Joan Armatrading
Encyclopedia
Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, MBE
(born 9 December 1950) is a British singer, songwriter and guitarist. Armatrading is a three-time Grammy Award
-nominee and has been nominated twice for BRIT Awards
as Best Female Artist. She also received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996.
In a recording career spanning almost 40 years she has released a total of 17 studio albums, as well as several live albums and compilations.
, on the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts, in 1950, as the third of six children. Her mother was born in Antigua
and her father was from Saint Kitts.When she was three, her parents moved with their two eldest boys to Birmingham
, England, and she lived with her grandmother on Antigua. She joined her parents in a largely white district of Birmingham in early 1958, at the age of seven. Her father had played in a band in his youth, later forbidding his children from touching his guitar. Armatrading began writing lyrics and music at the age of 14 on a piano that her mother had purchased as "a piece of furniture".Shortly thereafter her mother bought her a £3 guitar from a pawn shop in exchange for two prams, and the younger Armatrading began teaching herself the instrument.
She left school at the age of 15 to support her family, and her first job was at Rabone Chesterman, an engineering tool manufacturer in Hockley, Birmingham
. She was released from this job because she brought her guitar to work and played it during tea breaks.
Armatrading first performed in a concert at Birmingham University for her brother at the age of about 16. She only knew her own songs, but her brother asked her to perform something that would be familiar to the audience; she chose "The Sound of Silence
". She then performed her own songs around the local area with a friend from school, and played bass and rhythm guitar
at local clubs. In 1968, Armatrading joined a repertory production of the stage musical Hair
. There she met the lyricist Pam Nestor
in 1970, and they worked together on Armatrading's debut album Whatever's for Us
, released by Cube Records
in 1972. Nestor wrote the lyrics to eleven of the fourteen songs on the album, while Armatrading wrote the lyrics to three of them, performed all the vocals, wrote all the music and played an array of instruments on the album. Although Nestor was credited as co-lyricist, Cube considered Armatrading to be the more likely star material. These events produced a tension which broke up the partnership. In 1973 Armatrading's first single "Lonely Lady"(with lyrics by Nestor), a song that had not been included on the album, was released by Cube on the Fly Label (catalogue: Bug 31). It was unsuccessful in the charts. A period of inactivity for Armatrading followed, while she extricated herself from her contract with Cube Records. The single was subsequently withdrawn by Cube and re-released as a promotional single in the US by Armatrading's new label A&M Records
, the same year, as A&M1452.
In January 1974 she appeared on the BBC Radio 1
John Peel
Show performing "Show Some Sort Of Love Song", "Lonely Lady" and "Freedom". Armatrading sang and played acoustic guitar and piano. Supporting musicians were Snowy White
(guitar), Mike Tomich (bass) and Brian Glassock (drums).
In 1975, Armatrading was free to sign with A&M Records
, and issued the album Back to the Night, which was promoted on tour with a six-piece jazz-pop group called The Movies. Armatrading credited English singer Elkie Brooks
on the sleeve notes as she had cooked for Armatrading and the band in the studio while they had been making the album, which was produced by Brooks' then husband Pete Gage. A major publicity relaunch in 1976 and the involvement of producer Glyn Johns
propelled her next album, Joan Armatrading
, into the Top 20 and spawned the Top 10 hit single
"Love and Affection
". The album mixed acoustic work with jazz-influenced material, and this style was retained for the 1977 follow-up Show Some Emotion
, also produced by Glyn Johns, as was 1978's To the Limit. These albums included songs which continue to be staples of Armatrading's live shows, including "Willow", "Down To Zero
", "Tall in the Saddle", and "Kissin' and a Huggin". Also at this time, Armatrading wrote and performed "The Flight of the Wild Geese", which was used during the opening and end titles for the 1978 war film The Wild Geese
.
The song was included on the soundtrack album for the film, originally released by A&M Records, later released under licence as a Cinephile DVD. A live album entitled Steppin' Out was released in 1979.
In the 1970s Armatrading became the first Black British female singer/songwriter to enjoy international success.
, a harder pop-oriented album produced by Richard Gottehrer
, who had previously produced albums for Blondie
. The album became Armatrading's highest ever charting album both in the UK and the US, while the title track became her second UK Top 40 hit single. The same pop style, now coupled with synthesisers, was also evident on the 1981 album Walk Under Ladders
and 1983's The Key. All three of these albums were Top 10 successes in the UK, with The Key also producing the hit single "Drop the Pilot
", Armatrading's third UK Top 40 hit single. To capitalise on her success, A&M released the best of
compilation album
, Track Record in 1983.
