Annabel Charlotte Fay (born 23 October 1987) is a pop recording artist from

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

; and the daughter of merchant banker

Sir Michael Fay Sir Humphrey Michael Gerard Fay (born 10 April 1949) is a New Zealand merchant banker and partner in the merchant bank Fay Richwhite. He is one of the ten richest men in New Zealand. His personal wealth was largely acquired during the late 1980s ...

. She first appeared on the New Zealand music scene in late 2006 as a nineteen-year-old with her debut single, " Lovin' You Baby". The single peaked at No. 9 and spent 8 weeks on the New Zealand Top 40 Singles Chart.

Life and career

1987–2006: ''Early Life''

Annabel Charlotte Fay was born 23 October 1987 in

, New Zealand. She was sent to school in

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

and then

Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...

by her father, multimillionaire

, whose wealth is estimated at NZ$660 million. Having loved music from an early age, Fay planned to study vocal performance and audio engineering at

Columbia College Chicago Columbia College Chicago is a Private college, private art college in Chicago, Illinois. Founded in 1890, it has 5,928https://about.colum.edu/effectiveness/pdf/spring-2021-student-profile.pdf students pursuing degrees in more than 60 undergra ...

. All that changed when a music promoter heard her sing while performing at a Christmas party in New Zealand. He convinced her to record a demo of cover songs, which was then heard by Tracy Magan of

Siren Records Siren Records was an independent music label based in Auckland, New Zealand formed in 2000. Goldenhorse Riverhead took the record for longest climb in the album charts to the #1 position of just under 2 years, finally reaching triple platinum ...

. After signing to

, Fay recorded her debut album in New Zealand and put her plans to attend college on indefinite hold.

2007–08: ''Annabel Fay''

Fay's debut single, " Lovin' You Baby", was released to the New Zealand market in late 2006. It peaked at No. 9 and spent 8 weeks on the New Zealand Top 40 Singles chart. Her second single, "

Shake It Off "Shake It Off" is a song by American singer-songwriter Taylor Swift, taken from her fifth studio album, ''1989''. Swift wrote the lyrics and composed the melody with producers Max Martin and Shellback. An uptempo dance-pop song featuring a saxop ...

", was released in August to coincide with the release of her third single, " Strong". Fay's self-titled debut album, ''

Annabel Fay Annabel Charlotte Fay (born 23 October 1987) is a pop recording artist from Auckland, New Zealand; and the daughter of merchant banker Sir Michael Fay. She first appeared on the New Zealand music scene in late 2006 as a nineteen-year-old with he ...

'', was subsequently released through

on 21 August 2007. It was recorded with producer

Brady Blade Brady L Blade Jr. (born 1965 in Shreveport, Louisiana) is an American rock, pop and country drummer, record producer and composer, who currently resides in Stockholm, Sweden. He is the son of Dorothy and Pastor Brady Blade Sr. (Pastor of the ...

, formerly

Emmylou Harris Emmylou Harris (born April 2, 1947) is an American singer, songwriter and musician. She has released dozens of albums and singles over the course of her career and has won 14 Grammys, the Polar Music Prize, and numerous other honors, including ...

's drummer, who also produced

Brooke Fraser Brooke Gabrielle Ligertwood (née Fraser; born 15 December 1983) better known by her maiden name Brooke Fraser, is a New Zealand singer and songwriter best known for her hit single " Something in the Water", released in 2010. Fraser released two ...

's debut album. ''Annabel Fay'' debuted on the Official New Zealand Top 40 Albums Chart on 27 August 2007 and peaked at No. 30. The album signed to

and distributed through

EMI Records EMI Records (formerly EMI Records Ltd.) is a multinational record label owned by Universal Music Group. It originally founded as a British flagship label by the music company of the same name in 1972, and launched in January 1973 as the succ ...

and earned her a Vodafone NZ Music Award nomination for Best Female Artist in 2008.

2011–present: ''Show Me the Right Way'' and inactivity

Her second album, ''

Show Me the Right Way ''Show Me the Right Way'' is the second studio album by New Zealand recording artist Annabel Fay. The album was released on April 11, 2011 through Siren Records. Chart performance ''Show Me the Right Way'' entered the New Zealand Top 40 Albums ...

'', was released by

EMI EMI Group Limited (originally an initialism for Electric and Musical Industries, also referred to as EMI Records Ltd. or simply EMI) was a British transnational conglomerate founded in March 1931 in London. At the time of its break-up in 201 ...

on 11 April 2011. The album was not as successful as her debut, selling only 1,300 copies in the first month despite the lead single, "

River A river is a natural flowing watercourse, usually freshwater, flowing towards an ocean, sea, lake or another river. In some cases, a river flows into the ground and becomes dry at the end of its course without reaching another body of wate ...

", peaking at No. 10 on the New Zealand Top 40 Singles Chart. The album peaked on the Official New Zealand Top 40 Albums Chart at No. 8 and stayed on the chart for five weeks. The album and

music videos A music video is a video of variable duration, that integrates a music song or a music album with imagery that is produced for promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device ...

were partly funded by

New Zealand On Air NZ On Air (NZOA; mi, Irirangi te Motu), formally the Broadcasting Commission, is an autonomous Crown entity and commission of the New Zealand Government responsible for funding support for broadcasting and creative works. The commission oper ...

, a fact that was criticised in the New Zealand press. "Hold On" and "Warrior" were singles preceding Fay's third album ''Brave the Rain'' which was announced for 2012, and then early 2013, but was not ultimately released after their underperformance. In 2015, Fay announced she was studying for a psychology degree at

Santa Monica College Santa Monica College (SMC) is a Public university, public, community college in Santa Monica, California. Founded as a Junior college#United States, junior college in 1929, SMC enrolls over 30,000 students in more than 90 fields of study. Althoug ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

and keeping music in her life by joining the college choir.

Discography

Albums

Singles

Personal life

After working on her third album and promoting the singles Hold On and Warrior in New Zealand, Fay moved from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles in the fall of 2014, and commenced study at a chef training school.

References

External links

*
All Music profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fay, Annabel 1987 births Living people New Zealand women pop singers People from Auckland 21st-century New Zealand women singers