Megan Henwood (born 29 October 1987) is an English singer-songwriter from

Oxfordshire Oxfordshire ( ; abbreviated ''Oxon'') is a ceremonial county in South East England. The county is bordered by Northamptonshire and Warwickshire to the north, Buckinghamshire to the east, Berkshire to the south, and Wiltshire and Glouceste ...

Early life

Born Megan Rosemary Henwood in

Reading, Berkshire Reading ( ) is a town and borough in Berkshire, England, and the county town of Berkshire. It is the United Kingdom's largest town, with a combined population of 355,596. Most of Reading built-up area, its built-up area lies within the Borough ...

, England, Henwood grew up in

Henley-on-Thames Henley-on-Thames ( ) is a town status in the United Kingdom, town and Civil parishes in England, civil parish on the River Thames, in the South Oxfordshire district, in Oxfordshire, England, northeast of Reading, Berkshire, Reading, west of M ...

, Oxfordshire. Her first public performance was at the age of 9 at the Henley Youth Festival. As a teenager she performed both as a solo artist and with her band on the local live circuit. At the age of 18, she travelled around Europe,

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

India India, officially the Republic of India, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by area, seventh-largest country by area; the List of countries by population (United Nations), most populous country since ...

Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...

, and

Nepal Nepal, officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Nepal, is a landlocked country in South Asia. It is mainly situated in the Himalayas, but also includes parts of the Indo-Gangetic Plain. It borders the Tibet Autonomous Region of China Ch ...

– returning to the latter twice to record and perform with some of the country's musicians. She has since supported the London-based Child Action Nepal charity by donating profit from record sales.

Career

Henwood has contributed to

music therapy Music therapy, an allied health profession, "is the clinical and evidence-based use of music interventions to accomplish individualized goals within a therapeutic relationship by a credentialed professional who has completed an approved music t ...

sessions and in 2010 she was awarded a

Sue Ryder Care Sue Ryder is a British palliative and bereavement support charity based in the United Kingdom. Formed as The Sue Ryder Foundation in 1953 by World War II Special Operations Executive volunteer Sue Ryder, the organisation provides care and supp ...

"Woman of Achievement" award as Performer of the Year. In 2009, Henwood – along with her saxophonist brother Joe – won the

BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award The BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Award is an annual competition for young folk musicians in the United Kingdom. It was first awarded in 1988 as the Young Tradition Award, taking its present name in 1998. Recent winners of the award include Maddie Mo ...

. She has performed at events such as the

Cambridge Folk Festival The Cambridge Folk Festival is an annual music festival, established in 1965, held in the grounds of Cherry Hinton Hall in Cherry Hinton, one of the villages subsumed by the city of Cambridge, England. The festival is known for its eclectic mix ...

, and

Fairport's Cropredy Convention Fairport's Cropredy Convention (formerly Cropredy Festival) is an annual festival of folk and rock music, headed by British folk-rock band Fairport Convention and held on the edge of the village of Cropredy in Oxfordshire, England. The festi ...

, and performed at

Glastonbury Festival 2010 The 2010 Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts took place in Pilton, Somerset, England in June 2010. The festival was headlined by Gorillaz, Muse, and Stevie Wonder. U2 were initially announced as headliners, but withdrew on 2 ...

. Her first album, '' Making Waves'', was released on 4 July 2011 on

Dharma Records Dharma Records is a British independent record label. Dharma Records was established in 2002 to run alongside its sister company Instant Karma. Dharma's first release was the top 5 hit single, "Mundian To Bach Ke”, by bhangra artist Panjabi M ...

, ahead of various festival appearances including Larmer Tree,

and

Secret Garden Party The Secret Garden Party, often colloquially shortened to the SGP, is an independent music festival, arts and music festival held in Abbots Ripton, England. The location is on part of the grounds of a Georgian farmhouse and has its own lakes, river ...

. The album features musicians such as Peter Knight, Andy Crowdy, Joe Brown, Sam Brown, Mollie Marriott,

Barriemore Barlow Barrie "Barriemore" Barlow (born 10 September 1949, Birmingham) is an English musician, best known as the drummer and percussionist for the rock band Jethro Tull, from May 1971 to June 1980. Christened Barrie, 'Barriemore' was an affectation ...

and

Nick Fyffe Nick Fyffe (born 14 October 1972) is an English bassist, known for being an ex-bassist of English funk group Jamiroquai. He replaced Stuart Zender in 1998 for the recording of "Deeper Underground" (Jamiroquai's only UK number-one single) and th ...

. Her second album "Head Heart Hand" was released in July 2015. The album was produced by Tom Excell and featured Pete Thomas, Matthew Holborn, Matthew Forbes, Rich Milner,

Jackie Oates Jackie Oates is an English folk singer and fiddle player. Life Jackie Oates was born in Congleton in Cheshire in 1983. At the age of 18, she moved to Devon to study English literature at Exeter University and was based in Devon until 2011, ...

, Tom Sibley, Sam Wilkinson, Tom Michell and Steve Jones. Singles from the album were featured on various

BBC Radio 2 BBC Radio 2 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It is the List of most-listened-to radio programs, most popular station in the United Kingdom with over 14 million weekly listeners. Since launching in 1967, the sta ...

shows and Henwood performed a live session on The Folk Show with Mark Radcliffe. The video for Love/Loathe, the first single from the album, was premiered on

The Telegraph ''The Telegraph'', ''Daily Telegraph'', ''Sunday Telegraph'' and other variant names are often names for newspapers. Newspapers with these titles include: Australia * The Telegraph (Adelaide), ''The Telegraph'' (Adelaide), a newspaper in Adelaid ...

in May 2015. Henwood's third album, "River" was released in the Autumn of 2017. Working again with producer Tom Excell, she experimented with a more electronic sound, contrasting from her last two acoustic releases. The album was praised by ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' who described it as 'a worldly, mature work'. She has written with/for a number of artists including Brother Strut and has been commissioned as a songwriter for

Arts Council England Arts Council England is an arm's length non-departmental public body of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, Department for Culture, Media and Sport. It is also a registered charity. It was formed in 1994 when the Arts Council o ...

and

Shakespeare Birthplace Trust The Shakespeare Birthplace Trust (SBT) is an independent registered educational charity based in Stratford-upon-Avon, Warwickshire, England, that came into existence in 1847 following the purchase of William Shakespeare's birthplace for preser ...

Discography

Albums

* ''Making Waves'' (2011) * ''Head Heart Hand'' (2015) * ''River'' (2017)

EPs

* ''Wings'' (2016) – with

* ''Unplugged EP'' (2017) * ''The Story Song Scientists EP'' (2019) – with

Findlay Napier Findlay Napier (born November 1978) is a Scottish singer-songwriter and music teacher. He was a member of Scottish folk group Back of the Moon and runs music writing courses. Biography Napier was born in Glasgow, Scotland, in November 1978 an ...

Featured artist

* "Blind Eye" (Track 4) on the album ''First Strut Is The Deepest'' (2013) by Brother Strut

References

External links

* 1987 births Living people English women singer-songwriters English singer-songwriters 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers People from Henley-on-Thames {{UK-musician-stub Musicians from Reading, Berkshire