Beth Ann Rowley is an English singer-songwriter.

Early life

Rowley was born in Peru to British parents who moved back to

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, city, Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Glouces ...

, England when Rowley was two years old.

Career

Early career

She was influenced by her family's love for many different musical styles, particularly

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the ...

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, whi ...

, folk,

gospel Gospel originally meant the Christian message (" the gospel"), but in the 2nd century it came to be used also for the books in which the message was set out. In this sense a gospel can be defined as a loose-knit, episodic narrative of the words a ...

and Latin American music. When aged 16, Rowley formed The Apogee, an original 5 piece

funk Funk is a music genre that originated in African American communities in the mid-1960s when musicians created a rhythmic, danceable new form of music through a mixture of various music genres that were popular among African Americans in the mi ...

soul In many religious and philosophical traditions, there is a belief that a soul is "the immaterial aspect or essence of a human being". Etymology The Modern English noun '' soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The earliest att ...

/ acid jazz group. At age 17, she was spotted at an

open mic An open mic or open mike (shortened from "open microphone") is a live show at a venue such as a coffeehouse, nightclub, comedy club, strip club, or pub, usually taking place at night, in which audience members may perform on stage whether t ...

night in the London entertainment club, Ginglik, in Shepherd's Bush. Rowley studied music and art at Weston-super-Mare College and in 2003, went on to the

Brighton Institute of Modern Music The British and Irish Modern Music Institute, now styled as the BIMM Institute, is a group of eight independent colleges which specialise in the provision of creative education in Brighton, Bristol, London, Dublin, Manchester, Berlin, Birmi ...

with the particular help and encouragement of soulsinger

Carleen Anderson Carleen Cassandra Anderson (born May 10, 1957) is an American singer and musician. She is known for her work with the Young Disciples and numerous collaborations. Her distinguished solo career began in 1992. She is the acclaimed composer, writer ...

. During her time at the school, Rowley toured with

Ronan Keating Ronan Patrick John Keating (born 3 March 1977) is an Irish singer. He debuted in 1993 alongside Keith Duffy, Michael Graham, Shane Lynch, and Stephen Gately, as the co-lead singer (with Gately) of Irish pop group Boyzone. His solo career s ...

and

Enrique Iglesias Enrique Miguel Iglesias Preysler (; (born 8 May 1975) is a Spanish singer and songwriter. He started his recording career in the mid-1990s on the Mexican indie label Fonovisa and became the bestselling Spanish-language act of the decade. By th ...

, providing backing vocals. She attended

St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School St Mary Redcliffe and Temple School (informally referred to as 'St Mary Redcliffe', 'Redcliffe' or 'SMRT') is a Church of England voluntary aided school situated in the district of Redcliffe, Bristol, England. The school was formed by a merger ...

, in Bristol.

2000–present

In 2000, Rowley teamed up with jazz saxophonist

Ben Castle Ben Castle (born 1973) is a British jazz musician, the younger son of television presenter and entertainer Roy Castle (1932–1994) and his wife Fiona (born 1940). He placed first in the Jazz category of the 2003 International Songwriting Com ...

(son of Roy), well known for his work with

Jamie Cullum Jamie Cullum (born 20 August 1979) is an English jazz-pop singer, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He has recorded nine stu ...

. She began writing her own material and with Ben's encouragement and assistance she released three EPs, ''Beth Rowley'' (2004), ''Sweet Hours'' (2006) and ''Violets'' (2007). From the ''Violets'' EP she released a single entitled, 'Nobody's Fault But Mine' which was the

iTunes iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mu ...

'Single of the Week' for December 2007. Rowley has collaborated with other artists and bands, including

Crowded House Crowded House are a rock band, formed in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, in 1985. Its founding members were New Zealander Neil Finn (vocalist, guitarist, primary songwriter) and Australians Paul Hester (drums) and Nick Seymour (bass). Late ...

on their

Time on Earth ''Time on Earth'' is the fifth studio album by the pop-rock band Crowded House. Tracks have been produced by both Ethan Johns and Steve Lillywhite and the album was released on 30 June 2007 in Australia, 2 July in the United Kingdom and 10 July ...

album, providing backing vocals for the song "Transit Lounge", and

Duke Special Duke Special (born Peter Wilson; 4 January 1971) is a songwriter and performer based in Belfast, Northern Ireland. A piano-based songwriter with a romantic style and a warm, distinctly accented voice, he was previously known for his distinctiv ...

, who joined her for a duet on her début album, Little Dreamer. Rowley's album entitled " Little Dreamer" was released in the UK on 19 May 2008, and went straight into the UK album charts at number 6. On 4 February 2008, the lead single, "Oh My Life"(released on 3 March 2008) from the forthcoming album was featured as '

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. ...

