Lettie is a British London-based singer, songwriter, and multi-instrumentalist.
Biography
Lettie grew up in
Suffolk
Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...
, England.
She is a former
Medieval History
In the history of Europe, the Middle Ages or medieval period lasted approximately from the late 5th to the late 15th centuries, similar to the post-classical period of global history. It began with the fall of the Western Roman Empire a ...
student and avid collector of postcards and ephemera. She has, as a result of her love of films, been recording videos for most of her songs since 2008. They often depict things that are fleeting and past such as the last day of
Streatham Ice Arena on 17 December 2011, or an installation by Tomás Saraceno the Hayward Psycho Buildings exhibition (2008) or a day in her life.
Lettie met producer/writer
David Baron in 2006 and has made three records with him, ''Age of Solo'' and ''Everyman'' (2008) and ''Good Fortune, Bad Weather'' (May 2012). The records were primarily recorded and produced at Baron's home studio in
Boiceville, New York Boiceville is a hamlet in the town of Olive, Ulster County, New York, United States. Located at the intersection of New York State Route 28 and New York State Route 28A, Boiceville is within Catskill State Park.
Boiceville was named for Lemuel Boi ...
. All three records have been independently released.
In October 2009, Lettie performed a session at the BBC's
Maida Vale Studios
Maida Vale Studios is a complex of seven BBC sound studios, of which five are in regular use, in Delaware Road, Maida Vale, west London.
It has been used to record thousands of classical music, popular music and drama sessions for BBC Radio 1, ...
as part of 2009's
Electric Proms.
She performed "Atmosphere", "My Name Is", "Red" and "Hang On",
with Mike Mason on
Alesis Ion
The Alesis Ion is an analog modeling synthesizer. It was presented to the public on the Summer NAMM of 2002. Unlike the Alesis Andromeda, Alesis's analog synthesizer, its sounds are synthesized using DSP chips to mimic the sound of analog audi ...
and guitar. During the same month, Lettie embarked on her first European tour, supporting ex-
Bauhaus
The Staatliches Bauhaus (), commonly known as the Bauhaus (), was a German art school operational from 1919 to 1933 that combined crafts and the fine arts.Oxford Dictionary of Art and Artists (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 4th edn., 200 ...
frontman
Peter Murphy. Lettie appears as a singer and co-writer on "Counting Waves" on
Sarah Fimm
Sarah Fimm is an American singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, residing in Woodstock, NY.
Biography
Fimm was born in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Her grandmother is a Holocaust survivor. She toured and collaborated with singer Peter Murphy (musici ...
's ''White Birds EP''.
She has supported Squeeze’s
Chris Difford
Christopher Henry Difford (born 4 November 1954) is an English singer, musician, songwriter and record producer. He is a founding member and songwriter of the rock group Squeeze.
Musical career
Born in Greenwich, London, Difford has written l ...
and
Roger O'Donnell
Roger O'Donnell (born 29 October 1955) is an English keyboardist best known for his work with The Cure. O'Donnell has also performed in The Psychedelic Furs, Thompson Twins and Berlin, as well as having an active solo career.
Background
O'Do ...
and played the ‘Introducing Stages’ at Glastonbury and Jimmy’s Farm in 2010.
In between albums she has written with
Anthony Phillips
Anthony Edwin Phillips (born 23 December 1951) is an English musician, songwriter, producer and singer who gained prominence as the original lead guitarist of the rock band Genesis, from 1967 to 1970. He left in July 1970 and learned to play m ...
(
Genesis
Genesis may refer to:
Bible
* Book of Genesis, the first book of the biblical scriptures of both Judaism and Christianity, describing the creation of the Earth and of mankind
* Genesis creation narrative, the first several chapters of the Book of ...
) and sung vocals for Universal Music Group and her voice has appeared on a number of commercials in the US and Europe.
Lettie's new album produced and written with
David Baron, ''Good Fortune, Bad Weather'', makes use of Baron's collection of unusual instruments such as moogs, synths, and arps. The album features the musicianship of
Danny Blume
Danny Blume is an American music producer, musician, and composer. He is a Grammy Award winner and multiple Grammy nominee. He operates a studio and lives in Woodstock, New York. Before becoming a music producer, he played as a guitarist and bass ...
