Alana Henderson (born 6 October 1988), is a Northern Irish musician, cellist, singer and songwriter from

Dungannon Dungannon () is a town in County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It is the second-largest town in the county (after Omagh) and had a population of 14,340 at the 2011 Census. The Dungannon and South Tyrone Borough Council had its headquarters in the ...

. She released her debut EP, ''Wax & Wane'' in 2013, and her single, ''Let This Remain'', in 2017. She is now living in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Early life

Alana Henderson was born in

, Northern Ireland. With her family from

County Armagh County Armagh (, named after its county town, Armagh) is one of the six counties of Northern Ireland and one of the traditional thirty-two counties of Ireland. Adjoined to the southern shore of Lough Neagh, the county covers an area of and ha ...

, Alana grew up in a very music-friendly environment, and started singing and dancing from a very young age. Alana attended

St Patrick's Academy, Dungannon Saint Patrick's Academy (Irish: ''Acadamh Naomh Pádraig'') is a voluntary grammar school located in Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland. It formed on 1 September 2003 when the two single-sex Saint Patrick's Academies, which coexisted ...

and picked up cello there. Alana studied Law at

Queen's University, Belfast , mottoeng = For so much, what shall we give back? , top_free_label = , top_free = , top_free_label1 = , top_free1 = , top_free_label2 = , top_free2 = , established = , closed = , type = Public research university , parent = ...

, determined to become a lawyer, but in her words, "Law was incredibly dry, quite boring and I really began to feel frustrated and so I started songwriting." After completing the degree, she eventually left to become a singer-songwriter, just before her solicitor apprenticeship started.

Music career

2013: ''Wax & Wane''

On 11 March 2013, Alana released her debut EP ''Wax & Wane'', which also included "Song about a Song", "The Tower", and "Two Turtle Doves". The EP got generally positive views, including Lee Gorman of The Thin Air Magazine saying "an immensely promising first effort, which marks Alana Henderson out as one to watch". In 2013, Alana joined The Jepettos, a Northern Irish alternative band, in their single, "Water".

2014-2016: ''Windfall'', Touring with ''Hozier''

In 20 February 2014, Alana released an album called ''Windfall'', which is "a side–project, separate from my own contemporary writing, in which I recorded an album of re–worked, contemporary arrangements of traditional songs from the North of Ireland", according to her own words. The album was shortlisted for the Northern Ireland Music Prize in 2014. ''Windfall'' is currently not available on iTunes. Alana accompanied Hozier, an Irish singer-songwriter, on cello and vocals from late 2014 to early 2016. Together with Hozier, she played at over 300 shows, including

Glastonbury Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

Jools Holland Julian Miles Holland, (born 24 January 1958) is an English pianist, bandleader, singer, composer and television presenter. He was an original member of the band Squeeze and has worked with many artists including Jayne County, Sting, Eric C ...

, and a

Grammy The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pre ...

performance joined by

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the New wave music, new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician D ...

. Apart from cello, Alana joined the duet with Hozier for his song "In a Week" on tour, when Karen Cowley, the original singer of the song, was not present. During the tour, Alana occasionally performed her original songs as an opening act for Hozier. In July 2015, Alana played a stripped back folk set with Hozier in

Newport Folk Festival Newport Folk Festival is an annual American folk-oriented music festival in Newport, Rhode Island, which began in 1959 as a counterpart to the Newport Jazz Festival. It was one of the first modern music festivals in America, and remains a foca ...

, which was "a highlight of the tour" for her.

2017: ''Let This Remain''

On 27 October 2017, Alana released her single "Let This Remain", which was her first musical release after 2 years of touring. In 2017, Alana recorded a duet song "Holllllogram" with Joshua Burnside, a Belfast-based singer-songwriter. The song was tracked in his debut album, ''EPHRATA''.

Acting career

In 2007, Alana starred in ''

Seacht ''Seacht'' (; Irish for "seven") is a college drama series following the lives of seven college students (Brian, Caroline, Pete, Joanne, Eithne, Linda, Decko, Paddy, and Marcas) at the Arts Department of Queen's University in Belfast. The drama ...

'', which was an Irish language television soap opera, and was broadcast by

TG4 TG4 ( ga, TG Ceathair, ) is an Irish free-to-air public service television network. The channel launched on 31 October 1996 and is available online and through its on demand service TG4 Player in Ireland and beyond. TG4 was formerly known ...

and

BBC Two Northern Ireland BBC Two Northern Ireland ( ga, BBC Thuaisceart Éireann a Dó) is the Northern Irish variation of BBC Two operated by BBC Northern Ireland. It is broadcast via digital terrestrial transmitters and from the SES Astra 2E satellite (transponder 48 ...

. She starred as Caroline, a singing cello player.

Discography

Studios

Extended plays

Singles

Music videos

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Henderson, Alana 21st-century Irish singers Folk singers from Northern Ireland 1988 births Singer-songwriters from Northern Ireland People from Dungannon Living people Musicians from County Tyrone