans are in the pipeline for a potential follow-up to the album but, in the meantime, you can find out more by visiting the Carly Schiavone - Singing Page on Facebook.

To donate to Carly's gofundme page, visit https://uk.gofundme.com/f/singing-to-raise-funds-for-dementia-scotland.