Mared Williams, known professionally as Mared, is a Welsh singer-songwriter from

Llannefydd Llannefydd (sometimes ) is a village and community (Wales), community in Conwy County Borough, in Wales. It is located on the border with Denbighshire, between the Afon Aled and River Elwy, north west of Denbigh, south west of St Asaph, sout ...

, north

Wales Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

. She won the 2021 Welsh Language Album Award and has won two

Y Selar Awards The Y Selar Awards () are awarded annually for the best Welsh language rock and pop music, by the Welsh language music magazine, ''Y Selar''. The awards ceremony is the only one specifically for Welsh language music. Background The awards were fir ...

Life

Although she considered studying law, Mared studied music at the University of Leeds until 2018 and then a master's in musical theatre performance at the Royal Academy Of Music. She had ensemble and understudy Eponine roles in ''Les Misérables'' in the West End in 2019. Mared joined the ''Welsh of the West End group'' during the covid pandemic that has performed in concerts including 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 ...

. In a Britain's Got Talent performance with the group, Mared's vocals impressed the judges, with

Simon Cowell Simon Phillip Cowell (; born 7 October 1959) is an English television personality and businessman. He has judged on the British television talent competition shows ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003), ''The X Factor (British TV series), The X Factor UK ...

saying that the group's performance was "exceptional". In 2018, Mared won the Llangollen International Musical Eisteddfod’s ''International Voice of Musical Theatre.'' She then travelled to Australia to perform in the Gold Coast Eisteddfod's Musicale. In the same year, she came second in the "Can i Gymru" "song for Wales") competition, coming second with the song "Byw a Bod" ("living and being"). In 2020, Mared appeared in the "Dwylo Dros y Môr" ("hands across the sea") song which reached 15 on the iTunes chart. In 2021, Mared had re-joine the cast of

Les Misérables (musical) ''Les Misérables'' ( , ), colloquially known as ''Les Mis'' or ''Les Miz'' ( ), is a sung-through musical theatre, musical with music by Claude-Michel Schönberg, lyrics by Alain Boublil and Jean-Marc Natel, and a book by Schönberg and Boublil ...

in London's west end. Mared won the 2021 Albwm Cymraeg y Flwyddyn ("Welsh Language Album Awards") for the album, Y Drefn ("The Order"), with

I KA CHING I, or i, is the ninth letter and the third vowel letter of the Latin alphabet, used in the modern English alphabet, the alphabets of other western European languages and others worldwide. Its name in English is ''i'' (pronounced ), plur ...

Records label, announced live on

BBC Radio Cymru BBC Radio Cymru is a Welsh language radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It broadcasts across Wales on FM, DAB, digital TV and BBC Sounds. The station broadcasts general factual and entertainment pro ...

. The album is bilingual and includes live sessions with the

BBC National Orchestra of Wales The BBC National Orchestra of Wales (BBC NOW) () is a Welsh symphony orchestra and one of the BBC's five professional radio orchestras. The BBC NOW is the only professional symphony orchestra organisation in Wales, occupying a dual role as both ...

. In response to her winning the award, Mared said “My heart is full! Thank you so much for making my year a thousand times better." “This album means the world to me and getting this response has been so special.” In 2021, Mared won Y Selar's Award for Seren y Sîn ("star of the scene") award. In the same year Mared performed in the Online covid version

National Eisteddfod of Wales The National Eisteddfod of Wales ( Welsh: ') is the largest of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales. Its eight days of competitions and performances are considered the largest music and poetry festival in Europe. Competito ...

, "Eisteddfod AmGen". She also appeared in an

S4C S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...

episode of "Curadur". In 2021, she also appeared in the launch of the online

Urdd National Eisteddfod The Urdd National Eisteddfod ( or ) is an annual Welsh-language youth festival of literature, music and performing arts organised by Urdd Gobaith Cymru. It is the youth counterpart to the National Eisteddfod of Wales. Arguably Europe's largest yo ...

, Esteddfod T. In the same year she appeared on

Scott Quinnell Scott Quinnell (born 20 August 1972) is a Welsh former rugby union and rugby league player who played in the 1990s and 2000s. He was a Number eight (rugby union), number eight for Wales, Llanelli RFC, Scarlets, Llanelli Scarlets, Richmond F.C., ...

BBC Radio Wales BBC Radio Wales is a Wales, Welsh national radio station owned and operated by BBC Cymru Wales, a division of the BBC. It began broadcasting on 13 November 1978, replacing the Welsh opt-out service of BBC Radio 4. As of August 2022, the stat ...

Sunday programme to discuss her debut album. '“So I'm really proud that we can share the Welsh language and be able to create a different partnership here in New York.” In February 2023, Mared was announced as Y Selar's best solo artist of the year.

Personal life

As of 2022 Williams was dividing her time between Llannefydd and London.

Discography

Singles

Albums and EP

Theatre

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Mared Living people Welsh-language singers 21st-century Welsh women singers Welsh women singer-songwriters Welsh singer-songwriters Welsh-speaking musicians Year of birth missing (living people)