Armatrading's next studio album was 1985's Secret Secrets. The album was a top 20 hit but failed to yield any hit singles, cementing Armatrading's status as an "album artist". Taking over production responsibilities herself, she continued to record the albums Sleight of Hand (1986), The Shouting Stage (1988) and Hearts and Flowers (1990) for A&M Records, which all made the UK Top 40 but failed to achieve the level of success of her earlier works despite successful national tours (a show from her 1988 "Shouting Stage" tour was also filmed for television).
In 1989 she was the guest of Sue Lawley on the BBC 4 radio programme Desert Island Discs
where her favourite choice was Van Morrison
's "Madame George
". Armatrading’s full list included Ella Fitzgerald
and Gustav Mahler
. Her luxury item was a guitar, while her castaway's book was Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
by Agatha Christie
.
In 1991, A&M released the compilation The Very Best of Joan Armatrading which returned her to the Top 10. However, her following studio album for A&M, 1992's Square The Circle did not replicate this success and would be her final recording for the label. Following her departure from A&M, a label she had been with for almost 20 years, Armatrading signed with RCA
for her 1995 album What's Inside. Despite various television appearances and a full tour (which included a string quartet
in addition to her stage band), the album was not a commercial success, becoming her lowest charting studio album in 20 years.
Her 2007 album Into the Blues debuted at #1 on the US Billboard Blues Chart, making Armatrading the first UK female artist to earn that distinction. Into the Blues, which Armatrading calls "the CD I’ve been promising myself to write for a long time," was nominated for a Grammy Award
, also making her the first female UK artist to be nominated in the Grammy Blues category.
Armatrading has been nominated twice for a Brit Award as best female vocalist and has received an Ivor Novello Award
for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996 and in 2006 received an honorary degree from Aston University
, Birmingham. In 2008 she was part of Cyndi Lauper
's True Colors Tour 2008.
In 2007 Armatrading appeared in Episode 3 of the second series of Live from Abbey Road
performing "Tall In The Saddle" from her 1976 self-titled album, and "Woman In Love" from the album Into The Blues. She also appeared on Later... with Jools Holland where she performed "Love and Affection", as well as "Woman In Love" and "My Baby's Gone" both from her 2007 Into The Blues album.
On 29 March 2010, she released This Charming Life, widely viewed as a return to her guitar-based singer-songwriter pop-rock. The album debuted atop the Amazon.com mp3 download charts, and reached the top of the U.S. Blues chart. She embarked on an international tour to promote it; a concert from this tour in April 2010 at the Royal Albert Hall
in London was released on the CD/DVD album Live at the Royal Albert Hall, along with two tracks from a concert in Denver, Colorado, U.S., in February 2011.
" in 1978 (alongside Bob Dylan
and Eric Clapton
) and The Prince’s Trust Rock Gala in 1983. She also appeared in the film The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball in 1987. Several films have also used classic Joan Armatrading songs on their soundtracks, including Whoopi Goldberg
’s 1995 Boys on the Side
("Willow") and Goldberg’s 1995 Moonlight and Valentino
("The Weakness in Me"). She has also made many appearances on television, including The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1975, “Joan Armatrading: Rock Over Europe” in 1980, “Joan Armatrading in Concert” in 1982, “Late Night in Concert” in 1984 and “Joan Armatrading” in 1985.
On 30 November 2010, "This Charming Life" was played on the season finale of Sons of Anarchy
, the hit television show on FX.
with forays into rock
, folk
, jazz
, blues
, soul
and even reggae
.
In addition to her music career, in 2001, after five years of studying, Armatrading gained a BA (Hons) degree in History from the Open University
, of which she is now a trustee.
In April 2011, it was reported that Armatrading and her girlfriend Maggie Butler were to enter a civil partnership on 2 May 2011, in the Shetland Isles.
album A Kind of Magic
.
Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is an order of chivalry established on 4 June 1917 by George V of the United Kingdom. The Order comprises five classes in civil and military divisions...
(born 9 December 1950) is a British singer, songwriter and guitarist. Armatrading is a three-time Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
-nominee and has been nominated twice for BRIT Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...
as Best Female Artist. She also received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996.
In a recording career spanning almost 40 years she has released a total of 17 studio albums, as well as several live albums and compilations.
