Ana da Silva is a musician, best known as a founding member of post-punk rock band

the Raincoats The Raincoats are a British experimental post-punk band. Ana da Silva (vocals, guitar) and Gina Birch (vocals, bass) formed the group in 1977 while they were students at Hornsey College of Art in London. Signed to the label Rough Trade, the ...

Career

Born in Madeira island of Portugal, she grew up without television and little access to popular culture. She had exposure to music through radio, and as a child was deeply moved by rock and roll from the Beatles and the Rolling Stones. She went to university in Lisbon studying Filologia Germânica 1968/74. Da Silva relocated to London in December 1974, and while studying at

Hornsey College of Art Hornsey College of Art (a.k.a. Hornsey School of Art) was a college in Crouch End in the London Borough of Haringey, England. The HCA was "an iconic British art institution, renowned for its experimental and progressive approach to art and design ...

, she formed the Raincoats with

Gina Birch Gina Birch is an English musician and filmmaker, best known as a founding member of post-punk rock band, the Raincoats. Born in Nottingham, Birch attended Nottingham High School for Girls, and later the Hornsey School of Art, where she form ...

in 1977.Young, Rob (2006) ''Rough Trade'', Black Dog Publishing Ltd., , p. 91 She worked at the

Rough Trade shop Rough Trade is a group of independent record shops in the United Kingdom and the United States with headquarters in London. The first Rough Trade shop was opened in 1976 by Geoff Travis in the Ladbroke Grove district of West London. Travis ...

in the

Ladbroke Grove Ladbroke Grove () is an area and a road in West London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea, passing through Kensal Green and Notting Hill, running north–south between Harrow Road and Holland Park Avenue. It is also a name given ...

during her time in the band. In 1984, she provided backing vocals on

the Go-Betweens The Go-Betweens were an Australian indie rock band formed in Brisbane, Queensland, in 1977. The band was co-founded and led by singer-songwriters and guitarists Robert Forster and Grant McLennan, who were its only constant members throughout ...

' " Bachelor Kisses". After releasing three albums, the Raincoats split up in 1984, da Silva going on to collaborate with drummer Charles Hayward of

This Heat This Heat were an English experimental rock band, formed in early 1976 in Camberwell, London by multi-instrumentalists Charles Bullen (guitar, clarinet, viola, vocals, tapes), Charles Hayward (drums, keyboards, vocals, tapes) and Gareth Wil ...

(one of many drummers that had passed through the Raincoats' ranks) as the duo Roseland, although they abandoned the project after recording some demos.Phares, Heather
Ana da Silva Biography
,

Allmusic AllMusic (previously known as All Music Guide and AMG) is an American online music database. It catalogs more than three million album entries and 30 million tracks, as well as information on musicians and bands. Initiated in 1991, the databa ...

. Retrieved 18 March 2017 She went on to write music for choreographer Gaby Agis's productions, subsequently concentrated on painting. While working in a cousin's antique shop in London, she met longtime Raincoats fan Kurt Cobain, prompting him to convince DGC to reissue the band's back catalogue. The Raincoats reformed and released a new album in 1996, but da Silva did not then produce any new music until the 2005 album '' The Lighthouse''. Ana da Silva performed live in London, Munich, Portugal and at the Ladyfestspain in Madrid.

Discography

Albums

*2005 - '' The Lighthouse''The Lighthouse: Ana da Silva
Amazon.co.uk *2018 - Island (with Phew)

Singles

*2004 - "In Awe of a Painting" / "Litany"In Awe of a Painting (7" Vinyl)
Amazon.co.uk

Books

*2018 - ''Love, Oh Love'' ( Rough Trade Books)

References

External links

The official Raincoats site

The official Ana da Silva site
{{DEFAULTSORT:Silva, Ana da Year of birth missing (living people) Living people People from Madeira Women punk rock singers 20th-century Portuguese women singers 21st-century Portuguese women singers English women guitarists English guitarists British post-punk musicians The Raincoats members University of Lisbon alumni Portuguese expatriates in the United Kingdom