,
Zachary Alford
Zachary "Zack" Alford is a professional drummer, known for his work with the B-52's, Bruce Springsteen, David Bowie and Tomoyasu Hotei. Alford was brought in by Danny Kortchmar to drum on Billy Joel's ''River of Dreams'' album.
Alford contrib ...
on drums and
Sara Lee
Sara may refer to:
Arts, media and entertainment Film and television
* Sara (1992 film), ''Sara'' (1992 film), 1992 Iranian film by Dariush Merhjui
* Sara (1997 film), ''Sara'' (1997 film), 1997 Polish film starring Bogusław Linda
* Sara (2010 ...
,
D James Goodwin on guitars, Jeremy Bernstein, and
David Baron on synthesizers and everything else. The album garnered favourable many reviews across the board including four stars from the ''
Irish Times
''The Irish Times'' is an Irish daily broadsheet newspaper and online digital publication. It launched on 29 March 1859. The editor is Ruadhán Mac Cormaic. It is published every day except Sundays. ''The Irish Times'' is considered a newspaper ...
''.
Musical style
Lettie's music combines vintage analogue
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
and alternate-acoustic
folk
Folk or Folks may refer to:
Sociology
*Nation
*People
* Folklore
** Folk art
** Folk dance
** Folk hero
** Folk music
*** Folk metal
*** Folk punk
*** Folk rock
** Folk religion
* Folk taxonomy
Arts, entertainment, and media
* Folk Plus or Fol ...
. Lettie's albums feature Arp and Moog
modular synthesizer
Modular synthesizers are synthesizers composed of separate modules for different functions. The modules can be connected together by the user to create a patch. The outputs from the modules may include audio signals, analog control voltages, o ...
.
Lettie's live performances have taken her all over Europe as support act for Peter Murphy in 2009 and the UK in 2010. She plays keyboards, electric guitar and harmonica. She uses effects pedals, two microphones and a loop pedal to make the performance live and varied. Lettie presently plays with Richard Moore on electric violin.
Radio and television appearances
Lettie has been featured on
BBC Radio 6 Music
BBC Radio 6 Music is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC, specialising primarily in alternative music. BBC 6 Music was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years. It is available onl ...
Introducing with
Tom Robinson
Thomas Giles Robinson (born 1 June 1950) is a British singer, bassist, radio presenter and long-time LGBT rights activist, best known for the hits "Glad to Be Gay", "2-4-6-8 Motorway", and "Don't Take No for an Answer", with his Tom Robinson ...
and has licensed tracks to
H&M London, and various stateside television series, such as ''
Privileged'' (the CW),
Exes and Ohs
''Exes & Ohs'' is an American and Canadian cable TV series that was launched on Logo on October 8, 2007, and Showcase in Canada. The show centres on the dating life of Jennifer (Michelle Paradise), a lesbian documentary filmmaker with a vivid fa ...
(Logo) and
Beyond the Break, which was shown on
The N
The N (standing for Noggin) was a nighttime programming block on the Noggin television channel, aimed at preteens and teenagers. It was launched on April 1, 2002, by Viacom and Sesame Workshop. Before the block's introduction, Noggin's daytim ...
. Her song 'Everyman' was chosen for an advert for CTT Consigo "Zero Emissions" campaign, one of the first Carbon free shot commercial (the Portuguese postal service by Ameba) and her vocals appear on an advert for Mayflower's "Big Move" 2010 (Siblings Music) in USA which was nominated for an award at the Cannes Lions International Advertising Festival.
In 2009,
Dermot O'Leary
Seán Dermot Fintan O'Leary Jr. (born 24 May 1973) is an English broadcaster who currently works for ITV and BBC Radio 2. His radio career began when he worked as a disc jockey at Essex Radio, but he is best known for being the presenter of ''T ...
picked Lettie for the Electric Proms, and played her track "Hang On" on
BBC Radio 2
BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 15 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the station broadcasts a wide range of content. ...
.
Lettie was one of the three featured artists in Rachel Davies' documentary ''Hello Glastonbury!'', which first aired in the UK on
BBC Four
BBC Four is a British free-to-air public broadcast television channel owned and operated by the BBC. It was launched on 2 March 2002 on 31 August 2010.