Early life
Joan Armatrading was born in BasseterreBasseterre
Basseterre , estimated population 15,500 in 2000, is the capital of the Federation of Saint Kitts and Nevis in the West Indies. Geographically, the Basseterre port is located at , on the south western coast of Saint Kitts Island, and it is one of the chief commercial depots of the Leeward Islands...
, on the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts, in 1950, as the third of six children. Her mother was born in Antigua
Antigua
Antigua , also known as Waladli, is an island in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands in the Caribbean region, the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and was named by Christopher Columbus after an icon in Seville Cathedral, Santa Maria de la...
and her father was from Saint Kitts.When she was three, her parents moved with their two eldest boys to Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England, and she lived with her grandmother on Antigua. She joined her parents in a largely white district of Birmingham in early 1958, at the age of seven. Her father had played in a band in his youth, later forbidding his children from touching his guitar. Armatrading began writing lyrics and music at the age of 14 on a piano that her mother had purchased as "a piece of furniture".Shortly thereafter her mother bought her a £3 guitar from a pawn shop in exchange for two prams, and the younger Armatrading began teaching herself the instrument.
She left school at the age of 15 to support her family, and her first job was at Rabone Chesterman, an engineering tool manufacturer in Hockley, Birmingham
Hockley, Birmingham
Hockley is a central inner-city district in the city of Birmingham, England. It lies about one mile north-west of the city centre, and is served by the Jewellery Quarter station...
. She was released from this job because she brought her guitar to work and played it during tea breaks.
Late 1960s and 1970s
Armatrading first performed in a concert at Birmingham University for her brother at the age of about 16. She only knew her own songs, but her brother asked her to perform something that would be familiar to the audience; she chose "The Sound of Silence
The Sound of Silence
"The Sound of Silence" is the song that propelled the 1960s folk music duo Simon & Garfunkel to popularity. It was written in February 1964 by Paul Simon in the aftermath of the 1963 assassination of John F. Kennedy. An initial version preferred by the band was remixed and sweetened, and has become...
". She then performed her own songs around the local area with a friend from school, and played bass and rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar
Rhythm guitar is a technique and rôle that performs a combination of two functions: to provide all or part of the rhythmic pulse in conjunction with singers or other instruments; and to provide all or part of the harmony, ie. the chords, where a chord is a group of notes played together...
at local clubs. In 1968, Armatrading joined a repertory production of the stage musical Hair
Hair (musical)
Hair: The American Tribal Love-Rock Musical is a rock musical with a book and lyrics by James Rado and Gerome Ragni and music by Galt MacDermot. A product of the hippie counter-culture and sexual revolution of the 1960s, several of its songs became anthems of the anti-Vietnam War peace movement...
. There she met the lyricist Pam Nestor
Pam Nestor
Pam Nestor is a former singer and lyricist who was active in the entertainment industry during the 1970s.-Early days:Pam Nestor was born in Berbice, Guyana, on 28 April 1948, and came to England in 1961. She auditioned for the musical Hair in 1969 and landed a part in it...
in 1970, and they worked together on Armatrading's debut album Whatever's for Us
Whatever's for Us
Whatever’s for Us is an album representing the first recorded work of Joan Armatrading and Pam Nestor. It is the first album that Armatrading recorded.- Recording history :...
, released by Cube Records
Cube Records
Cube Records was launched on 26 May 1972 by independent music publisher David Platz, and was based at his UK offices for Essex Music.-History:...
in 1972. Nestor wrote the lyrics to eleven of the fourteen songs on the album, while Armatrading wrote the lyrics to three of them, performed all the vocals, wrote all the music and played an array of instruments on the album. Although Nestor was credited as co-lyricist, Cube considered Armatrading to be the more likely star material. These events produced a tension which broke up the partnership. In 1973 Armatrading's first single "Lonely Lady"(with lyrics by Nestor), a song that had not been included on the album, was released by Cube on the Fly Label (catalogue: Bug 31). It was unsuccessful in the charts. A period of inactivity for Armatrading followed, while she extricated herself from her contract with Cube Records. The single was subsequently withdrawn by Cube and re-released as a promotional single in the US by Armatrading's new label A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
, the same year, as A&M1452.
In January 1974 she appeared on the BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
John Peel
John Peel
John Robert Parker Ravenscroft, OBE , known professionally as John Peel, was an English disc jockey, radio presenter, record producer and journalist. He was the longest-serving of the original BBC Radio 1 DJs, broadcasting regularly from 1967 until his death in 2004...
