Isabella Sophie Tweddle (born 27 May 1999), better known under the stage name Billie Marten, is a British singer-songwriter and musician from

Ripon Ripon () is a cathedral city in the Borough of Harrogate, North Yorkshire, England. The city is located at the confluence of two tributaries of the River Ure, the Laver and Skell. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, the city ...

in North Yorkshire. She first came to prominence at the age of twelve when a video on YouTube of her singing garnered thousands of views. She released her first EP at the age of fifteen in 2014, and her second EP a year later. At the end of 2015, she was nominated for BBC's Sound of 2016 award. She has since released three full-length albums: "Writing of Blues and Yellows," "Feeding Seahorses by Hand," and "Flora Fauna," all of which have fallen upon critical acclaim. Her style can be described as singer-songwriter and folk.

Early life

Isabella (or "Billie") Tweddle was born 27 May 1999 in

North Yorkshire North Yorkshire is the largest ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county (lieutenancy area) in England, covering an area of . Around 40% of the county is covered by National parks of the United Kingdom, national parks, including most of ...

. She began playing guitar and singing when she was seven or eight, and started writing songs soon afterwards. By the age of nine she had her own YouTube channel on which she posted covers of pop songs, mostly for the benefit of her grandparents who live in France. When she was twelve she performed some music sessions for a local YouTube channel called Ont' Sofa. Among the songs she performed was a

cover version In popular music, a cover version, cover song, remake, revival, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording by a musician other than the original performer or composer of the song. Originally, it referred to a version of a song release ...

Lucy Rose Lucy Rose Parton (born 20 June 1989) is an English singer-songwriter and musician who performs as Lucy Rose. Her debut album, '' Like I Used To,'' was released in 2012. Rose released her second album, ''Work It Out'', in 2015 on Columbia Record ...

's "Middle of the Bed", which quickly received thousands of views. In a later interview Marten said "I didn't understand how quickly it could spread. I was super young and it was crazy." She was educated at

Ripon Grammar School Ripon Grammar School is a co-educational, boarding and day, selective grammar school in Ripon, North Yorkshire, England. It has been named top-performing state school in the north for nine years running by ''The Sunday Times''. It is one of the ...

Music career

In May 2014, just before her fifteenth birthday, Billie Marten released the single "Ribbon" via

Burberry Burberry is a British luxury fashion house established in 1856 by Thomas Burberry headquartered in London, England. It currently designs and distributes ready to wear, including trench coats (for which it is most famous), leather accessories, ...

's curation program. She wrote the single with

Fiona Bevan Fiona Mackay Barclay Bevan is an English singer-songwriter from Suffolk, who currently lives in London. She is noted for co-writing the song " Little Things" with Ed Sheeran which became a number-one single in 13 countries for One Direction, an ...

the previous year. According to Marten, one theme of "Ribbon" is "the elusiveness of the city, and how quickly you can lose something amongst the people and tube stations." In June 2014 she released her debut EP ''Ribbon''. In August 2014 Marten played the

BBC Introducing BBC Music ''Introducing'' is BBC Radio's platform supporting unsigned, undiscovered, and under-the-radar UK music talent. It gives artists the opportunity to be played on Local BBC Radio and nationally on BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, 6 ...

stage at the

Reading Festival The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend. The Reading Festiv ...

. She described her music in December 2014 as "a mix between acoustic and quite folky and a little indie." In January 2015 Billie Marten signed to

Chess Club Records Chess is a board game for two players, called White and Black, each controlling an army of chess pieces in their color, with the objective to checkmate the opponent's king. It is sometimes called international chess or Western chess to disti ...

, a division of

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), also known as simply Sony Music, is an American multinational music company. Being owned by the parent conglomerate Sony Group Corporation, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is owned by Sony Entertainment ...

and their

RCA Records RCA Records is an American record label currently owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America. It is one of Sony Music's four flagship labels, alongside RCA's former long-time rival Columbia Records; also A ...

recording label. She released the single "Heavy Weather" in April 2015 which premiered on

Huw Stephens Huw Meredydd Stephens (born 25 May 1981) is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music. Stephens founded the Sŵn music festival with John Rostron and the yearly s ...

BBC Radio 1 BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...

show. A

7" vinyl In music, a single is a type of Art release#Music, release, typically a song Sound recording, recording of fewer tracks than an LP record or an album. One can be released for record sales, sale to the public in a variety of formats. In most ca ...

version of "Heavy Weather" was released in May with her cover version of

Royal Blood A royal descent is a genealogy, genealogical Kinship and descent, line of descent from a past or present monarch. Both geneticists and genealogists have attempted to estimate the percentage of living people with royal descent. From a genetic ...

's " Out of the Black" on the

B-side The A-side and B-side are the two sides of phonograph records and cassettes; these terms have often been printed on the labels of two-sided music recordings. The A-side usually features a recording that its artist, producer, or record compan ...

. She released the single "Bird" in September 2015. She wrote the song with

Olivia Broadfield Olivia Broadfield is an English singer-songwriter. Her songs have frequently been played in TV series and films, such as '' One Tree Hill'', '' The Dead Zone'', ''Wildfire'', ''Ghost Whisperer'', ''The Vampire Diaries'' and '' The Split''. C ...

, and according to Marten, the song is about "how words can truly affect people, not always for the right reasons". She toured for the first time in October 2015 as the

supporting act A opening act, also known as a warm-up act, support act, or supporting act, is an entertainment act (musical, comedic, or otherwise), that performs at a concert before the featured act, or "headliner". Rarely, an opening act may perform again a ...

for

. Marten released her second EP ''As Long As'' in November 2015. In November 2015 she was nominated for the BBC Sound of 2016. She released her first full-length album, "Writing of Blues and Yellows," on 23 September 2016. In 2018 Marten's Blue Sea, Red Sea, which was released as a single for her upcoming album, featured as Annie Mac's hottest record on Radio 1. Her second LP, "Feeding Seahorses by Hand," was released 26 April 2019. In January 2021, Marten announced her third album titled ''Flora Fauna'', which released 21 May 2021. In January 2023, she announced her fourth studio album titled ''Drop Cherries.'' Marten expressed that the title alludes to dropping everything to express your love for a person. The album will be released on April 7, 2023.

Personal life

Marten likes

alpaca The alpaca (''Lama pacos'') is a species of South American camelid mammal. It is similar to, and often confused with, the llama. However, alpacas are often noticeably smaller than llamas. The two animals are closely related and can successfu ...

s and has expressed a wish to buy one. She has said "I have this weird obsession with alpacas, I can't explain it. I think they're beautiful and I love them". When aged 18, Marten was diagnosed with severe

seasonal affective disorder Seasonal affective disorder (SAD) is a mood disorder subset, in which people who have normal mental health throughout most of the year exhibit depressive symptoms at the same time each year. Common symptoms include sleeping too much, having li ...

(SAD), causing some depression and anxiety.

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

Music videos

Awards and nominations

References

External links

Official website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Marten, Billie 1999 births Living people British child singers English women singer-songwriters People from Ripon People educated at Ripon Grammar School 21st-century guitarists 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers 21st-century women guitarists