Beth Gibbons (born 4 January 1965) is an English singer and songwriter. She is the singer and lyricist for the band Portishead, who have released three albums. She released an album with fellow English musician Rustin Man, '' Out of Season'', in 2002, and a recording of contemporary Polish composer Górecki's Symphony No. 3 in 2019 with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra. In 2024, she released her first solo album without collaboration, '' Lives Outgrown''. The album received critical acclaim and was nominated for the 2024

Mercury Prize The Mercury Prize, formerly called the Mercury Music Prize, is an annual Music award, music prize awarded for the best album released by a musical act from the Music of the United Kingdom, United Kingdom or Music of Ireland, Ireland. It was cre ...

Early life

Gibbons was born in

Exeter Exeter ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and the county town of Devon in South West England. It is situated on the River Exe, approximately northeast of Plymouth and southwest of Bristol. In Roman Britain, Exeter w ...

Devon Devon ( ; historically also known as Devonshire , ) is a ceremonial county in South West England. It is bordered by the Bristol Channel to the north, Somerset and Dorset to the east, the English Channel to the south, and Cornwall to the west ...

, England and raised on a farm with three sisters. Her parents divorced when she was young."Solo album bio"
Biography previously published on a Finnish site (archived), Retrieved 15 August 2014. She attended St Katherine's School in Pill, Somerset. At 22, she moved to

Bath Bath may refer to: * Bathing, immersion in a fluid ** Bathtub, a large open container for water, in which a person may wash their body ** Public bathing, a public place where people bathe * Thermae, ancient Roman public bathing facilities Plac ...

. To pursue her singing career, she then moved to

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

, where she met

Geoff Barrow Geoffrey Paul Barrow (born 9 December 1971) is an English music producer, composer, and DJ. He is a member of the bands Portishead, Beak, and Quakers, and he has scored several films. Portishead was formed in 1991. He named the band after the ...

, her future collaborator in Portishead, on an Enterprise Allowance course in 1991.

Career

With

Adrian Utley Adrian Francis Utley (born 27 April 1957) is an English musician, record producer, and a member of the band Portishead.Jurek, ThomAdrian Utley Biography, Allmusic. Retrieved 31 December 2016 Career Born in Northampton,Mejia, Paula (2015)In Sea ...

, Gibbons and Barrow released the first Portishead album '' Dummy'' in 1994 and have produced two other studio albums, a live album, and various singles since. She has also collaborated on a separate project with former

Talk Talk Talk Talk were an English band formed in 1981 by Mark Hollis (vocals, guitar, piano), Lee Harris (drums), Paul Webb (bass), and Simon Brenner (keyboards). Initially a synth-pop group, Talk Talk's first two albums, '' The Party's Over'' (198 ...

bassist Paul Webb (Rustin Man). Before she joined Geoff Barrow in Portishead, she had auditioned for the singer's slot in .O.rang, the group formed by Webb and Harris after Talk Talk's late-Eighties departure from EMI, but Portishead's sudden success pre-empted matters. In October 2002, they released the album '' Out of Season'' in the United Kingdom under the name Beth Gibbons and Rustin Man. The album peaked at number 28 in the

UK Albums Chart The Official Albums Chart is the United Kingdom's industry-recognised national record chart for album, albums. Entries are ranked by sales and audio streaming. It was published for the first time on 22 July 1956 and is compiled every week by the O ...

. It was released in the United States a year later: while touring in North America, '' Variety'' favourably described her performance with Rustin as "

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday made significant contributions to jazz music and pop ...

fronting

Siouxsie and the Banshees Siouxsie and the Banshees ( ) were a British Rock music, rock band formed in London in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bass guitarist Steven Severin. Post-punk pioneers, they were widely influential, both over their contemporaries and later ...

". Gibbons was also a judge for the 10th annual Independent Music Awards to support independent artists' careers. In June 2013, Gibbons announced plans for a new solo album with Domino Records. She contributed vocals to a cover of the song "

Black Sabbath Black Sabbath are an English rock band formed in Birmingham in 1968 by guitarist Tony Iommi, drummer Bill Ward (musician), Bill Ward, bassist Geezer Butler, and vocalist Ozzy Osbourne. After adopting the Black Sabbath name in 1969 (the band ...

" with the British metal band Gonga, released on 24 April 2014. In 2018, Gibbons contributed vocal performances, along with

Elizabeth Fraser Elizabeth Davidson Fraser (born 29 August 1963) is a Scottish singer. She was the vocalist for the band Cocteau Twins, who achieved success in the UK from the mid-1980s to the late 1990s. Their studio albums '' Victorialand'' (1986) and '' H ...

of the

Cocteau Twins Cocteau Twins were a Scottish rock music, rock band active from 1979 to 1997. They were formed in Grangemouth on the Firth of Forth by Robin Guthrie (guitars, drum machine) and Will Heggie (bass), adding Elizabeth Fraser (vocals) in 1981. In 19 ...