Show performing "Show Some Sort Of Love Song", "Lonely Lady" and "Freedom". Armatrading sang and played acoustic guitar and piano. Supporting musicians were Snowy White
Snowy White
Snowy White is an English guitarist, known for having played with Thin Lizzy and with Pink Floyd and, more recently, for Roger Waters'...
(guitar), Mike Tomich (bass) and Brian Glassock (drums).
In 1975, Armatrading was free to sign with A&M Records
A&M Records
A&M Records is an American record label owned by Universal Music Group that operates under the mantle of its Interscope-Geffen-A&M division.-Beginnings:...
, and issued the album Back to the Night, which was promoted on tour with a six-piece jazz-pop group called The Movies. Armatrading credited English singer Elkie Brooks
Elkie Brooks
Elkie Brooks is an English singer, formerly a vocalist with Vinegar Joe, and later a solo artist. Elkie has been nominated twice for Brit Awards' top female singer. She is known for her powerful husky voice...
on the sleeve notes as she had cooked for Armatrading and the band in the studio while they had been making the album, which was produced by Brooks' then husband Pete Gage. A major publicity relaunch in 1976 and the involvement of producer Glyn Johns
Glyn Johns
Glyn Johns is a musician, recording engineer and record producer.-Career:He has worked with such artists as Bob Dylan, The Beatles, The Easybeats, The Band, The Rolling Stones, The Who, Led Zeppelin, Eagles, Eric Clapton, The Clash, The Steve Miller Band, Small Faces, Spooky Tooth, The Ozark...
propelled her next album, Joan Armatrading
Joan Armatrading (album)
Joan Armatrading is the third studio album from the British singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading.Released in 1976, it was Armatrading's first taste of chart success and included her sole Top 10 hit single "Love and Affection"...
, into the Top 20 and spawned the Top 10 hit single
Hit single
A hit single is a recorded song or instrumental released as a single that has become very popular. Although it is sometimes used to describe any widely-played or big-selling song, the term "hit" is usually reserved for a single that has appeared in an official music chart through repeated radio...
"Love and Affection
Love and Affection
"Love and Affection" is a song by Joan Armatrading. Her fourth single, and her third for A&M Records, it was her first chart success. It reached number 10 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1976. One of her best known recordings, it has been described as a "deceptively feisty ballad... an instant...
". The album mixed acoustic work with jazz-influenced material, and this style was retained for the 1977 follow-up Show Some Emotion
Show Some Emotion
Show Some Emotion is a studio album by British singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading, released in 1977 on A&M. In a review for Allmusic, Dave Connolly gave the album a star rating of three out of five. He did not enjoy the album as much as her previous self-titled album, saying that much of it was...
, also produced by Glyn Johns, as was 1978's To the Limit. These albums included songs which continue to be staples of Armatrading's live shows, including "Willow", "Down To Zero
Down To Zero
- History :The song first appeared on the 1976 album ‘Joan Armatrading’, distributed by A & M records, Armatrading’s third album in as many years. . The album was produced and engineered by Glyn Johns, and recorded at the independent Olympic Studios in Barnes, London...
", "Tall in the Saddle", and "Kissin' and a Huggin". Also at this time, Armatrading wrote and performed "The Flight of the Wild Geese", which was used during the opening and end titles for the 1978 war film The Wild Geese
The Wild Geese
The Wild Geese is a British 1978 film about a group of mercenaries in Africa. It stars Richard Burton, Roger Moore, Richard Harris and Hardy Krüger...
.
The song was included on the soundtrack album for the film, originally released by A&M Records, later released under licence as a Cinephile DVD. A live album entitled Steppin' Out was released in 1979.
In the 1970s Armatrading became the first Black British female singer/songwriter to enjoy international success.
1980s and 1990s
In 1980, Armatrading radically revised her playing style and released Me Myself IMe Myself I
Me Myself I is an album by Joan Armatrading. Released in 1980, the album was Armatrading's highest ever chart placing both in the UK and in the US . It was certified "Gold" in the UK by the BPI in July 1980....
, a harder pop-oriented album produced by Richard Gottehrer
Richard Gottehrer
Richard Gottehrer is an American songwriter, record producer and record label executive.-Career:Gottehrer came to prominence as a songwriter in the 1960s with his most notable songs being "My Boyfriend's Back" and "I Want Candy". As Feldman-Goldstein-Gottehrer , he wrote various songs including...
, who had previously produced albums for Blondie
Blondie (band)
Blondie is an American rock band, founded by singer Deborah Harry and guitarist Chris Stein. The band was a pioneer in the early American New Wave and punk scenes of the mid-1970s...
