Amelia Fletcher (born 1 January 1966) is a British

singer Singing is the act of creating musical sounds with the voice. A person who sings is called a singer, artist or vocalist (in jazz and/or popular music). Singers perform music (arias, recitatives, songs, etc.) that can be sung with or without ...

songwriter A songwriter is a musician who professionally composes musical compositions or writes lyrics for songs, or both. The writer of the music for a song can be called a composer, although this term tends to be used mainly in the classical music gen ...

guitarist A guitarist (or a guitar player) is a person who plays the guitar. Guitarists may play a variety of guitar family instruments such as classical guitars, acoustic guitars, electric guitars, and bass guitars. Some guitarists accompany themselv ...

and

economist An economist is a professional and practitioner in the social sciences, social science discipline of economics. The individual may also study, develop, and apply theories and concepts from economics and write about economic policy. Within this ...

Music career

Fletcher has been the frontwoman of an evolving series of pop groups from the 1980s to the present. Her bands included

Talulah Gosh Talulah Gosh were an English guitar-pop group from Oxford, and one of the leading bands of the indiepop movement, taking their name from the headline of an NME interview with Clare Grogan. They supposedly formed in 1986 when Amelia Fletcher an ...

, Heavenly,

Marine Research Oceanography (), also known as oceanology and ocean science, is the scientific study of the oceans. It is an Earth science, which covers a wide range of topics, including ecosystem dynamics; ocean currents, waves, and geophysical fluid dynamic ...

, Tender Trap, and, since 2014, The Catenary Wires. The Catenary Wires

Facebook Facebook is an online social media and social networking service owned by American company Meta Platforms. Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg with fellow Harvard College students and roommates Eduardo Saverin, Andrew McCollum, Dustin M ...

page, retrieved 2014-06-08 In 2020, she began a new band, Swansea Sound, with

The Pooh Sticks The Pooh Sticks were a Welsh indie pop band from Swansea, Wales, primarily recording between 1988 and 1995. They were notable for their jangly melodiousness and lyrics gently mocking the indie scene of the time, such as on "On Tape", "Indiepop ...

's Hue Williams. She also sang backing vocals for

The Wedding Present The Wedding Present are an English indie rock group originally formed in 1985 in Leeds, England, from the ashes of The Lost Pandas. The band's music has evolved from fast-paced indie rock in the vein of their most obvious influences The Fall, ...

early in their career and on the Hefner album ''

We Love the City ''We Love the City'' is the third album by British indie rock band Hefner. It was released by Too Pure in two formats in 2000, the standard version and a second version with a disc featuring videos for " I Took Her Love for Granted" and " G ...

''. She toured with, and was guest vocalist for

on their albums ''Orgasm'', ''Million Seller'' and '' The Great White Wonder'', and in 1988 released a single under her own name, "Can You Keep a Secret?" She has also appeared as a guest vocalist for

The 6ths The 6ths is a band created by Stephin Merritt, also the primary songwriter and instrumentalist behind The Magnetic Fields, The Gothic Archies, and Future Bible Heroes. One story has it that the band was conceived when Merritt, observing that there ...

on the song "Looking For Love (In the Hall Of Mirrors)", on both

Bugbear A bugbear is a legendary creature or type of hobgoblin comparable to the boogeyman (or bugaboo or babau or cucuy), and other creatures of folklore, all of which were historically used in some cultures to frighten disobedient children. Etymology ...

recordings, a single by The Hit Parade, and "Why Do You Have to Go Out With Him When You Could Go Out With Me?" single by

The Brilliant Corners The Brilliant Corners were a United Kingdom, British indie pop band from Bristol who recorded throughout the 1980s and into the early 1990s. History The group was formed in 1983, taking the name from the Thelonious Monk jazz album, ''Brilliant ...

. Since 2002 she has been keyboardist for

Sportique Sportique is a British indiepop band formed in 1997 by Gregory Webster, formerly of the Razorcuts, with Mark Flunder of the Television Personalities The Television Personalities are an English post-punk band formed in 1977 by London singer ...

. Amelia Fletcher was also an early promoter of Scottish act Bis who Heavenly performed alongside and whose lead singer, Manda Rin, repeatedly cited Amelia as one of her inspirations/influences.

Economics career

Fletcher read economics at

St Edmund Hall, Oxford St Edmund Hall (sometimes known as The Hall or informally as Teddy Hall) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. The college claims to be "the oldest surviving academic society to house and educate undergraduates in any university ...

. In 1993, she completed a

D.Phil. A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, Ph.D., or DPhil; Latin: or ') is the most common degree at the highest academic level awarded following a course of study. PhDs are awarded for programs across the whole breadth of academic fields. Because it is ...

in economics at

Nuffield College, Oxford Nuffield College () is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is a graduate college and specialises in the social sciences, particularly economics, politics and sociology. Nuffield is one of Oxford's newer co ...

titled 'Theories of Self-Regulation'. In 2001, she was appointed Chief Economist at the

Office of Fair Trading The Office of Fair Trading (OFT) was a non-ministerial government department of the United Kingdom, established by the Fair Trading Act 1973, which enforced both consumer protection and competition law, acting as the United Kingdom's economic ...

and in 2008 took on the additional role of Senior Director of Mergers. She left in April 2013, to become Professor of Competition Policy at the

University of East Anglia The University of East Anglia (UEA) is a public research university in Norwich, England. Established in 1963 on a campus west of the city centre, the university has four faculties and 26 schools of study. The annual income of the institution f ...

. She also sat on the board of the

Financial Conduct Authority The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulation, financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK Government, and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The ...

(2013-2020) and

Payment Systems Regulator The Financial Conduct Authority (FCA) is a financial regulatory body in the United Kingdom, but operates independently of the UK Government, and is financed by charging fees to members of the financial services industry. The FCA regulates financ ...

(2014-2020). She was appointed Non-Executive Director of the

Competition and Markets Authority The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) is the competition regulator in United Kingdom. It is a non-ministerial government department in the United Kingdom, responsible for strengthening business competition and preventing and reducing anti-com ...

on 1 October 2016. Fletcher was appointed

Officer of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(OBE) in the 2014 New Years Honours list for services to competition and consumer economics and

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in the

2020 Birthday Honours The Queen's Birthday Honours for 2020 are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms of Queen Elizabeth II to various orders and honours to reward and highlight good works by citizens of those countries. The Birthday Honours are awarded ...

for services to the economy.

Personal life

Fletcher has two children with her partner Rob Pursey, also a member of Heavenly, Talulah Gosh, Marine Research, Tender Trap and The Catenary Wires. She is the daughter of Jean and Winston Fletcher.

References

External links

http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Article.aspx?id=3956
- Interview, part 1
http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Article.aspx?id=3982
- Interview, part 2
http://www.pennyblackmusic.co.uk/MagSitePages/Article.aspx?id=3999
- Interview, part 3 {{DEFAULTSORT:Fletcher, Amelia 1966 births Living people Academics of the University of East Anglia Alumni of St Edmund Hall, Oxford Alumni of Nuffield College, Oxford Commanders of the Order of the British Empire English women singer-songwriters English economists British women economists English women guitarists English guitarists