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, 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 i ...

, 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,

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, whil ...

, 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/

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 '':wikt:soul, soul'' is derived from Old English ''sāwol, sāwel''. The ea ...

/ 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, Birmingh ...

with the particular help and encouragement of soulsinger Carleen Anderson. 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, in Bristol.

2000–present

In 2000, Rowley teamed up with jazz saxophonist Ben Castle (son of Roy), well known for his work with Jamie Cullum. 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 '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). Later ...

on their Time on Earth album, providing backing vocals for the song "Transit Lounge", and Duke Special, 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'', a film featuring Keira Knightley . 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 return ...

. 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 da ...

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 sponsore ...

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 Drama is the specific Mode (literature), mode of fiction Mimesis, represented in performance: a Play (theatre), play, opera, mime, ballet, etc., performed in a theatre, or on Radio drama, radi ...

'', 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 and Duke Special. 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 at the Mermaid Theatre, London She has also made guest appearances on '

Top of the Pops ''Top of the Pops'' (''TOTP'') is a British 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. For most o ...

', ' Parkinson', ''

This Morning This Morning may refer to: * ''This Morning'' (TV programme), a British daytime television programme * ''This Morning'' (radio program), a Canadian radio show which aired from 1997 to 2002 * '' CBS This Morning'', an American morning show, succe ...

'' 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''. 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 Ketevan Katie Melua (; ka, ქეთევან "ქეთი" მელუა, ; born 16 September 1984) is a Georgian and British singer and songwriter. She was born in Kutaisi and raised in Belfast and London. Under the management of com ...

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 albu ...

style duet on a

Radio 2 in Concert Radio is the technology of signaling and communicating using radio waves. Radio waves are electromagnetic waves of frequency between 30 hertz (Hz) and 300 gigahertz (GHz). They are generated by an electronic device called a tra ...

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