. The album became Armatrading's highest ever charting album both in the UK and the US, while the title track became her second UK Top 40 hit single. The same pop style, now coupled with synthesisers, was also evident on the 1981 album Walk Under Ladders
Walk Under Ladders
Walk Under Ladders is an album by Joan Armatrading, produced by Steve Lillywhite. It spawned the hit "The Weakness in Me", and it was a top ten UK album, although it didn't do as well in the US.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Joan Armatrading...
and 1983's The Key. All three of these albums were Top 10 successes in the UK, with The Key also producing the hit single "Drop the Pilot
Drop the Pilot
-Mandy Moore version:A version of the song by Mandy Moore, included as a track on her album Coverage, saw limited release as that album's second single in Brazil and the Philippines....
", Armatrading's third UK Top 40 hit single. To capitalise on her success, A&M released the best of
Greatest hits
A greatest hits album is a music compilation album of successful, previously released songs by a particular artist or band...
compilation album
Compilation album
A compilation album is an album featuring tracks from one or more performers, often culled from a variety of sources The tracks are usually collected according to a common characteristic, such as popularity, genre, source or subject matter...
, Track Record in 1983.
Armatrading's next studio album was 1985's Secret Secrets. The album was a top 20 hit but failed to yield any hit singles, cementing Armatrading's status as an "album artist". Taking over production responsibilities herself, she continued to record the albums Sleight of Hand (1986), The Shouting Stage (1988) and Hearts and Flowers (1990) for A&M Records, which all made the UK Top 40 but failed to achieve the level of success of her earlier works despite successful national tours (a show from her 1988 "Shouting Stage" tour was also filmed for television).
In 1989 she was the guest of Sue Lawley on the BBC 4 radio programme Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs
Desert Island Discs is a BBC Radio 4 programme first broadcast on 29 January 1942. It is the second longest-running radio programme , and is the longest-running factual programme in the history of radio...
where her favourite choice was Van Morrison
Van Morrison
Van Morrison, OBE is a Northern Irish singer-songwriter and musician. His live performances at their best are regarded as transcendental and inspired; while some of his recordings, such as the studio albums Astral Weeks and Moondance, and the live album It's Too Late to Stop Now, are widely...
's "Madame George
Madame George
"Madame George" is a ten-minute song by Northern Irish singer-songwriter Van Morrison. It appears on the album Astral Weeks, released in 1968. The song features Morrison performing the vocals and acoustic guitar...
". Armatrading’s full list included Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Fitzgerald
Ella Jane Fitzgerald , also known as the "First Lady of Song" and "Lady Ella," was an American jazz and song vocalist...
and Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler
Gustav Mahler was a late-Romantic Austrian composer and one of the leading conductors of his generation. He was born in the village of Kalischt, Bohemia, in what was then Austria-Hungary, now Kaliště in the Czech Republic...
. Her luxury item was a guitar, while her castaway's book was Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
Why Didn't They Ask Evans?
Why Didn't They Ask Evans? is a work of detective fiction by Agatha Christie, first published in the United Kingdom by the Collins Crime Club in September 1934 and in the United States by Dodd, Mead and Company in 1935 under the title of The Boomerang Clue.The UK edition retailed at seven shillings...
by Agatha Christie
Agatha Christie
Dame Agatha Christie DBE was a British crime writer of novels, short stories, and plays. She also wrote romances under the name Mary Westmacott, but she is best remembered for her 66 detective novels and 14 short story collections , and her successful West End plays.According to...
.
In 1991, A&M released the compilation The Very Best of Joan Armatrading which returned her to the Top 10. However, her following studio album for A&M, 1992's Square The Circle did not replicate this success and would be her final recording for the label. Following her departure from A&M, a label she had been with for almost 20 years, Armatrading signed with RCA
RCA
RCA Corporation, founded as the Radio Corporation of America, was an American electronics company in existence from 1919 to 1986. The RCA trademark is currently owned by the French conglomerate Technicolor SA through RCA Trademark Management S.A., a company owned by Technicolor...
for her 1995 album What's Inside. Despite various television appearances and a full tour (which included a string quartet
String quartet
A string quartet is a musical ensemble of four string players – usually two violin players, a violist and a cellist – or a piece written to be performed by such a group...
in addition to her stage band), the album was not a commercial success, becoming her lowest charting studio album in 20 years.
