A singer is trying to track down two musicians she recorded with 33 years ago, in the hope their unheard and unreleased album can finally be published.

Back in 1987 Gwen Cowan, then living in Gravesend , got the chance to record professionally when two musicians contacted her Gillingham-based music teacher Joan Bigwood, looking for a vocalist.

The musicians - Jack Long and Keith Kitchen - had booked a recording studio the following day but the singer they had lined up for the job backed out, so Gwen stepped up to the plate.

Their project was to produce a musical, "Femme Fatale", on the life and times of Mata Hari, the Dutch exotic dancer who became a double agent during the First World War - and the following morning the group ran through the musical numbers and recorded them in the afternoon.

And then... nothing happened for three decades.

Gwen was given a tape recording of the project when the group met up for a drink but the project never saw the light of day.

Shortly afterwards she moved to Chester, where she still lives to this day.

"I'm usually a 'keeper in toucher' so I was really annoyed with myself for losing contact."

The tape lay gathering dust over the years but when Gwen found it during lockdown, she began listening again to it with fresh ears.

"I was trying to be as unbiased as possible and I thought there were some really nice numbers here," said Gwen, who assumes the project never materialised.

"Whatever plans they had for this Mata Hari it didn't get off the ground. I'm usually a 'keeper in toucher' so I was really annoyed with myself for losing contact.

"There were two or three instrumental tracks on there which I thought were really good, and I did eight numbers. They came across well considering I'm not the singer they wanted to employ originally.

"I'm sure one or two of the numbers could stand alone.

"I've had a couple of people listen to it now, and they said maybe it's because it's a mixture of styles. A couple of musical numbers sound pre-war - and I mean First World War.

"The numbers I sang on sound like ballads and are quite timeless."

Gwen, a retired teacher who used to work at Thamesview School, said she threw herself into the project despite some mildly risqué subject matter sung by the central character of the musical.

Gwen explained: "Firstly she's selling her wares singing 'I want to be a spy and I'm a good whore - we could put the two together'. Then she falls in love with a French spy - the French found out she was a double agent and shot her.

And she joked: "My voice is a bit too pure for being a whore but I did my best! When I got to the part where she's saying 'Oh god, what have I done?' I was better."

"It's unlawful to put music out without the consent of the people that made it."

A former member of the Dartford Operatic Society, Gwen performed a number of times at the Orchard Theatre, but efforts to trace the musicians through previous musical contacts have proved fruitless.

She believes Jack and Keith went on to do some work with the National Youth Orchestra but does not know what became of them.

"It's unlawful to put music out without the consent of the people that made it," added Gwen. "I have several acquaintances who are professional musicians and I've got several contacts.

"I want it to be used because it's good."

So perhaps there's still a chance that Femme Fatale could prove to be a killer album.

If you have any information on the musicians, email chunter@thekmgroup.co.uk

Read more: all the latest news from Gravesend .