KT Tunstall

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KT Tunstall
KT Tunstall performing at the 2005 Summer Sundae in Leicester.
KT Tunstall performing at the 2005 Summer Sundae in Leicester.
Background information
Birth name Kate Victoria Tunstall
Born June 23, 1975 (age 31)
Origin , St Andrews, Scotland
Genre(s) Folk
Pop
Acoustic
Years active 2000–present
Label(s) Relentless/Virgin
(2004-present)
Website KTTunstall.com

Kate "KT" Victoria Tunstall (born June 23, 1975) is a Grammy nominated Scottish singer-songwriter from St Andrews, Scotland.

Contents

[edit] Personal life

Tunstall was born in Edinburgh, and was subsequently adopted. "KT" is an abbreviation for the initials of her full name, Kate Tunstall. Her father is a physicist, and her mother is a school teacher. Tunstall also has an older brother named Joe and a younger brother named Daniel.

In her twenties, Tunstall met her birth mother, who told her that her birth father was a folk musician. She spent time performing on the famous Church Street in Burlington, Vermont and at a commune in rural Vermont. As of 2006, Tunstall was dating drummer Luke Bullen (The Mescaleros, John Squire). She has indicated her intention to live in Edinburgh with Bullen. KT’s birth mother is of Chinese descent, and her father of Caucasian descent.

[edit] Career

Tunstall performing at the 2005 Glastonbury Festival.
Enlarge
Tunstall performing at the 2005 Glastonbury Festival.
Tunstall performing at the Cardiff Union on October 19, 2005.
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Tunstall performing at the Cardiff Union on October 19, 2005.

Tunstall studied at the High School of Dundee in Dundee; Madras College in St Andrews; Kent School, Connecticut; and at Royal Holloway. Throughout her twenties she mostly played in independent bands including Elia Drew and Tomoko, and focused on songwriting. Her debut album, Eye to the Telescope, was released in late 2004. Tunstall's style of music varies from folk to pop. In Edinburgh and St Andrews she played in a band called Red Light Stylus who were regarded as one of the better bands to emerge from the limited Fife scene.

Tunstall's first appearance of note was a solo performance of "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on Later with Jools Holland. The performance was notable as she had only twenty-four hours to prepare after scheduled performer Nas cancelled due to his father's ill health. Her performance caught the eye of many viewers, upstaging more established acts such as The Cure, Embrace, and The Futureheads, and she then went on to top the post-show poll on the website for that episode.

Shortly after the "Later" appearance, Eye to the Telescope was re-released, and shot up the UK charts, eventually peaking at three (on its first release it had entered at seventy-three); it was nominated for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize. It was released in the U.S. on February 7, 2006.

Tunstall released a new acoustic album in May 2006, KT Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza, which was first only availible via mail-order from her website. The album was re-released in stores worldwide in October 2006.

Tunstall is currently working with Scottish band Travis on their newest album, due for release in spring 2007. Tunstall is also working on her next album, scheduled for 2007.

[edit] Live performances

Tunstall is known for her live performances in which she becomes a one-woman band. She has toured extensively since and plans to tour after the release of her next album, which is to be recorded in late 2006.

Since her debut appearance on Later with Jools Holland, she has returned to the show to perform "Suddenly I See", "Under the Weather", "Tangled up in Blue" (she performed the same song, as well as "Simple Twist of Fate" and "This Wheel's on Fire" on a BBC 4 Bob Dylan tribute) and an Ella Fitzgerald song ("Ain't Misbehavin'" by Fats Waller) with Jools Holland on piano.

She ended 2005 on New Year's Eve by performing at Edinburgh's Concert in the Gardengs alonside Scottish band Texas.

During her concerts, Tunstall uses an AKAI E2 Headrush loop pedal on stage, which she affectionately calls "Wee Bastard".

[edit] Awards

In addition to the Mercury Music Prize nomination, Tunstall received three Brit award nominations when they were announced on 11 January 2006. Tunstall was nominated for Best British Live Act, British Breakthrough Act, and British Female Solo Artist. At the ceremony on 15 February 2006, Tunstall performed "Suddenly I See" and won the award for Best British Female Solo Artist, remarking that she wished to share it with fellow nominee Kate Bush.

[edit] Other credits

Tunstall also appears on the Sophie Solomon song "Lazarus", on the album Poison Sweet Madeira, and provided guest vocals for three tracks, "Ladino Song", "Refugee", and "Yesterday's Mistake", on the Oi Va Voi album Laughter Through Tears (2003). She has also performed "Get Ur Freak On" by Missy Elliott and "High and Dry" by Radiohead at Live Lounge. Tunstall's seventh single, "Another Place to Fall", featured a cover of Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees". She appears in the last album of the Japanese singer YUKI, where she wrote "Yume Miteitai" and "Birthday".

She was the musical guest on an episode of The Tonight Show with Jay Leno. She performed Black Horse and the Cherry Tree.