Later work and honours
In 2003, no longer attached to a major label, she released the album Lovers Speak. Though it was her first album in eight years, it met with little commercial success.Her 2007 album Into the Blues debuted at #1 on the US Billboard Blues Chart, making Armatrading the first UK female artist to earn that distinction. Into the Blues, which Armatrading calls "the CD I’ve been promising myself to write for a long time," was nominated for a Grammy Award
Grammy Award
A Grammy Award — or Grammy — is an accolade by the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences of the United States to recognize outstanding achievement in the music industry...
, also making her the first female UK artist to be nominated in the Grammy Blues category.
Armatrading has been nominated twice for a Brit Award as best female vocalist and has received an Ivor Novello Award
Ivor Novello Awards
The Ivor Novello Awards, named after the Cardiff born entertainer Ivor Novello, are awards for songwriting and composing. They are presented annually in London by the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers and Authors and were first introduced in 1955.Nicknamed The Ivors, the awards take place...
for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996 and in 2006 received an honorary degree from Aston University
Aston University
Aston University is a "plate glass" campus university situated at Gosta Green, in the city centre of Birmingham, England.Established in 1895 as the Birmingham Municipal Technical School, Aston was granted its Royal Charter as Aston University on 22 April 1966...
, Birmingham. In 2008 she was part of Cyndi Lauper
Cyndi Lauper
Cynthia Ann Stephanie "Cyndi" Lauper is an American singer, songwriter, actress and LGBT rights activist. She achieved success in the mid-1980s with the release of the album She's So Unusual and became the first female singer to have four top-five singles released from one album...
's True Colors Tour 2008.
In 2007 Armatrading appeared in Episode 3 of the second series of Live from Abbey Road
Live from Abbey Road
Live from Abbey Road is a 12-part, one-hour performance series/documentary that began filming its first season during 2006 at Abbey Road Studios in London. Season 2 was filmed between 2007 and 2008, season 3 was filmed in 2009 and Season 4 was filmed in 2011...
performing "Tall In The Saddle" from her 1976 self-titled album, and "Woman In Love" from the album Into The Blues. She also appeared on Later... with Jools Holland where she performed "Love and Affection", as well as "Woman In Love" and "My Baby's Gone" both from her 2007 Into The Blues album.
On 29 March 2010, she released This Charming Life, widely viewed as a return to her guitar-based singer-songwriter pop-rock. The album debuted atop the Amazon.com mp3 download charts, and reached the top of the U.S. Blues chart. She embarked on an international tour to promote it; a concert from this tour in April 2010 at the Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
in London was released on the CD/DVD album Live at the Royal Albert Hall, along with two tracks from a concert in Denver, Colorado, U.S., in February 2011.
Appearances and other media
In addition to recording, Armatrading has toured extensively and appeared in high profile concerts such as "The Picnic at BlackbusheBlackbushe Airport
Blackbushe Airport , in the civil parish of Yateley in the north-east corner of the English county of Hampshire, comprises an airfield, much reduced in size since its heyday, a British Car Auctions site, a kart track owned by Camberley Kart Club, and a small business park...
" in 1978 (alongside Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
and Eric Clapton
Eric Clapton
Eric Patrick Clapton, CBE, is an English guitarist and singer-songwriter. Clapton is the only three-time inductee to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame: once as a solo artist, and separately as a member of The Yardbirds and Cream. Clapton has been referred to as one of the most important and...
) and The Prince’s Trust Rock Gala in 1983. She also appeared in the film The Secret Policeman’s Third Ball in 1987. Several films have also used classic Joan Armatrading songs on their soundtracks, including Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg
Whoopi Goldberg is an American comedian, actress, singer-songwriter, political activist, author and talk show host.Goldberg made her film debut in The Color Purple playing Celie, a mistreated black woman in the Deep South. She received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress and won...
’s 1995 Boys on the Side
Boys on the Side
Boys on the Side is a 1995 comedy-drama film directed by Herbert Ross . It stars Whoopi Goldberg, Drew Barrymore and Mary-Louise Parker as three friends on a cross-country road trip...
("Willow") and Goldberg’s 1995 Moonlight and Valentino
Moonlight and Valentino
Moonlight and Valentino is a 1995 American dramedy film directed by David Anspaugh. The screenplay by Ellen Simon is based on her semi-autobiographical play of the same title staged at Duke University six years earlier.-Plot:...
("The Weakness in Me"). She has also made many appearances on television, including The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1975, “Joan Armatrading: Rock Over Europe” in 1980, “Joan Armatrading in Concert” in 1982, “Late Night in Concert” in 1984 and “Joan Armatrading” in 1985.