, to the Spill Festival held in Ipswich in an audio installation entitled 'Clarion Calls', which uses the voices of 100 women to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of

World War I World War I or the First World War (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918), also known as the Great War, was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War I, Allies (or Entente) and the Central Powers. Fighting to ...

. In 2014, Gibbons performed Symphony No. 3 by

Henryk Górecki Henryk Mikołaj Górecki ( , ; 6 December 1933 – 12 November 2010) was a Polish composer of contemporary classical music. According to critic Alex Ross, no recent classical composer has had as much commercial success as Górecki. He became a l ...

with the Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra, conducted by

Krzysztof Penderecki Krzysztof Eugeniusz Penderecki (; 23 November 1933 – 29 March 2020) was a Polish composer and conductor. His best-known works include '' Threnody to the Victims of Hiroshima'', Symphony No. 3, his '' St Luke Passion'', '' Polish Requiem'', '' ...

. Gibbons sang in Polish. The performance was released in 2019; reviewing the album for ''

Pitchfork A pitchfork or hay fork is an agricultural tool used to pitch loose material, such as hay, straw, manure, or leaves. It has a long handle and usually two to five thin tines designed to efficiently move such materials. The term is also applie ...

'', Jayson Greene wrote: "Part of the tension comes from hearing her untrained voice scale these rocky heights. Her vibrato, tight and trilling and barely controlled, sounds an awful lot like someone fighting off a panic attack. This would get her dismissed from a traditional opera audition, probably, but it is magnificently effective at sending raw shudders through what can be a pretty well-worn work." In 2022, Gibbons featured on the track "Mother I Sober" from

Kendrick Lamar Kendrick Lamar Duckworth (born June 17, 1987) is an American rapper, singer, songwriter and record producer. Regarded as one of the greatest rappers of all time, he was awarded the 2018 Pulitzer Prize for Music, becoming the first music ...

's album '' Mr. Morale & the Big Steppers''. For her collaboration in the album she received a nomination for Album of the Year at the

65th Annual Grammy Awards The 65th Annual Grammy Awards ceremony was held at the Crypto.com Arena in Los Angeles on February 5, 2023. It recognized the best recordings, compositions, and artists of the eligibility year – October 1, 2021 to September 30, 2022 – as de ...

as a featured artist and songwriter. On 7 February 2024, Gibbons announced the release of her first solo studio album in over 20 years. The album, titled '' Lives Outgrown'', was released 17 May 2024. It was announced alongside a single titled "Floating on a Moment", with its second single "Reaching Out" being released later that year on 10 April.

Style and inspiration

She has cited

Edith Piaf Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English word , meaning ''wealth'' or ''prosperity'', in combination with the Old English , meaning '' strife'', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian lang ...

Nina Simone Nina Simone ( ; born Eunice Kathleen Waymon; February 21, 1933 – April 21, 2003) was an American singer, pianist, songwriter, and civil rights activist. Her music spanned styles including classical, folk, gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, and po ...

Bono Paul David Hewson (born 10 May 1960), known by the nickname Bono ( ), is an Irish singer-songwriter and activist. He is a founding member, the lead vocalist, and primary lyricist of the rock band U2. Bono is known for his impassioned voca ...

of U2 for his performance on ''

The Joshua Tree ''The Joshua Tree'' is the fifth studio album by the Irish rock music, rock band U2. It was produced by Daniel Lanois and Brian Eno, and was released on 9 March 1987 by Island Records. In contrast to the ambient music, ambient experimentati ...

'',

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is regarded as one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

and

Jimmy Cliff James Chambers, Jamaican Order of Merit, OM (born 30 July 1944), known professionally as Jimmy Cliff, is a Jamaican ska, rocksteady, reggae and soul musician, multi-instrumentalist, singer, and actor. He is the only living reggae musician to hol ...

as inspirations. She has covered

Janis Joplin Janis Lyn Joplin (January 19, 1943 – October 4, 1970) was an American singer and songwriter. One of the most iconic and successful Rock music, rock performers of her era, she was noted for her powerful mezzo-soprano vocals and her "electric" ...

songs and enjoys the music of

Janis Ian Janis Ian (born Janis Eddy Fink; April 7, 1951) is an American singer-songwriter who was most commercially successful in the 1960s and 1970s. Her signature songs are the 1966/67 hit "Society's Child, Society's Child (Baby I've Been Thinking)" an ...