Her song "Lucky" was featured in the film ''
Exit Strategy
An exit strategy is a means of leaving one's current situation, either after a predetermined objective has been achieved, or as a strategy to mitigate failure. An organisation or individual without an exit strategy may be in a quagmire. At wors ...
'' and ''Digital'' for ASOS
Catwalk August 2012. ''Mister Lighter'' from her new album is being played in various retail outlets.
Several songs from the album have been played on RTÉ 10, Absolute Radio, BBC Suffolk, Amazing Radio and Radio 2. Lettie released the single "Mister Lighter" in August 2012.
In 2014, she released a three track EP called ''Crossroads'' with
Dave Barbarossa
David Barbarossa (born 1961, also known as Dave Barbe) is a drummer and an author of British and Mauritian descent. As part of both Adam and the Ants and Bow Wow Wow, he was instrumental in creating the highly influential and innovative tribal d ...
.
In October 2016, she appeared on a track from
John Cooper Clarke
John Cooper Clarke (born 25 January 1949) is an English performance poet, who first became famous as a "punk poet" in the late 1970s. In the late 1970s and early 1980s, he released several albums. Around this time, he performed on stage with sev ...
, and
Hugh Cornwell
Hugh Alan Cornwell (born 28 August 1949) is an English musician, singer-songwriter and writer, best known for being the lead vocalist and lead guitarist for the punk rock and new wave band the Stranglers from 1974 to 1990. Since leaving the ...
produced, album ''This Time It's Personal'', on the song originally performed by
John Leyton
John Dudley Leyton (born 17 February 1936) is an English actor and singer. As a singer he is best known for his hit song " Johnny Remember Me" (written by Geoff Goddard and produced by Joe Meek), which reached number one in the UK Singles Cha ...
, "
Johnny Remember Me
"Johnny Remember Me" is a song which became a 1961 UK Singles Chart #1 hit single for John Leyton, backed by The Outlaws. It was producer Joe Meek's first #1 production. Recounting the haunting – real or imagined – of a young man by his dead ...
".
Discography
*''Good Fortune, Bad Weather''
Produced by
David Baron
1. Swirl 3.07
2. Lucky 2.47
3. Bitter 2.32
4. Never Want To Be Alone 3.28
5. Sanctuary 5.12
6. Digital 2.45
7. Pandora 2.50
8. Fitter 2.57
9. Mister Lighter 2.48
10. Aluminium Man 2.59
11. Good Fortune, Bad Weather 3.30
12. Come Back 3.21
13. Crash and Burn 2.40
14. On and On 2.52
*''Age of Solo''
Produced by David Baron
1. Hero 4:20
2. My Name Is 3:51
3. Future Retro 3:40
4. Atmosphere 3:34
5. Eternity 3:31
6. Mission 3:31
7. Future 3:18
8. Cold 4:42
9. All You Want 3:41
10. Criminal 4:17
11. What You Get 2:44
12. Goodbye 4:04
*''Everyman''
Produced by David Baron
1. Everyman 3:38
2. Shadow 3:06
3. Turnaround 3:00
4. Hang On 3:50
5. Red 3:12
6. High 3:54
7. Cheese 1:29
8. Holes 3:56
9. Believe In 4:15
10. Weird Old World 4:44
11. Nothing 2:28
References
External links
Lettie's WebsiteMSN Review May 2012Notion 2012Rhythm and Booze March 2012Somojo Magazine May 2012Popped Culture March 2012BBC Introducing – Glastonbury 2010 – featured artistsBBC – Glastonbury 2010 – artists – LettieBBC Press Office – BBC Introducing – Glastonbury 2010 press release Electric Proms Featuring Lettie BBC*
ttp://leonardslair.wordpress.com/2008/09/22/review-lettie-age-of-solo/ Weblog of Leonard's Lair Review of Lettie's "Age of Solo"br>
Wears the Trouser's Magazine Review of Lettie's "Age of Solo"Chicken Ramen's Review of Lettie's "Age of SoloAllmusic Guide Artists Pick Their Top 10 of 2008Lettie's Myspace Site
{{Authority control
Year of birth missing (living people)
Place of birth missing (living people)
Musicians from Suffolk
British folk singers
British folk guitarists
Electronica musicians
British songwriters
British multi-instrumentalists
British keyboardists