On 30 November 2010, "This Charming Life" was played on the season finale of Sons of Anarchy
Sons of Anarchy
Sons of Anarchy is an American television drama series created by Kurt Sutter about the lives of a close-knit outlaw motorcycle club operating in Charming, a fictional town in Northern California...
, the hit television show on FX.
Style
Armatrading's music is considered to be mostly popPop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...
with forays into rock
Rock music
Rock music is a genre of popular music that developed during and after the 1960s, particularly in the United Kingdom and the United States. It has its roots in 1940s and 1950s rock and roll, itself heavily influenced by rhythm and blues and country music...
, folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....
, jazz
Jazz
Jazz is a musical style that originated at the beginning of the 20th century in African American communities in the Southern United States. It was born out of a mix of African and European music traditions. From its early development until the present, jazz has incorporated music from 19th and 20th...
, blues
Blues
Blues is the name given to both a musical form and a music genre that originated in African-American communities of primarily the "Deep South" of the United States at the end of the 19th century from spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts and chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads...
, soul
Soul music
Soul music is a music genre originating in the United States combining elements of gospel music and rhythm and blues. According to the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, soul is "music that arose out of the black experience in America through the transmutation of gospel and rhythm & blues into a form of...
and even reggae
Reggae
Reggae is a music genre first developed in Jamaica in the late 1960s. While sometimes used in a broader sense to refer to most types of Jamaican music, the term reggae more properly denotes a particular music style that originated following on the development of ska and rocksteady.Reggae is based...
.
Personal life
Armatrading is reluctant to discuss her personal life in interviews. In a 2003 interview with David Thomas of The Daily Telegraph, she said:In addition to her music career, in 2001, after five years of studying, Armatrading gained a BA (Hons) degree in History from the Open University
Open University
The Open University is a distance learning and research university founded by Royal Charter in the United Kingdom...
, of which she is now a trustee.
In April 2011, it was reported that Armatrading and her girlfriend Maggie Butler were to enter a civil partnership on 2 May 2011, in the Shetland Isles.
Collaborations
Armatrading performed as a cameo vocalist for the song "Don't Lose Your Head" on the 1986 QueenQueen (band)
Queen are a British rock band formed in London in 1971, originally consisting of Freddie Mercury , Brian May , John Deacon , and Roger Taylor...
album A Kind of Magic
A Kind of Magic
A Kind of Magic is a 1986 album by British rock band Queen. It was the band's twelfth studio album and their first to be recorded digitally, and is based on the soundtrack to the film Highlander, the first in a series directed by Russell Mulcahy....
.
Albums
| Year | Album | UK Album Charts | US Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
US Blues | BPI certifications British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1972 | Whatever's for Us Whatever's for Us Whatever’s for Us is an album representing the first recorded work of Joan Armatrading and Pam Nestor. It is the first album that Armatrading recorded.- Recording history :... |
- | - | - | - |
| 1975 | Back to the Night | - | - | - | - |
| 1976 | Joan Armatrading Joan Armatrading (album) Joan Armatrading is the third studio album from the British singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading.Released in 1976, it was Armatrading's first taste of chart success and included her sole Top 10 hit single "Love and Affection"... |
12 | 67 | - | Gold |
| 1977 | Show Some Emotion Show Some Emotion Show Some Emotion is a studio album by British singer-songwriter Joan Armatrading, released in 1977 on A&M. In a review for Allmusic, Dave Connolly gave the album a star rating of three out of five. He did not enjoy the album as much as her previous self-titled album, saying that much of it was... |
6 | 52 | - | Gold |
| 1978 | To the Limit | 13 | 125 | - | - |
| 1979 | How Cruel (EP) | - | - | - | - |
| 1979 | Steppin' Out (live album) | - | - | - | - |
