Hannah Berney, known as Violet Skies, is a singer-songwriter from

Chepstow Chepstow ( cy, Cas-gwent) is a town and community in Monmouthshire, Wales, adjoining the border with Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the tidal River Wye, about above its confluence with the River Severn, and adjoining the western ...

Monmouthshire Monmouthshire ( cy, Sir Fynwy) is a county in the south-east of Wales. The name derives from the historic county of the same name; the modern county covers the eastern three-fifths of the historic county. The largest town is Abergavenny, with ...

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

Musical career

In 2013, Violet Skies released her first song, "How the Mighty". ''WalesOnline'' called it "a pulsing, classically arranged electro slow-burner of a song that merges Massive Attack with a haunting piano and the singer's equally stark and soulful vocals", and it included the song on its list of the 51 greatest Welsh pop records of 2013. In June 2014 she released her debut solo EP, ''Dragons'', and played at the

Glastonbury Festival Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...

on 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. That same summer, she played a headline London show and later opened for

A Great Big World A Great Big World is an American musical duo from New York made up of singer/songwriters Ian Axel and Chad King and signed to Epic Records. The group is best known for their single "This Is the New Year", which was performed by the cast in an epis ...

Bush Hall Bush Hall is located at 310 Uxbridge Road, Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. Originally a dance hall, it is now an independent music venue with a capacity of 400. Bush Hall was built in 1904. It was used as a soup kitchen during World W ...

Shepherd's Bush Shepherd's Bush is a district of West London, England, within the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham west of Charing Cross, and identified as a major metropolitan centre in the London Plan. Although primarily residential in character, i ...

. In January 2015 she released a new song, "Liar". Violet also released an album and EP with

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

-based producer Stumbleine through Monotreme Records in early 2014. In June 2019, Skies released the EP ''I'll Buy a House'', which contains four of her singles. A few months later, she released the acoustic version of her EP. She has also co-written the song " God Is a Dancer" for the British singer

Mabel Mabel is an English female given name derived from the Latin ''amabilis'', "lovable, dear".Reclams Namensbuch, 1987, History Amabilis of Riom (died 475) was a French male saint who logically would have assumed the name Amabilis upon entering th ...

and the Dutch DJ

Tiësto Tijs Michiel Verwest (; born 17 January 1969), known professionally as Tiësto ( ), is a Dutch DJ and music producer from Breda. He was voted "the Greatest DJ of All Time" by '' Mix'' magazine in a 2010/2011 poll amongst fans. In 2013, he was ...

. "God Is a Dancer" spent eight weeks in the United Kingdom Top 40, peaking at number 15. On 3 April 2020 Skies released an EP, ''Lonely'', containing five songs: "Lonely", "Nothing at Night", "Half My Life", "Born On Valentine's Day" and "This Could Be Love".

Personal life

Born Hannah Berney in

, she was a student at

Wyedean School Wyedean School and Sixth Form Centre is a secondary school with academy status in Sedbury, Gloucestershire, England, just across the border from Chepstow, Wales. Wyedean School was rated 'Good' by OfSTED in Jan 2018. The school is close to the ...

Sedbury Sedbury is a village in the Forest of Dean district of west Gloucestershire, England. It is located on the eastern bank of the River Wye, facing the town of Chepstow in Monmouthshire . The village is in the parish of Tidenham. It had a populatio ...

, where she wrote songs with friends during lunch breaks.Thomas, Nicholas (23 November 2019).
Chepstow singer-songwriter Violet Skies talks about her amazing year and rise to success
. ''South Wales Argus''. After graduating, Violet attended

Exeter University , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...

, where she studied French and history. While at Exeter, she was a contestant on

The Voice UK ''The Voice UK'' is a British singing competition television series. Created by John de Mol, it premiered on BBC One during the spring television cycle on 24 March 2012. Based on the original ''The Voice of Holland'', and part of ''The Voice ...

in 2012. She and Charlie McClean founded sheWrites, a series of woman-only camps for songwriters, producers, and artists, that convene in different places around the world, in order to encourage women to make connections, make songs, and make an impact in the music industry. When asked about her musical pseudonym, Violet Skies, she said her great-grandmother's name was Violet, and Skies was her mother's idea.Davies, Tara (August 14, 2020).
Interview: Meet Violet Skies
. ''Vibez Music''.

Discography

* ''Dragons'' (EP) (2014) * ''Chasing Honeybees'' (EP) (Monotreme Records, 2014) (as Stumbleine featuring Violet Skies) * ''I'll Buy a House'' (EP) (2019) * ''I'll Buy a House (Acoustic)'' (EP) (2019) * ''Lonely'' (EP) (2020)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Violet Skies Living people People from Chepstow Alumni of the University of Exeter 21st-century Welsh women singers Welsh pop singers Year of birth missing (living people)