Julia Fordham

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Julia Fordham
Cover of debut album Julia Fordham
Background information
Origin	Portsmouth, England
Genre(s)	Pop
Years active	1988–present
Label(s)	Circa Records Virgin Records Vanguard Records

Julia Fordham (born August 10, 1962, Portsmouth, England) is a British singer-songwriter based in California. Her professional career started in the early 1980s, under the name "Jules Fordham", as a backing singer for Mari Wilson and Kim Wilde.

[edit] Career

In 1988, she released her first album on Circa Records, Julia Fordham. The album, which contained the UK Top 40 single "Happy Ever After" (#27 in August), introduced her as a singer with considerable vocal range, and her deeply emotional lyrics endeared her to a small, committed audience.^{[citation needed]} Licensed to Virgin Records America, the album was a minor hit and paved the way for the success of 1989's Porcelain. The single, "Manhattan Skyline", was an adult contemporary radio and VH-1 hit.

Fordham has had chart success since that time, and she continued to record throughout the 1990s. Three subsequent albums: 1991's Swept which featured the UK Top 20 single "Love Moves in Mysterious Ways" (The Butcher’s Wife soundtrack – a movie starring Demi Moore), 1994's Falling Forward and 1997's East West received some critical praise. 1998's The Julia Fordham Collection recaps the best-known songs from these five albums and included new versions of recordings including "Where Does The Time Go" which featured the vocals of Curtis Stigers.

Signed in 1999 to a Division One/Atlantic, Fordham recorded an album called Concrete Love. The album was produced by Larry Klein who has worked with many artists including Joni Mitchell and with Fordham previously on Falling Forward. The release was cancelled when a corporate shuffle caused her record label to be closed and her contract was terminated. Promotional copies had already been distributed to the press and fans leapt at the chance to own the album and as a result it was selling for huge amounts on auction websites.^{[citation needed]} This is thought to have affected the albums eventual release in 2001.^{[citation needed]}

The release of Concrete Love featured a re-recording of its title track as a duet with India.Arie as well as different cover artwork. It emerged on Vanguard Records and various other labels internationally including Sanctuary Records in the UK. Remixes of the single "Wake Up With You" were released and it became a hit on Billboard's dance chart. An acoustic club tour played to sold-out shows across America and she visited the UK and Japan. The album gained Fordham some of the most favorable reviews of her career.^{[citation needed]}

She followed up this album with her seventh record, That's Life, which was released on her 42nd birthday in 2004. She performed more live shows which included a successful run of shows in Japan at the Blue Note venues.

That's Live, a live album and DVD (filmed in Los Angeles, California with guests India.Arie and Judith Owen), was released in January 2005. Fordham then came to the end of her recording contract with Vanguard.

Also in 2005, Fordham's sister had a book published, Plus One: A Year in the Life of a Hollywood Nobody based on her experiences of being Julia's sister and living in Los Angeles. The rights to the book were duly bought by Pembridge Pictures, and it is expected to made into a movie.^{[citation needed]}

Without a new record contract, Fordham continued to record, releasing independently a rewrite of debut single "Happy Ever After," in aid of tsunami relief. This was backed by two tracks written and recorded with Aadesh Shrivastava. The single was released to download and then made available to purchase on CD. It was also backed by Richard Branson who offered to stock the CD in his Virgin Megastores. The project was nominated for an OSSA award.

In 2006, she released her Baby Love EP via AWAL (Artists Without A Label). The EP is a collection of songs inspired by the birth of her daughter, Marley Rose. Also in 2006, Fordham appeared in a music video for the Judith Owen track "Here" playing the part of Owen's mother. The video was directed by the actress Jamie Lee Curtis.

In September 2007, EMI released Songbook. It was a Philippines only release and included previous studio recordings as well as live cuts and rare tracks.

In November 2007, it was announced that Fordham had completed a new album which was going to be released via a 'start up' company called NovaTunes. After some delay China Blue was released as a download-only album in late January 2008.^[1] It was a jazz-based album of self-penned songs with the exception of one track which is a cover of a Michael McDonald song.