Zoë Bestel is a Scottish singer-songwriter, who describes her music as Nu-Folk. She started learning the

Ukulele The ukulele ( ; ); also called a uke (informally), is a member of the lute (ancient guitar) family of instruments. The ukulele is of Portuguese origin and was popularized in Hawaii. The tone and volume of the instrument vary with size and con ...

in 2011 and released her first EP in 2012. Bestel has released two albums, been nominated for the

Scottish Alternative Music Awards The Scottish Alternative Music Awards (SAMAs) is an annual music award based in Glasgow, Scotland. The SAMAs present awards in seven categories to the best emerging artists in Scotland. History The SAMAs were founded in 2009 by music entrep ...

under the Best Acoustic category and supported artists such as

Nathan Connolly Nathan Connolly (born 20 January 1981) is a Northern Irish musician, who is best known as the lead guitarist and backing vocalist for alternative rock band Snow Patrol. Early life Connolly, who was born in Belfast, sang for a gospel church c ...

Snow Patrol Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland, consisting of Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals), and Johnny McDaid (piano, guitar, keyboards, backi ...

, Emily Smith, The Paul McKenna Band, The Peatbog Faeries,

Erin Rae Erin Rae (formerly a part of Erin Rae & the Meanwhiles) is an American folk pop musician from Nashville, Tennessee. According to Rolling Stone, Erin Rae "makes smooth-edged music for Sunday afternoons" and "her arrangements — anchored by ped ...

, Chris Wood,

Paul Brady Paul Joseph Brady (born 19 May 1947) is an Irish singer-songwriter and musician from Strabane, Northern Ireland. His work straddles folk and pop. He was interested in a wide variety of music from an early age. Initially popular for playing ...

Steve Tilston Steve Tilston (born 26 March 1950) is an English folk singer-songwriter and guitarist. Early life Steve Tilston was born in Liverpool and brought up in Leicestershire. A graphic designer before taking up music in 1971, Tilston lived in Bristol ...

and

Bella Hardy Bella Hardy (born 24 May 1984) is an English contemporary folk musician, singer and songwriter from Edale, Derbyshire, England, who performs a combination of traditional and self-penned material. She was named Folk Singer of the Year at the 2014 ...

Early life

Zoë Bestel was born in

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

, England in 1997 and aged 8 moved with her family to

Wigtown Wigtown ( (both used locally); ) is a town and former royal burgh in Wigtownshire, of which it is the county town, within the Dumfries and Galloway region in Scotland. It lies east of Stranraer and south of Newton Stewart. It is known as "Scotl ...

, Scotland. Prior to taking up music professionally she won awards for the

piano A piano is a keyboard instrument that produces sound when its keys are depressed, activating an Action (music), action mechanism where hammers strike String (music), strings. Modern pianos have a row of 88 black and white keys, tuned to a c ...

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oboe The oboe ( ) is a type of double-reed woodwind instrument. Oboes are usually made of wood, but may also be made of synthetic materials, such as plastic, resin, or hybrid composites. The most common type of oboe, the soprano oboe pitched in C, ...

and singing at the Galloway Music Festival. In 2011, aged 13, she started teaching herself the Ukulele.

Career

Early years (2012-2017)

Bestel's first EP ’35 Missed Calls’ was released by

Distilled Records Distillation, also classical distillation, is the process of separating the component substances of a liquid mixture of two or more chemically discrete substances; the separation process is realized by way of the selective boiling of the mixt ...

in 2012, reaching No.3 on the Amazon Folk Chart. In the same year she was named as Dumfries and Galloway Life Magazine's Performer of the year and supported the Peatbog Faeries. In 2013 she was awarded the chance to appear on the Danny Kyle Open Stage at

Celtic Connections The Celtic Connections festival started in 1994 in Glasgow, Scotland, and has since been held every January. Featuring over 300 concerts, ceilidhs, talks, free events, late night sessions and workshops, the festival focuses on the roots of trad ...