Record of the Week'. The second single from the album is called 'So Sublime' and was released on 12 May 2008. Rowley attended The Edge of Love world premiere on 18 June, which marked the opening of the

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

Film Festival. Based on the life of Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, The Edge of Love opened nationwide from 27 June. The soundtrack to the film, for which Rowley recorded the exclusive track, 'Careless Talk'. In 2006, Rowley recorded a song entitled 'Too much too late' written by

based singer/songwriter Steven Reid Williams in a collaboration featured on the album 'Corners'. In the same year she provided the vocals on Nostalgia77's track 'Quiet Dawn' from their album 'Everything Under the Sun'. Rowley recorded a song called "Careless Talk" for the soundtrack to ''

The Edge of Love ''The Edge of Love'' is a 2008 British biographical romantic drama film directed by John Maybury and starring Keira Knightley, Sienna Miller, Cillian Murphy and Matthew Rhys. The script was written by Knightley's mother, Sharman Macdonald. Orig ...

'', a film featuring

Keira Knightley Keira Christina Righton (; née Knightley, born 26 March 1985) is an English actress. Known for her work in both independent films and blockbusters, particularly period dramas, she has received several accolades, including nominations for ...

. On 22 October 2008, Rowley appeared with

Burt Bacharach Burt Freeman Bacharach ( ; born May 12, 1928) is an American composer, songwriter, record producer and pianist who composed hundreds of pop songs from the late 1950s through the 1980s, many in collaboration with lyricist Hal David. A six-time Gr ...

on the BBC Electric Proms series, singing

Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa "Twenty Four Hours from Tulsa" is a song written by Burt Bacharach and Hal David, and was originally a hit in 1963 for Gene Pitney. Production The song's lyrics tell of a traveling man who detours to a romance in a motel and ends up never retur ...

. On 9 January 2009, a short clip of her song "Sweet Hours" was played on UK soap

Hollyoaks ''Hollyoaks'' is a British soap opera which began airing on Channel 4 on 23 October 1995. It was created by Phil Redmond, who had previously conceived the soap opera '' Brookside''. Since 2005, episodes have been aired on sister channel E4 a ...

on E4. On 20 January 2009, Rowley was nominated for a

Brit Award The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

in the category for Best British Female Solo Artist. Rowley featured in the nightclub scene in the 2009 film ''

An Education ''An Education'' is a 2009 coming-of-age drama film based on a memoir of the same name by British journalist Lynn Barber. The film was directed by Lone Scherfig from a screenplay by Nick Hornby. It stars Carey Mulligan as Jenny, a bright school ...

'', directed by Lone Scherfig. Her track, "You Got Me Wrapped Around Your Little Finger", is featured prominently in the official movie soundtrack and the Sony Classics promotional website. On 8 July 2013, Rowley released "Wretched Body", an EP including 4 songs, as the first of a planned 3-piece EP series. Her performance of the song "I Walk Beside You" is used as the theme song for the 2017 BBC series '' Strike''.

Touring

Rowley has supported various artists on tour including David Gray,

Tom Baxter Tom Baxter (born Thomas Baxter Gleave, 29 October 1973) is an English singer-songwriter based in London. He was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, and grew up in Camborne Cornwall with his 4 siblings. The second son of Jeff and Julie Gleave (who were ...

and

. In March 2008, Rowley performed at the Play.com Live event inside

Wembley Stadium Wembley Stadium (branded as Wembley Stadium connected by EE for sponsorship reasons) is a football stadium in Wembley, London. It opened in 2007 on the site of the Wembley Stadium (1923), original Wembley Stadium, which was demolished from 200 ...

, London. On 4 April 2008, Rowley appeared on

's ' Friday Night is Music Night' performing two tracks with the

BBC Concert Orchestra The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale sym ...

at the

Mermaid Theatre The Mermaid Theatre was a theatre encompassing the site of Puddle Dock and Curriers' Alley at Blackfriars in the City of London, and the first built in the City since the time of Shakespeare. It was, importantly, also one of the first new th ...

, London She has also made guest appearances on '

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British Record chart, music chart television programme, made by the BBC and originally broadcast weekly between 1January 1964 and 30 July 2006. The programme was the world's longest-running weekly music show ...

', ' Parkinson', '' This Morning'' and later,

GMTV GMTV (an acronym for Good Morning Television), now legally known as ITV Breakfast Broadcasting Limited, was the name of the national Channel 3 breakfast television contractor/licensee, broadcasting in the United Kingdom from 1 January 1993 ...

and also ''

The Charlotte Church Show ''The Charlotte Church Show'' is a Channel 4 entertainment television show presented by Welsh singer Charlotte Church. It was first broadcast on 1 September 2006 and ran for six subsequent Fridays. The show was commissioned for a further two seri ...

''. Rowley started her first headline tour at London's Bush Hall on 16 April 2008. She also made an appearance at the Christian arts festival, Greenbelt, in 2008, though it was not her first time at the festival. On 25 February 2011, Rowley supported Katie Melua in an

Eva Cassidy Eva Marie Cassidy (February 2, 1963 – November 2, 1996) was an American singer and guitarist known for her interpretations of jazz, folk, and blues music, sung with a powerful, emotive soprano voice. In 1992, she released her first album ...

style duet on a Radio 2 in Concert at the BBC Radio Theatre.

Discography

*2007: '' Violets'' *2008: '' Little Dreamer'' *2013: '' Wretched Body'' *2018: '' Gota Fría''

References

External links

Official websiteOfficial Record Label WebsiteOfficial Australian website
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rowley, Beth 1981 births Living people English women singer-songwriters British contemporary R&B singers English soul singers People from Lima 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers Musicians_from_Bristol