Joanne Shaw Taylor (born 1985, England) is an English singer and guitarist. She was discovered by Dave Stewart of

Eurythmics Eurythmics were a British New wave music, new wave duo formed in 1980, consisting of Scottish vocalist Annie Lennox and English musician and producer Dave Stewart (Eurythmics), Dave Stewart. They were both previously in the Tourists, a band t ...

at the age of 16. Taylor's albums via

Ruf Records Ruf Records is a German independent record label, which was founded in 1994 by Luther Allison’s manager, Thomas Ruf, to promote Allison's career. The motto of the blues label is "Where Blues Crosses Over". The company's office is located in L ...

, ''

White Sugar White sugar, also called table sugar, granulated sugar, or regular sugar, is a commonly used type of sugar, made either of beet sugar or cane sugar, which has undergone a refining process. It is nearly pure sucrose. Description The refini ...

'' (2009) and '' Diamonds in the Dirt'' (2010), peaked at No. 8 in the US on the ''Billboard'' Top Blues Albums chart. Her No. 1 album, ''The Blues Album'' (2021), was released via

Joe Bonamassa Joseph Leonard Bonamassa ( ; born May 8, 1977) is an American blues rock guitarist, singer and songwriter. He started his career at age twelve, when he opened for B.B. King. Since 2000, Bonamassa has released fifteen solo albums through his inde ...

's Keeping the Blues Alive Records. In 2010, Taylor won Best Female Vocalist at the British Blues Awards. She won the same award at the 2011 British Blues Awards, and the Songwriter of the Year award for "Same as It Never Was", from ''Diamonds in the Dirt''.

Early life

Taylor was born in

Wednesbury, West Midlands Wednesbury ( ) is a market town in the Sandwell district, in the county of the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England; it was historically in Staffordshire. It is located near the source of the River Tame, West Midlands, River Tame and ...

, England. She grew up in

Solihull Solihull ( ) is a market town and the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Solihull, in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands, England. Solihull is situated on the River Blythe in the Arden, Warwickshire, Forest of Arden ar ...

and was inspired in her early teens to play the blues after hearing

Stevie Ray Vaughan Stephen Ray Vaughan (also known as SRV; October 3, 1954 – August 27, 1990) was an American musician, best known as the guitarist and frontman of the blues rock trio Stevie Ray Vaughan and Double Trouble (band), Double Trouble. Although his ma ...

Albert Collins Albert Gene Collins (October 1, 1932 – November 24, 1993)Skeely, Richard. "Albert Collins: Biography" Allmusic.com. was an American electric blues guitarist and singer with a distinctive guitar style. He was noted for his powerful playing ...

and

Jimi Hendrix James Marshall "Jimi" Hendrix (born Johnny Allen Hendrix; November 27, 1942September 18, 1970) was an American singer-songwriter and musician. He is widely regarded as one of the greatest and most influential guitarists of all time. Inducted ...

. Dave Stewart heard Taylor play and invited her to join his supergroup, D.U.P., on tour in Europe during 2002.

Music career

In May 2009, Taylor released her debut

album An album is a collection of audio recordings (e.g., music) issued on a medium such as compact disc (CD), Phonograph record, vinyl (record), audio tape (like 8-track cartridge, 8-track or Cassette tape, cassette), or digital distribution, dig ...

, ''

'', via

. Taylor's second album was 2010's '' Diamonds in the Dirt'', also on Ruf Records. Both albums peaked at No. 8 in the US, on the ''Billboard'' Top Blues Albums

chart A chart (sometimes known as a graph) is a graphics, graphical representation for data visualization, in which "the data is represented by symbols, such as bars in a bar chart, lines in a line chart, or slices in a pie chart". A chart can repres ...

. In 2010, she won Best Female Vocalist at the British Blues Awards. She won the same award at the 2011 British Blues Awards, and the Songwriter of the Year award for "Same as It Never Was", from ''Diamonds in the Dirt''. On 4 June 2012, Taylor played lead guitar in

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 ...

's band at the

Diamond Jubilee Concert The Diamond Jubilee Concert was a British music concert and celebration held outside Buckingham Palace on The Mall in London on 4 June 2012. The concert was organised by Take That singer-songwriter Gary Barlow and was part of Queen Elizabeth ...

in London. Taylor played an extended solo during the performance in front of

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

, attended by approximately 12,000 people (not counting the many thousands lining The Mall). Just before her solo spot, Taylor's

Fuzz Face The Fuzz Face is an effects pedal for electric guitar, used also by some electric bass players. It is designed to produce a distorted sound referred to as "fuzz", originally achieved through accident such as broken electrical components or damag ...

pedal malfunctioned, leaving a much cleaner guitar sound than usual. However, this apparent misfortune was ameliorated when she was informed that

Stevie Wonder Stevland Hardaway Morris (; Judkins; born May 13, 1950), known professionally as Stevie Wonder, is an American and Ghanaian singer-songwriter, musician, and record producer. He is regarded as one of the most influential musicians of the 20th c ...

had loved her "clean, bluesy, understated tone". Taylor's fourth studio album, ''The Dirty Truth'', was recorded in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

(with producer Jim Gaines). It was released on 22 September 2014. Taylor's fifth studio album, ''Wild'', was released on 30 September 2016. It was recorded in Nashville's

Grand Victor Sound RCA Studio A is a music recording studio in Nashville, Tennessee, built and founded in 1965 by Chet Atkins, Owen Bradley and Harold Bradley as an addition to the RCA Victor Studio the company established seven years prior. Together these two stu ...

