Joan Armatrading

(UK)
blues, soul & pop with jazz-influence

One of Britain’s most respected singer/songwriters, whose music has bridged the gap between thoughtful pop and intimate soul since the early 70’s. With last year’s Into The Blues, her

19th album, she digs deep into the root of all pop music. The record was number one on Billboard’s blues chart. A position no other British woman has ever reached.

Born on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts, Joan moved to Birmingham, UK at seven. Her first instrument was piano, but changing to guitar she started to write songs at 14. She wrote the songs for her debut

album Whatever’s For Us with her friend Pam Nestor. The breakthrough came in the mid-70’s with all original songs. Many of them, like Love & Affection, Down To Zero, Show Some Emotion and

Drop The Pilot, became big hits.

She has used top producers (Glyn Johns, Steve Lillywhite, etc) and players from the best bands, like Little Feat, Fairport Convention, XTC and The Police, to do full justice to the nuances of her

intricate songs. On her last two albums, Armatrading has produced and arranged everything herself and plays all the instruments, except the horns and drums.

An active participant in several humanitarian benefit organizations, Joan has been granted an MBE by the Queen and played at Nelson Mandela’s 70th birthday party. She has a Doctorate in Music from

the University of Birmingham and was the first pop artist to play the main room at Ronnie Scott’s jazz club.