| 1980 | Me Myself I Me Myself I Me Myself I is an album by Joan Armatrading. Released in 1980, the album was Armatrading's highest ever chart placing both in the UK and in the US . It was certified "Gold" in the UK by the BPI in July 1980.... |
5 | 28 | - | Gold |
| 1981 | Walk Under Ladders Walk Under Ladders Walk Under Ladders is an album by Joan Armatrading, produced by Steve Lillywhite. It spawned the hit "The Weakness in Me", and it was a top ten UK album, although it didn't do as well in the US.-Track listing:All tracks composed by Joan Armatrading... |
6 | 88 | - | Gold |
| 1983 | The Key | 10 | 32 | - | Gold |
| 1985 | Secret Secrets | 14 | 73 | - | Silver |
| 1986 | Sleight of Hand | 34 | 70 | - | Silver |
| 1988 | The Shouting Stage | 28 | 100 | - | Silver |
| 1990 | Hearts and Flowers | 29 | 161 | - | - |
| 1992 | Square the Circle | 34 | - | - | - |
| 1995 | What's Inside | 48 | - | - | - |
| 2003 | Lovers Speak | - | - | - | - |
| 2004 | Live All the Way from America | - | - | - | - |
| 2007 | Into The Blues | - | - | 1 | - |
| 2010 | This Charming Life | - | - | 1 | - |
| 2011 | Live at Royal Albert Hall | - | - | - | - |
Compilations
| Year | Album | UK | U.S. Billboard 200 The Billboard 200 is a ranking of the 200 highest-selling music albums and EPs in the United States, published weekly by Billboard magazine. It is frequently used to convey the popularity of an artist or groups of artists... |
BPI certifications British Phonographic Industry The British Phonographic Industry is the British record industry's trade association.-Structure:Its membership comprises hundreds of music companies including all four "major" record companies , associate members such as manufacturers and distributors, and hundreds of independent music companies... |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1983 | Track Record | 18 | 113 | - |
| 1987 | Classics Volume 21 (Canada only) | - | ||
| 1991 | The Very Best Of Joan Armatrading | 9 | - | Gold |
| 1996 | Love & Affection (2 CD) | - | - | - |
| 2003 | Love And Affection: Classics (1975–1983) (2 CD) | 24 | - | - |
Singles
| Year | Title | UK Singles Chart UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ... |
US Billboard Hot 100 Billboard Hot 100 The Billboard Hot 100 is the United States music industry standard singles popularity chart issued weekly by Billboard magazine. Chart rankings are based on radio play and sales; the tracking-week for sales begins on Monday and ends on Sunday, while the radio play tracking-week runs from Wednesday... |
US Mainstream Rock |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1973 | "Lonely Lady" | - | - | - |
| 1976 | "Love and Affection Love and Affection "Love and Affection" is a song by Joan Armatrading. Her fourth single, and her third for A&M Records, it was her first chart success. It reached number 10 in the UK Singles Chart in November 1976. One of her best known recordings, it has been described as a "deceptively feisty ballad... an instant... " |
10 | - | - |
| 1976 | "Down To Zero Down To Zero - History :The song first appeared on the 1976 album ‘Joan Armatrading’, distributed by A & M records, Armatrading’s third album in as many years. . The album was produced and engineered by Glyn Johns, and recorded at the independent Olympic Studios in Barnes, London... " |
- | - | - |
| 1978 | "Show Some Emotion" | - | 110 | - |
| 1980 | "Rosie" | 49 | - | - |
| 1980 | "Me Myself I" | 21 | - | - |
| 1980 | "All the Way from America" | 54 | - | - |
| 1981 | "I'm Lucky" | 46 | - | - |
| 1981 | "No Love" | 50 | - | - |
| 1983 | "Drop the Pilot Drop the Pilot -Mandy Moore version:A version of the song by Mandy Moore, included as a track on her album Coverage, saw limited release as that album's second single in Brazil and the Philippines.... " |
11 | 78 | 33 |
| 1983 | "(I Love It When You) Call Me Names" | - | - | - |
| 1983 | "Heaven" | - | - | - |
| 1985 | "Temptation" | 65 | - | - |
| 1985 | "Thinking Man" | - | - | |
| 1986 | "Kind Words (And a Real Good Heart)" | 81 | - | 37 |
| 1986 | "Reach Out" | - | - | - |
| 1986 | "Jesse" | - | - | - |
| 1988 | "The Shouting Stage" | 89 | - | - |
| 1988 | "Living for You" | 98 | - | - |
| 1990 | "More Than One Kind of Love" | 75 | - | - |
| 1990 | "Free" | - | - | - |
| 1991 | "Love and Affection" (reissue) | 91 | - | - |
| 1992 | "Wrapped Around Her" | 56 | - | - |
| 1992 | "True Love" | - | - | - |
| 1995 | "Everyday Boy" | - | - | - |
| 1995 | "Shapes and Sizes" | - | - | - |
| 1999 | "The Messenger" (A tribute song for Nelson Mandela Nelson Mandela Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing... ) This was never released as a commercial single but is now available for download purchase on iTunes |
- | - | - |
External links
- Official website
- BPI website (includes a searchable database for UK certifications)