Discography

Solo

*'' Out of Season'' (2002) with Rustin Man *'' Henryk Górecki: Symphony No. 3 (Symphony of Sorrowful Songs)'' (2019) with Polish National Radio Symphony Orchestra *'' Lives Outgrown'' (2024)

Portishead

*'' Dummy'' (1994) *'' Portishead'' (1997) *''

Roseland NYC Live ''Roseland NYC Live'' is a live album by English electronic music band Portishead. It was released on 2 November 1998 by Go! Beat. A PAL format VHS video was released the same year, with a DVD version following four years later. Although the Ne ...

'' (1998) *''

Third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * 1⁄60 of a ''second'', i.e., the third in a series of fractional parts in a sexagesimal number system Places * 3rd Street (di ...

'' (2008)

Other works

*"Orang" on .O.rang's album ''Herd of Instinct'' (1994) *"Jalap" on .O.rang's album ''Fields and Waves'' (1996) *"Lonely Carousel" on

Rodrigo Leão Rodrigo Costa Leão Muñoz Miguez (born 15 October 1964), known professionally as Rodrigo Leão, is a Portuguese musician and songwriter. He became known in the 1980s as a member of the Portuguese groups Sétima Legião and Madredeus. In the 199 ...

's album ''Cinema'' (2004) *"Strange Melody" on

Jane Birkin Jane Mallory Birkin ( ; 14 December 1946 – 16 July 2023) was a British and French actress, singer, and designer. She had a prolific career as an actress, mostly in French cinema. A native of London, Birkin began her career as an actress, ...

's album ''Rendez-Vous'' (2004) *"Killing Time" on

Joss Stone Joscelyn Eve Stoker (born 11 April 1987), known professionally as Joss Stone, is an English singer, songwriter and actress. She rose to prominence in late 2003 with her multi-platinum debut album, ''The Soul Sessions'', which made the 2004 Merc ...

's '' Mind Body & Soul'' (2004) *"Love Is a Stranger" on Fried's album ''Fried'' (2004) *"Mysteries" with Rustin Man from " The Russian Dolls" soundtrack (2005) *Soundtrack for

Diane Bertrand Diane Bertrand (born 20 November 1951) is a French film director and screenwriter. Her film ''A Saturday on Earth, Un samedi sur la terre'' was screened in the Un Certain Regard section at the 1996 Cannes Film Festival. Selected filmography * '' ...

's film " L'Annulaire" (unreleased, 2005) *"My Secret" on

's album ''Fictions'' (2006) *"Requiem for Anna" on ''

Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited ''Monsieur Gainsbourg Revisited'' is a tribute album to the works of late French singer/songwriter Serge Gainsbourg. First released on Virgin Records in 2006, it consists of English language cover versions of Gainsbourg songs, performed by a dive ...

'' - performed as Portishead (2006) *"

Sing Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

" with

Annie Lennox Ann Lennox (born 25 December 1954) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician Dave Stewart w ...

from '' Songs of Mass Destruction'' (2007) *Soundtrack for

's film '' Baby Blues (2008)'' *Soundtrack for

Julie Taymor Julie Taymor (born December 15, 1952) is an American director and writer of theater, opera, and film. Her stage adaptation of ''The Lion King (musical), The Lion King'' debuted in 1997 and received eleven Tony Awards, Tony Award nominations, with ...

's film "

The Tempest ''The Tempest'' is a Shakespeare's plays, play by William Shakespeare, probably written in 1610–1611, and thought to be one of the last plays that he wrote alone. After the first scene, which takes place on a ship at sea during a tempest, th ...

" - "Prospera's Coda" by

Elliot Goldenthal Elliot Goldenthal (born May 2, 1954) is an American composer of contemporary classical music and film and theatrical scores. A student of Aaron Copland and John Corigliano, he is best known for his distinctive style and ability to blend variou ...

(2010) *"GMO" on JJ Doom's '' Key to the Kuffs'' (2012) *"Black Sabbath" with Gonga (2014) *'' Mandela Effect'' with Gonjasufi (2017) *"Mother I Sober" with

(2022)

References

External links

Beth Gibbons website
*
Portishead band website
*
Beth Gibbons: NPR Tiny Desk Concert
of May 12, 2025 {{DEFAULTSORT:Gibbons, Beth 1965 births Living people 20th-century English women singers 21st-century English women singers British women singers British trip hop musicians English folk singers English women in electronic music English women singer-songwriters Go! Beat artists English contraltos Musicians from Bristol Musicians from Exeter Portishead (band) members English women rock singers British women pop singers Culture in Bristol British music history 1990s in British music Domino Recording Company artists