During her early songwriting career, Tunstall has also written and performed music for the children's television show Little Robots.

Tunstall performed on Cartoon Network Fridays in October 2006. She played the songs "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" and "Suddenly I See".

[edit] Name

When asked about her nickname, "KT", by Ken Bruce on BBC Radio 2 in a pre-BRIT Awards 2006 interview, she said that it is just an abbreviation of the initials of her name, Kate Tunstall. While a student at Royal Holloway, University of London she performed on an acoustic guitar in a student bar, under the name "Katie". She was also known as the Princes Street Busker, and headlined the 2006 Edinburgh's Hogmanay Celebration.

In an interview on XM Satellite Radio (Hear Music, Channel 75) in 2006 she said that PJ Harvey was the inspiration for her abbreviating her name.

[edit] Trivia

  • Tunstall sparked some controversy in 2005 when she publicly bashed singer/songwriter Dido, stating that the artist "can't fucking sing" after several fans compared the two musically. Tunstall later apologized, stating that she did not want to be involved in a public feud.
  • Due to some of her songs containing ambiguous lyrics, some fans were interested to know whether she is also gay, but she has stated that she is not. [1] The lesbian rumours were fueled by a demo version of "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" which surfaced on the Internet in April 2005. It has different backing vocals to the released version, with the phrase "pubes in the teeth" being chanted between the "woo hoo" refrain. Tunstall told lesbian magazine Diva in June that the recording had been made as a joke during some drunken hijinks at a recording session and was later leaked without her knowledge.
  • Four of her songs, including "Suddenly I See" have been used on Grey's Anatomy. "Universe & U" is on the second season's soundtrack.
  • "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" was heard in an episode of the Lifetime original series Angela's Eyes.
  • "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" was used in the pilot episode of the show Men In Trees.

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

  • Tracks In July (2000)
    • This was KT's demo album and was never commercially released. The only track to have been released from this album in its original form is "Little Favours", on the "Under The Weather" 7" vinyl. "Gone To The Dogs" and "Change" were re-recorded for the Acoustic Extravaganza album.
      • This album was recorded acoustically by KT herself, and features only KT on her acoustic guitar.
      • There are many fakes of this album for sale on eBay, yet some copies are in fact originals which have been known to sell for at least £150.
  • KT Toons '03 (2003)
    • This was another of KT's demo album and was also never commercially released.
      • These tracks were recorded in a studio, and featured drums, electric guitar, keyboards and were not recorded acoustically, like Tracks In July.
      • A demo version of "Other Side Of The World" from this album, and a song called "If Only" were available for download on KT's official website, before she signed a deal.
      • The aforementioned tracks are floating around the internet, and are available for download in various sources.
  • One Night In Gaia (2004)
    • This was a promotional live EP, recorded at Gaia Music London in 2004.
      • The live version of "One Day" from this EP was released commercially on the Black Horse & The Cherry Tree single. The version of "Immune" from this EP was released commercially on the USA "Eye To The Telescope - Deluxe Edition"
  • Eye to the Telescope (2004) #3 UK; #33 U.S.; #41 Canada; #85 Australia.
    • More than 2.6 million copies have been sold since January 2005.

(Source of U.S. sales: Soundscan sales)

  • KT Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza (2006)
    • Initially available only through her official website, official release Oct 5, 2006 via Relentless.
    • CD/DVD Album
    • Recorded in one day on the Isle of Skye
  • TBA(2007)

[edit] Singles/EPs

UK Release Title Album Chart positions
UK U.S. U.S. Pop U.S. AC U.S. Adult Top 40 U.S. Digital Canadian BDS Charts
1 Mar 2004 "Throw Me a Rope" False Alarm - - - - - - -
11 Oct 2004 "False Alarm" (EP) Eye to the Telescope - - - - - - -
21 Feb 2005 "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" Eye to the Telescope 28 20 22 4 1 9 22
9 May 2005 "Other Side of the World" Eye to the Telescope 13 - - - - - -
29 Aug 2005 "Suddenly I See" Eye to the Telescope 12 45 43 30 8 31 33
5 Dec 2005 "Under the Weather" Eye to the Telescope 39 - - - - - -
13 Mar 2006 "Another Place to Fall" Eye to the Telescope 52 - - - - - -
October 2006 "Ashes" (Promo Only) Acoustic Extravaganza n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
November 2006 "Darkness On The Face Of The Earth" (With Jools Holland - Promo Only) Moving Out To The Country n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a n/a
  • Notes:
  1. "Throw Me a Rope" was released as a 7" vinyl only and was limited to 300 copies.
  2. "False Alarm" was released as an EP.

[edit] Awards

  • Q Music Awards 2005 — Best Track for "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"
  • BRIT Awards 2006 — Best British Female Solo Artist
  • Ivor Novello Awards 2006 — Best Song Musically and Lyrically for "Suddenly I See"
  • Scottish Style Awards 2006 — Most Stylish Band or Musician - Interview here

[edit] External links

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