. In 2014 Bestel released the album 'Sir Lucas & The Moon', featuring entirely original songs and produced by Huey Dowling. Bestel self-released the album, designing her own artwork. The album was chosen as the Daily Record's album of the week. Reviews praised the expressiveness and passion of her singing and ukulele playing. In September of the same year Bestel took part in a three-date tour as part of the 'Hit the Road' project run by The Scottish Music Centre. She played in

Dumfries Dumfries ( ; ; from ) is a market town and former royal burgh in Dumfries and Galloway, Scotland, near the mouth of the River Nith on the Solway Firth, from the Anglo-Scottish border. Dumfries is the county town of the Counties of Scotland, ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

and Fort William alongside

Lewis Capaldi Lewis Marc Capaldi (born 7 October 1996) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and musician. In March 2019, his single "Someone You Loved" (2018) topped the UK Singles Chart where it remained for seven weeks, and in November 2019, it reached number ...

and Jacob and Rory Green. The project offered the young musicians the chance to go on a small tour, headlining one gig while supporting the other artists at two other dates. In April 2015 Bestel attended an event called 'A&R You Brave Enough', organised by Wide Days, a music industry convention. At the event she was the only artist to receive praise from all the industry guests. In June of that year she attended a

Prince's Trust The King's Trust (formerly the Prince's Trust) is a United Kingdom-based charity founded in 1976 by King Charles III (then Prince of Wales) to help vulnerable young people get their lives on track. It supports 11-to-30-year-olds who are unempl ...

reception at

Holyrood Palace The Palace of Holyroodhouse ( or ), commonly known as Holyrood Palace, is the official residence of the British monarch in Scotland. Located at the bottom of the Royal Mile in Edinburgh, at the opposite end to Edinburgh Castle, Holyrood has s ...

and performed a song for

Prince Charles Charles III (Charles Philip Arthur George; born 14 November 1948) is King of the United Kingdom and the 14 other Commonwealth realms. Charles was born at Buckingham Palace during the reign of his maternal grandfather, King George VI, and ...

. Bestel received £1,000 from the trust to aid in becoming a professional musician. Bestel contributed a song to the charity album ''Songs for the Sea Vol. 1'', released on 4 May 2017. As of February 2020 the album had raised over $3,650 for

Chesapeake Bay Foundation The Chesapeake Bay Foundation (CBF) is a non-profit organization devoted to the restoration and protection of the Chesapeake Bay in the United States. It was founded in 1967 and has headquarters offices in Annapolis, Maryland. The foundation has ...

, Coral Reef Alliance, Orange County Coastkeeper and One Percent for the Planet.

''Transcience'' (2018-present)

The not-for-profit record label Last Night From Glasgow announced in late 2017 that in 2018 they would be releasing Zoe Bestel's next album 'Transience'. The album was recorded in

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

, produced by

Tobias Elof Tobias is the transliteration of the , which is a Graecisation of the Hebrew biblical name . With the biblical Book of Tobit being present in the Deuterocanonical books and Biblical apocrypha, Tobias is a popular male given name for both Christi ...

. The Herald newspaper included three tracks from the album in their 'Top 100 Tunes from Scotland in 2018', with the Track 'Eye for an Eye' being placed at number six, describing her singing style as a 'soothing, soaring voice'. Reviews of the album were positive, praising "graceful and soothing vocals" and the "beauty and fragility" of the songs. Following the release of Transience, Bestel was nominated for the 2018 Best Acoustic award at the

. A piece of Bestel's music was used for an advert for the

Samsung Samsung Group (; stylised as SΛMSUNG) is a South Korean Multinational corporation, multinational manufacturing Conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered in the Samsung Town office complex in Seoul. The group consists of numerous a ...

Frame television in 2019, under a

Synchronization license A music synchronization license, or "sync" for short, is a music license granted by the holder of the copyright of a particular composition, allowing the licensee to synchronize ("sync") their music with various forms of media output (film, telev ...

. Bestel contributed a synth cover of Medicine Men's ''Show What You're Made Of'' to Last Night from Glasgow's ''Isolation Sessions'' 2020 fundraising album. The track was placed at number six in The Herald's 'Top 100 Tunes from Scotland in 2020' list. In 2020 Bestel announced that she would be recording new music.

References

External links

www.zoebestel.co.uk

www.youtube.com/user/ZoeBestel

www.facebook.com/zoebestel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bestel, Zoë 1997 births Living people Scottish women singer-songwriters Scottish singer-songwriters People from Wigtown 21st-century Scottish women singers Singers from Liverpool