One of the most promising contemporary musicians according to the BBC - who is she, Laura Mvula?
Laura Mvula is a famous British singer and songwriter. Popularity came to the girl in 2012, with the release of the singles "She" and "Like the Morning Dew". The tracks attracted the attention of not only music publications, but also the general public! Soon Mvula hit the Next Big Sound chart, after which she became a nominee for the BRIT Awards in the Critics' Choice category!
According to the BBC, Laura Mvula is one of the most promising contemporary musicians! We invite you to get to know this interesting special a little closer ...
Brief biography of the singer: Childhood, early career ...
Laura Mvula was born on April 23, 1987 in Birmingham, England. The childhood of the future star took place in a suburb called Selly Park. The girl's father was Jamaican and her mother was English. In addition to Laura, younger brothers and sisters were brought up in the family. Since childhood, Laura has loved the R&B girl group Eternal! As a teenager, she attended the Swanshurst School for Girls.
In 2005, Laura discovered the big stage for the first time! She performed with the hip-hop group Black Voices, founded by her aunt!
In 2008, Laura formed her own band called Judyshouse. The team performed in the genres of jazz, neo-soul. The vocals and the authorship of the songs lay entirely on Laura ... Later, the girl managed to try herself as the director of the choir.
Having successfully graduated from the Birmingham Conservatory at City University (specialty - composition), the girl got a job at Birmingham High School as a teacher. In the same period, she begins to write songs on her work laptop ...
After sending out several demos to influencers in the music industry, Laura gets a response from Steve Brown! The artist shared her tracks with his manager, and ... soon Kwame Amankwa Kwaten offered Laura cooperation!
Soon the girl signed a contract with RCA Records. Laura's first performance in front of a really huge audience took place on September 16, 2012 at the iTunes festival, where she opened the Rebecca Ferguson concert! Mvula later says:
“I had terrible stage fright…”
In October 2012, Laura's debut single "She" was released. In the course of long and hard work at Electric Lady Studios (under the direction of Tom Elmhurst), a four-track mini-album of the same name is released.
In March 2013, Laura released her full-length debut album Sing to the Moon, which reached number nine in the UK! The disc was preceded by the single "Green Garden", which, later, became the hallmark of the singer ...
The beginning of success...
After a successful debut, Laura signs a contract with Sony RCA. Shortly thereafter, an extended version of the single "She" was released. Curiously, but found the recognition of the general public, the composition is the first ever written by Laura from beginning to end ...
Soon, not only leading radio stations, but also major music publications started talking about the girl. Thus, a journalist from The Guardian described her music as "jazz gospeldeliya", adding that "the singer opened a whole new genre ..."
In December 2012, Laura was nominated for the 2013 BRIT Awards for Critics' Choice! Just a few days later, the singer was included in the BBC's Sound of 2013 list. According to the voting results, she took the fourth position among the rest of the participants ...
In February 2013, Laura's first solo performance took place! It happened live on BBC One, on the Graham Norton show! The beloved “Green Garden” has sounded on the air…
Once in an interview, Mvula said:
“My music is inspired by the work of such brilliant women as Nina Simone, Jill Scott, Erika Badu and Lauryn Hill…”
As for the album Sing to the Moon, the record entered the top 100 in seven countries around the world! In October 2013, the singer received several prestigious MOBO Awards: in the category "Best Female Performance" and "Best R&B or Soul Artist"!
In the spring of the following year, Laura decided to re-record an orchestral version of her debut album. This time with the participation of The Metropole Orkest, under the direction of arranger and composer Jules Buckley. The album was released in the summer of 2014. In support of the album, Laura and The Metropole Orkest performed at the Albert Hall!
New records and new successes!
In January 2016, with the participation of composer Nile Rodgers, Laura released the single "Overcome". Soon the album The Dreaming Room itself will be released. To promote it, Laura performed the title track from the release on several popular TV shows, including The Graham Norton Show!
In March 2016, the singer gave a live concert at the Jazz Festival. Soon the second single from the album called "Phenomenal Woman" was released. In the same period, Laura releases the song "Show Me Love" ...
In the summer of the same year, Laura gives her second concert on the stage of the Glastonbury pyramid! A joint performance with Tom Odell in London soon followed.
At the end of October, Laura was invited to the BBC channel, where she performed her new single "Ready or Not" in Strictly Come Dancing.
In the winter of 2017, Laura admitted that Sony had abandoned her ... In the spring of the same year, a documentary called “Women's Hour” followed, in which the singer decided to touch on such a poignant topic as anxiety ...
In April 2018, Laura was invited to the BBC One party at the Royal Albert Hall, on the occasion of the Queen's birthday! The singer was honored to perform "I Put a Spell on You"...
musical style
Leading music critics rank Laura alongside Britain's new soul singers, the so-called "followers of Amy Winehouse and Adele". It is impossible to deny the fact that to a large extent the girl’s work was influenced by her compositional education ... Because of this, she herself often calls herself “a strange child in rhythm and blues.” Some critics also add that Laura's songs are closer to the style of baroque pop than retro soul...
