Barker was born in
Barrow upon Soar,
Leicestershire, England. Her second release,
This Rhythm Is Mine, The line-up featured harpists
Mary Macmaster and
Patsy Seddon from the
harp duo
Sileas, and
Karen Tweed (accordion) who Barker met at a folk festival in Hong Kong. with piano and dulcimer player Glenn Hughes (and occasionally banjo player Debbie Cassell) in which they performed an evening of Mitchell's songs. An album,
Conversation: The Joni Tapes (Vol. 1) was released in August 2010 with an album launch at the
Edinburgh Fringe at the Acoustic Music Centre.
The Voice In January 2014, Barker became a contestant on the
BBC One talent contest
The Voice, joining
Tom Jones' team after a blind audition in which she sang "
Don't Let Me Be Misunderstood". In the battle round on 1 March she sang "
Dear Darlin'" with Talia Smith and was put through by Jones. In the first of the knock-out rounds, on 15 March, she sang "
Walk On By" and in the quarter-final, on 22 March, Barker was given a fast pass to the semi-final by Jones, after singing "
To Love Somebody". In the semi-final, she sang "
The Whole of the Moon" and was voted through to the final. Commenting on his tearful reaction to Barker's performance, Jones said: "Sally it’s lovely to hear you sing. You move me and that’s what happened at auditions. It was so beautiful I couldn’t help myself." In the final, on 5 April 2014, Barker sang Joni Mitchell's "
Both Sides, Now" and duetted with Tom Jones on "
Walking in Memphis". Having escaped elimination she reached the final three and sang "
Dear Darlin'" again as her final song, but was a runner-up to
Jermain Jackman.
Later work In September 2014, Barker announced a British tour between September and December 2014. In 2015, Barker joined the three surviving members of the folk-rock band
Fotheringay for six tour dates in the UK and, in 2016, provided backing vocals on a new album by
Brooks Williams entitled
My Turn Now. She also embarked on a solo tour, which concluded in November 2016. In 2017, she supported
Fairport Convention on their Win-tour 2017 tour. ==Personal life==