Penny Broadhurst
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Penny Broadhurst | ||
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 Penny Broadhurst 2006
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| Background information | ||
| Born | 1980 | |
| Origin | Harrogate UK | |
| Genre(s) | Spoken word Pop Rock | |
| Years active | 1998 - present | |
| Label(s) | Killer Question | |
| Website | www.pennybroadhurst.com | |
Penny Broadhurst Born October 21, 1980 in the Yorkshire town of Harrogate, is a British musician, actor, singer, writer, poet and spoken word artist from the north of England. She lists Billy Bragg, Alan Bennett, Eminem, Take That and Britney Spears among her many influences.
Her individual style of acerbic and witty vocal narratives, delivered in a broad Yorkshire accent and often accompanied by pop and rock music, has been compared to that of a pop star rather than a traditional poet. The NME described her act as "like your mum's fave Victoria Wood spitting out the rhymes of Mike Skinner....There's fire in Broadhurst's belly and bile in her brain, while her fiery spoken witticisms rock and roar. You can't mosh to poetry, but if you could, then you'd mosh to this."
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[edit] Career
Penny Broadhurst started performing when she was a student in Norwich in 1998. Since then she has worked alongside many other artists including: Patrick Wolf, Damo Suzuki, Melt Banana, The Vichy Government, Help! She Can't Swim, DARTZ!, Stephen K Amos, Valerie, Curtis Walker, Das Wanderlust, Frank Turner (Million Dead) and The Seven Inches. She has also appeared at Ladyfests around the UK and literary festivals including Off The Shelf and Ilkley Literature Festival. She is a member of the Yorkshire young writers' initiative The Writing Squad, funded by the Arts Council.
In Summer 2005 she played at Glastonbury and in 2005 and 2006 at the Truck festival. She has also had radio play on BBC 6 Music (Phill Jupitus), Radio Magnetic in the UK (on their B playlist), FM4 in Austria and other local and international stations.
Although her work has been published in traditional poetry magazines and Aesthetica, she prefers to promote her performances online through downloads, CDs, her fanzine, (entitled Instant Classic), and regular podcasts. She is based in Leeds, but regularly performs at venues throughout the UK.
A self confessed fan of pop music, she has gradually moved away from using just the spoken word, and her more recent compositions are sung in a wide variety of musical styles. She is currently recording her second CD, a pop album, at the Soundmill in Leeds.
[edit] Published works
To date she has released one album, Blue Bank, and one book That Way Out.
[edit] Blue Bank
Blue Bank (March 1, 2005) (Killer Question) is based on Broadhurst's live act, it mixes studio-enhanced readings with voice and music. Some tracks are straight poetry, others have sound fx or music in the background. Rhythm Rebel is a hip hop track, remeniscent of The Streets.
Track List
- 8 Mile High
- Autoroute
- Music I
- Verb
- New Mills
- Hands
- Scabby Queen
- Legs
- Bus Park
- Dirty Pop
- Etiam Disiecti Membra Poetae
- Ustitled
- Crosshatch
- Hymns Ancient & Modern (Revised)
- Rhythm Rebel
[edit] That Way Out
Penny Broadhurst's first printed collection of poetry and lyrics, That Way Out (ISBN 0-9549684-1-7), was published on August 25 2006 by Killer Question with photography by Danny North. This brings together previously unpublished material as well as some of the lyrics recorded for the album Blue Bank and other words and lyrics originally published in X magazine, Parameter, Brittle Star, Citizen 32 and Leeds Guide.
[edit] Single
The first pop single from her forthcoming second album A Little More Sonic, is titled 'LJaded', described by The Guardian as "a tribute to the Myspace and blogging generation", together with B-side track 'London (Jeff Lynne Superstar)' which is very reminiscent of ELO. It was released on 29 January, 2007 as a free download from several sources including Myspace and Last.fm, and was accompanied by the following instructions:
Download the MP3s, burn a CD, download the artwork, print it out, stick it in a jewel case and hey presto! A Penny Broadhurst single.
Track list
Released January 2007 by Killer Disc Records, Leeds.
- 'London (Jeff Lynne Superstar)'
- 'LJaded'
Lyrics by Penny Broadhurst, music by Broadhurst/Heaton/Mcgrath.
