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Galway, Ireland

Kate Nash biography

Kate Nash is an English singer songwriter from London England, who has achieved chart success with her number one album, “Made of Bricks”, which featured the number 2 hit “Foundations”.

Due to an injury in 2005, where she fell down the stairs, breaking her foot, Nash started to record at home. With enough songs to perform a live set, she began to play gigs. It was after she uploaded her music to MySpace when everything fell into place seeing Nash find manager and then producers to work with. She released her first single “Caroline’s a Victim” through Moshi Moshi Records in February 2007 which sold out 3000 copies. The song featured on MTV2 and the B-Side, “Birds” made it to the track list of her debut album, “Made of Bricks”.

Kate Nash signed to Polydor Records in April 2007, and released the single “Foundations” in the June of that year, which shot up the UK Singles Chart, making it to number 2. Nash’s record label decided to bring the release date of the album forward to be released in August 2007. The album reached number 1 in the albums chart, and that same year she went on to perform at many major festivals including Wireless, Bestival and Glastonbury. She also made her television debut on Later… with Jools Holland. The album had by this point been certified Platinum.

Nash released her second album, “My Best Friend is You” on April 19th 2010. It reached similar success to the previous album, making the top 10 in the UK Albums Chart, and charting internationally. The leading single from the album “Do-Wah-Doo” made it to number 15 in the UK Singles Chart.

On March 4th 2013, Kate Nash released “Girl Talk”, her third studio album. Her music had evolved into a much more earthy and garage punk sound. She moved to a different record label called “10p Records”. Unfortunately the album didn’t quite match her chart success, but still made it to the top 100 in the UK, Austria, Germany and Ireland.

Sophie Ellis-Bextor biography

Sophie Ellis-Bextor (born April 10, 1979) is an British pop, disco and dance, singer-songwriter and recording artist, best known for her smash hit single “Murder on the Dancefloor”, hailing from Hounslow, London, UK.

Born the daughter of Blue Peter presenter Janet Ellis and film producer and director Robin Bextor, Sophie’s earliest live performance came with the children's, “W11 Opera”, when she was 13. Ellis-Bextor subsequently made forays into indie music in 1997 by becoming Theaudience’s lead vocalist. Following the release of a debut, self-titled album, which spawned the singles “I Got the Wherewithal”, “If You Can’t Do It When You’re Young; When Can You Do It?”, and the No. 25 charting “I Know Enough (I Don’t Get Enough)”, the band were dropped by Mercury Records and Ellis-Bextor went solo.

Before releasing any original material, in 2000 the singer contributed vocals to the DJ Spiller instrumental track “Groovejet”, which subsequently topped the UK Singles Chart and earned regular rotation in clubs across the UK. A year later Ellis-Bextor issued her debut solo album “Read My Lips”. Rising to No. 2 on the UK Albums Chart, the record produced four Top 20 singles: Cher’s “Take Me Home”, the No. 2 “Murder on the Dancefloor”, “Get Over You / Move This Mountain”, and “Music Gets the Best of Me”. The record turned the singer into a national household name, however she also enjoyed success internationally with the album selling 2 million worldwide.

Following a supporting tour of the UK and Europe, Ellis-Bextor returned in 2003 to release her sophomore full-length “Shoot from the Hip”. Two tracks from the album were released as singles, “Mixed Up World” and “I Won’t Change You”, with the third and fourth being scrapped due to the singer giving birth to her first child. Debuting at No. 7 on the UK Albums Chart, Ellis-Bextor’s third studio album “Trip the Light Fantastic” was issued in May 2007. The disco-pop record, produced by Greg Kurstin, earned rave reviews and featured the likes of Fred Schneider, Richard Barone, Shelly Poole, and Cathy Dennis. In support of the record the singer toured opening for Geoge Michael and Take That, however had to cancel her own headlining tour.

In October 2008 Ellis-Bextor recorded a cover of Dolly Parton’s “Jolene”, which appeared on the soundtrack for the BBC2 sitcom “Beautiful People”. After which the singer contributed vocals to French DJ Junior Caldera’s track “Can’t Fight This Feeling” that later peaked in the French Top 20, and appeared on the Freemasons single “Heartbreak (Make Me a Dancer)”. In June 2011 Eliis-Bextor issued her fourth full-length “Make a Scene”, which was marked by more dance elements and influences than previous albums. Featuring collaborations with Calvin Harris, Richard X, Armin van Buuren, and Metronomy, the album was led by the single “Bittersweet”, and peaked at No. 33 on the UK Albums Chart.

Upon the announcement of a fifth studio album in May 2011, Ellis-Bextor began touring again, playing dates in Australia and Jakarta. Led by the single “Young Blood”, the album “Wanderlust” was released in January 2014, peaking at No. 4 on the UK Albums Chart. Representing her most ambitious album to date, “Wanderlust” incorporated folk, baroque and chamber pop elements and spawned the subsequent singles “Runaway Daydreamer” and “Love Is a Camera”.

Live reviews

In mainstream pop terms, there’s reinvention, and then there’s what Kate Nash has been up to these past few years. As much as you get the impression that she might never fully cast off the Made of Bricks era - the jewel in the crown of which, of course, was the number one single ‘Foundations’ - you can’t help but admire her decision to eschew the sound that made her famous and go all-out riot grrrl instead. Her live performances - not to mention her audiences - have understandably undergone wholesale changes, with the sub-Lily Allen chart fodder of old replaced primarily by tracks from her furious pop-punk record Girl Talk. Now flanked by an all-female band, there’s still some classic cuts in there, albeit with a little more aggression to them - that’s not necessarily a bad thing, especially on sultry Made of Bricks standout ‘Pumpkin Soup’ - but it’s the new material that’s currently seeing Nash really come into her own, with the controversial, Babes in Toyland-channelling single ‘Under-Estimate the Girl’ a set highlight and ‘Grrrl Gang’ - a reworked version of FIDLAR’s ‘Cocaine’ - providing a stirring set closer from one of the braver British artists of recent times.

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Joeg_67

Oozing confidence – presumably bolstered since placing fourth on Strictly Come Dancing and the reception to well-received recent LP, Wanderlust - Sophie Ellis-Bextor is the success story you never saw coming. After wowing the charts and general public with pop gems in the early/mid 2000s, she faded into a befuddling obscurity; she never stopped dropping sounds, but the spotlight had dimmed. However, now in 2014, she's riding a resurgence, with mammoth sets at festivals across Europe (Glastonbury and T In The Park to name but a few).
Obviously, there are her vintage hits like the ubiquitous neo-disco belter “Murder On The Dancefloor”, and her guest spot with Spiller on “Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)”, but the London-born singer-songwriter also covers Moloko's “Sing It Back”, Cher's “Take Me Home”, Modjo's “Lady (Hear Me Tonight)” and Freemasons' “Heartbreak (Make Me A Dancer)” pretty regularly during live shows. That's not to say her sets are a medley of ageing pop numbers; she whips cuts from her back catalogue out for the most part, and her folk/ballad-centric recent material goes down especially well. Performing with live strings, blazing lights, and live funk strummers, she proves that she's still able to impress and deliver a ridiculously entertaining show.

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