Studios, with

Kevin Shirley Kevin Shirley, also known as The Caveman, is a South African music producer, engineer, audio mixer, and musician. He has produced music for many artists, including Silverchair, Iron Maiden, Led Zeppelin, The Hoodoo Gurus, The Angels, and C ...

as the producer. The album became her first Top 20 entry 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 ...

. In 2018, Taylor signed her first major label contract with

Sony Music Sony Music Entertainment (SME), commonly known as Sony Music, is an American multinational music company owned by Japanese conglomerate Sony Group Corporation. It is the recording division of Sony Music Group, with the other half being the ...

on their imprint, Silvertone Records. She supported Foreigner at

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands (county), West Midlands, within the wider West Midlands (region), West Midlands region, in England. It is the Lis ...

's Symphony Hall on 15 May 2018, and at the

Royal Albert Hall The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall on the northern edge of South Kensington, London, England. It has a seating capacity of 5,272. Since the hall's opening by Queen Victoria in 1871, the world's leading artists from many performance genres ...

on 16 May. Following her own headline tour in 2017, Taylor completed a four-week tour around the United States, and returned to the UK in late 2018 to play intimate venues around the country. Taylor's sixth album, ''Reckless Heart'', was released on 15 March 2019 in the UK and Europe. It was later released on 17 May in the US. In 2021, Taylor released the charting single "If That Ain't a Reason", from the No. 1 ''The Blues Album'' via Keeping the Blues Alive Records. Produced by

, Taylor released ''Blues from the Heart: Live'' in 2022. Her single and

music video A music video is a video that integrates a song or an album with imagery that is produced for promotion (marketing), promotional or musical artistic purposes. Modern music videos are primarily made and used as a music marketing device intended to ...

for "Can't You See What You're Doing to Me" features

Kenny Wayne Shepherd Kenny Wayne Shepherd (born Kenneth Wayne Brobst; June 12, 1977) is an American guitarist. He has released several studio albums and experienced significant commercial success as a blues rock artist. Early life Shepherd was born in Shrevepo ...

Equipment

Guitars

Taylor primarily uses

Fender Telecaster The Fender Telecaster, colloquially known as the Tele (), is an electric guitar produced by Fender (company), Fender. Together with its sister model the Fender Esquire, Esquire, it was the world's first mass-produced, commercially successfulLes ...

electric guitars, although she also uses a

Gibson Les Paul The Gibson Les Paul is a solid body electric guitar that was first sold by the Gibson Guitar Corporation in 1952. The guitar was designed by factory manager John Huis and his team with input from and endorsement by guitarist Les Paul. Its typic ...

. She has also said she likes Stratocasters for rhythm guitar work. She acquired her main Telecaster, nicknamed 'Junior', at the age of 15. It is a modified 1966 Esquire model purchased secondhand in

Denmark Street Denmark Street is a street on the edge of London's West End running from Charing Cross Road to St Giles High Street. It is near St Giles in the Fields Church and Tottenham Court Road station. The street was developed in the late 17th centu ...

, London, which has had a Fender Jazz humbucker neck pickup added (in addition to the factory bridge pickup). Additionally, she uses a Fender

signature model Telecaster, which was a gift from

. Taylor uses

Ernie Ball Ernie Ball (born Roland Sherwood Ball; August 30, 1930 – September 9, 2004) was an American entrepreneur and musician who developed guitar-related products. Ball began as a club and local television musician and entrepreneur, building an inter ...

Slinky top/heavy bottom strings, and usually tunes the guitar to E♭.

Amps

Taylor uses a Bletchley Belchfire 45 with a Marshall cabinet for a heavier sound, and a 1970s Fender Pro Reverb for a cleaner sound.

Pedals

Taylor mainly uses one or two Ibanez Tube Screamer pedals, along with a Holy Grail reverb. On some tracks, she also uses a Vibe Machine for a vibrato effect.

Discography

Studio albums * ''

'' (2009) * '' Diamonds in the Dirt'' (2010) * '' Almost Always Never'' (2012) * '' The Dirty Truth'' (2014) * ''Wild'' (2016) * ''Reckless Heart'' (2019) * ''The Blues Album'' (2021) * ''Nobody's Fool'' (2022) * ''Heavy Soul'' (2024)

References

External links

Official Joanne Shaw Taylor websiteOfficial Joanne Shaw Taylor YouTube Channel
{{DEFAULTSORT:Taylor, Joanne Shaw 1985 births People from Wednesbury English blues rock musicians English blues guitarists English rock guitarists English women guitarists Living people Musicians from Birmingham, West Midlands Ruf Records artists 21st-century English guitarists 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers 21st-century British women guitarists