Kate Nash

from Wikipedia:

Kate Marie Nash (born 6 July 1987) is an English singer, songwriter, and musician. She had a UK no. 2 hit "Foundations" in 2007, followed by the platinum selling UK number 1 album Made of Bricks. She was named Best Female Artist at the 2008 BRIT Awards.

Her second studio album, entitled My Best Friend Is You was released in the United Kingdom on 19 April 2010 and in the U.S. on 11 May 2010, and spawned her second biggest chart hit to date "Do-Wah-Doo".

Currently, she is signed to The Island Def Jam Motown Ireland Group.

Early life

Nash was born on 6 July 1987 in Harrow, London to an English father, Steven Nash, and an Irish mother, Marie (née Walsh), who is a nurse in a hospice. Nash became interested in music as a child and learned how to play the piano at Sandbach School. She was raised Roman Catholic attended St. John Fisher School (in Pinner) and moved onto the St Joan of Arc Catholic School, Rickmansworth. Additionally, she was taught guitar by teacher Saskia van Berkel and studied Theatre at the BRIT School for Performing Arts and Technology in South London. Furthermore, she auditioned at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre School but was rejected. In the following days, she fell down a flight of stairs, breaking her foot. During her recovery she was housebound and unable to move, so her mother bought her an electric guitar. Nash used this time to focus on her songwriting: she began to write some new songs, finish old ones and decided that she would book a gig at a local bar in Harrow called Trinity on Station Road for herself, to showcase her songs.

Music career

"Caroline's a Victim" (2005-2006)

Nash started her career in 2005. After several gigs, she uploaded her music to MySpace. She found a manager for herself before seeking producers for her music. Nash's debut was a single, "Caroline's a Victim" / "Birds", produced and recorded in Iceland by Valgeir Sigurðsson and released through Moshi Moshi Records in February 2007. The release was limited to 1,000 copies, and was available on only 7" vinyl. Due to demand another 1,000 copies were made and sold out. CD-promo copies were produced for distribution to the press and DJs etc., and are occasionally available for sale. It is featured on the CD Moshi Moshi Singles Compilation. A video for the song was released, directed by Kinga Burza, and received airplay on MTV2. The B-side, "Birds", later featured on her début album, Made of Bricks. Both tracks have also been released as MP3 downloads.

Made of Bricks (2007-2009)

In April 2007, Nash was signed to the Polydor offshoot Fiction Records. Nash's second single and first through Fiction Records, "Foundations", which she co-wrote with producer Paul Epworth, was released on 18 June 2007 and reached number two in the official UK Singles Chart. Following "Foundations", Fiction announced plans to bring forward the release of Nash's debut album to 6 August 2007. The album, Made of Bricks, produced by Paul Epworth, included many of the tracks she had been performing on her two nationwide tours.

The album was leaked to filesharing networks days before its commercial release, and received mixed reviews, with The Independent describing it as being in "pole position for worst album of the year." The album, however, was commercially successful and reached number 1 in the UK album charts.

During mid-2007, Nash performed at numerous festivals including Wireless Festival, Bestival, Electric Gardens, Glastonbury, Latitude, Reading and Leeds, Oxegen and T in the Park. She made her official TV performance début on Later with Jools Holland.

Throughout late 2007 and early 2008, she released three more singles from the album. "Mouthwash" and "Pumpkin Soup" both made the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart, and although fifth single "Merry Happy" didn't chart well in the United Kingdom, the song received limited success in other countries including the US and Canada. The album topped out at the number 36 position on the United States Billboard 200 chart on 26 January 2008.

In 2010 Made of Bricks was certified Gold in Germany.

My Best Friend Is You (2009-2011)

In late March 2009, Nash revealed that she was in the early stages of recording her second album. She was introduced by her boyfriend Ryan Jarman to Bernard Butler, the producer for Duffy's debut album Rockferry and a former guitarist for Suede. He began working with Nash, working in the studio with her over a period of months and producing her second album. In August 2009, the pair worked on eight songs at RAK Studios for the album.

On 14 January 2010, Nash revealed that the second album was complete. On 11 February, a song from the album, "I Just Love You More", was available to download free from her official website.

On 11 March 2010, Nash announced her nine-date North American tour that began on 26 April with the all-female travelling festival Lilith Fair to promote her new album My Best Friend Is You. Her opening act was Supercute!, a psychedelic pop teen girl trio from New York City. She is also scheduled to take part in the 2010 V Festival.

The first single from the album was called "Do-Wah-Doo", and was released on 12 April 2010. The album was released on 20 April. The sound was described as completely different from her debut album and having a "Girl Group" sound, taking influence from Motown stars such as Diana Ross and The Supremes. Nash explained that maturity is the reason for the change in musical style. The album has been described as having a wide variety of sounds from wall of sound, Motown to No Wave and Riot Grrrl. As of 11 May, the album was number 6 in Germany and number 16 in Europe. As of 27 May, the album was at number 62 in the United States.

On 24 February 2011, her concerts in Circo Voador, Rio de Janeiro and in HSBC Hall, São Paulo were the first contact with her Brazilian fans. It was so intense that Nash has said on stage "Here (Rio de Janeiro) was the happiest place I have ever been. You are beautiful, incredible" and promised a return soon. On her Twitter, she finally declared "Rio, you're just too good to be true. I must be dreaming. Thanks for giving me the best concert of my life".

Third studio album (2011-present)

Nash has been working with William Orbit, Mark Ronson and Cameron McVey on her third studio album. Nash said in January 2011 that she was in the early stages of writing the album, and it is due for release in late 2012.

Other music career activities

Nash co-wrote a song titled "Almost Isn’t (Good Enough) Is It?" with Trachtenburg Family Slideshow Players member Jason Trachtenburg for his 2009 album File Under Pop Male Vocal.

As a side project in late 2009, she joined a punk band called The Receeders where she plays bass. On 17 December 2009, the band played a live gig on the stage of 93 Feet East. Nash likes to refer to the band as her "side project" as she says for 2010 she will be mainly focusing on her solo material. Her music was used as part of an exhibition at the British Library tracing the history of Cockney English. The exhibition, which runs from 12 November 2010 through 11 April 2011, uses Nash's music to demonstrate today's younger urban mode of Cockney English.

On 23 March 2010 Nash, a founding director of the Featured Artists Coalition, a musicians' lobbying group, launched the Rock and Roll After-School Music Club an attempt to get secondary school girls involved in songwriting battle what Nash feels is a perception that female singers have their material written for them.

Nash is going to be working with the teen indie pop band, SUPERCUTE!, producing their first album. Nash also appeared in the band's music video for their first single, "Dumb-Dumbs".

Personal life

In 2008, following intensive touring Nash had what she described as a "proper breakdown". Nash experienced a relapse of obsessive-compulsive disorder, which she had a mild case of as a child. She has railed against the anemic model figure, noting in an interview with the Daily Telegraph that she herself is a "curvy size 12."

On 2 September 2009, Nash began using her MySpace and Facebook pages to help spread the word of a young girl called Tilly who lost her hands due to meningococcal disease. She used an auction on eBay to help donate money to the five-year-old girl's parents so that she can afford to have her own pair of hands.

During the 2011 England riots, Nash volunteered to collect donations for those made homeless by riots in Tottenham, setting up her own public donation stand and delivering donations to Tottenham Leisure Centre in her red car.