Fiona Bevan

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Fiona Bevan
Genres singer-songwriter; pop; folk; soul
Instruments vocal, guitar, piano
Labels Fallen Idol
Associated acts Gwyneth Herbert
Website www.fionabevan.co.uk

Fiona Bevan is an English singer-songwriter from Suffolk, who lives in Hackney, London.[1] She wrote, with Ed Sheeran, the song "Little Things" which became a number-one single for English-Irish boy band One Direction.[2] She also performed on Gwyneth Herbert's 2013 album The Sea Cabinet, sharing writing credits on two of the songs. Her solo releases include the 2011 EP Us and the Darkness.

Early life

Bevan is of British and Canadian parentage.[1] She was brought up in Suffolk and went to secondary school in Colchester.[3]

Poussez Posse

For several months in 2011, Bevan was joint lead guitarist in the Poussez Posse, a band fronted by Georgina Baillie and mentored by Adam Ant. Fellow members included other lead guitarist Danie Cox and bassist Molly Spiers MacLeod (daughter of Spizzenergi), both currently of self-styled "flock rock" band The Featherz. This version of the Posse played several support slots for Ant in 2011 and recorded tracks for a planned album. It was replaced by a new line-up, still fronted by Baillie, which continued to support Ant on UK and Australian tours until the beginning of 2013. Rehearsal footage from 2011 of Bevan's lineup of the Poussez Posse is included in Blueblack Hussar, a documentary about Ant directed by Jack Bond.

"Take Me Home"

Bevan co-wrote the song "Little Things", a mid-tempo pop and folk ballad about the insistence that flaws are what make a person unique. It appeared on One Direction's album, also called Take Me Home, and was released by Syco Music on 12 November 2012 as a single. Although the track received mixed reviews from contemporary music critics,[4][5] it became the group's second number-one hit in the United Kingdom, while reaching the top ten in Australia, Ireland, and New Zealand. It also attained top forty positions in Belgium (Wallonia), Canada, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, and the United States. The single has been certified platinum by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) for shipments of 1,000,000 copies.

The band performed the track on both the UK and US versions of The X Factor and during their worldwide Take Me Home Tour (2013).

The song was written by Ed Sheeran and Fiona Bevan, and produced by Jake Gosling.[2] In October 2012, Sheeran acknowledged Bevan's songwriting credit in an interview with British radio network Capital FM: "The great thing about it is I wrote that song with a girl called Fiona Bevan when I was 17 and we lost the song. I've kept in touch with Fiona, we've done gigs and stuff and about two months ago she sent me the tune and was like, 'Oh, do you remember this?' I was like, 'Yeah, I do remember that', and I was in the studio with the One Direction boys at the time and I was playing it and they were like, 'We really like that'. It's got one of my favourite lines that I've ever written in a song."[6]

The Sea Cabinet

Bevan co-wrote, with Gwyneth Herbert, two songs on Herbert's 2013 album The Sea Cabinet – "I Still Hear the Bells" and "The King's Shilling" – and performed with Herbert on the album and at its London launch at Wilton's Music Hall in May 2013.[7]

Other recordings

Bevan's solo recordings include the 2011 EP, Us and the Darkness, which she co-produced with Robin Bayton. She takes lead vocals and plays guitar on the EP and is accompanied by Rosalie Bevan on bass and James Crichlow on violin.[8] One of the songs on the EP, "Dial D for Denial", was a semi-finalist at the 2011 International Songwriting Competition.[1]

She sang "Pirates and Diamonds" on OneTaste Collective Album Vol. 2, which was released on 14 June 2010.

Bevan also appeared on Winter Hunter Remixes by Living Graham Bond, which was released on 26 July 2010 on the Fat label.[9]

Her song "Love in a Cold Climate" was included on the For Folk's Sake Christmas 2011 compilation album.[10]

With Neil Luck she co-composed music for, and performed along­side the avant-garde string ensem­ble ARCO on, Last Wane Days (squib-box), a two-act mon­odrama for voice and ensem­ble,[11] which was released on 12 March 2012. In a review, Tim Rutherford-Johnson said: "Bevan in particular can turn her voice on a dime. As co-composers, Luck and Bevan use sound and recurring motifs cleverly, so that the rampant dislocations achieve an unexpected coherence and continuity. Serious artistry".[12]

With Ed Sheeran and Terrius Nash she performed "Sight of You" on The Party Machines' album 2013 Party Jams.[13]

Discography

Album Release date Label
Plant Your Heart 16 November 2009[14] Fallen Idol
EP Release date Label
In the Swimming Pool 16 February 2007[15] Fiona Bevan
Us and the Darkness March 2011[8] Venus Climbing

References and footnotes

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Victor Alfieri (16 March 2012). "Woman of Indie: Fiona Bevan – Us and Darkness". Indie Music Reviewer. Retrieved 30 July 2013. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 (liner notes). "Take Me Home". One Direction.
  3. ↑ "Chart success for songwriter and former Colchester schoolgirl Fiona Bevan". Daily Gazette (Colchester). 20 November 2012. Retrieved 30 July 2013. 
  4. ↑ Alexis Petridis (8 November 2012). "One Direction: Take Me Home – review". The Guardian (Guardian News and Media). Retrieved 9 November 2012. 
  5. ↑ Grady Smith (29 October 2012). "One Direction release 'Little Things', still 'love' you even though you're fat and terrible". Entertainment Weekly (Time Inc.). Retrieved 8 December 2012. 
  6. ↑ Lewis Corner (25 October 2012). "One Direction new single contains my favorite lyrics, says Ed Sheeran". Digital Spy. Hearst Magazines UK. Retrieved 1 November 2012. 
  7. ↑ John Fordham (28 May 2013). "Gwyneth Herbert – review: Wilton's Music Hall, London". The Guardian. Retrieved 30 July 2013. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 "Fiona Bevan – Us & The Darkness". Discogs. Retrieved 30 July 2013. 
  9. ↑ "Winter Hunter Remixes MP3 Music". CD Universe. Retrieved 30 July 2013. 
  10. ↑ "For Folk's Sake Christmas 2011 (2011)". For Folk's Sake. Retrieved 30 July 2013. 
  11. ↑ "New release- Last Wane Days". Squib. 17 March 2012. Retrieved 1 August 2013. 
  12. ↑ Tim Rutherford- Johnson (5 April 2012). "Pocket reviews for April". Neil Luck, Fiona Bevan, ARCO – Last Wane Days. The Rambler. Retrieved 1 August 2013. 
  13. ↑ "2013 Party Jams MP3 Music". CD Universe. Retrieved 30 July 2013. 
  14. ↑ "Fiona Bevan – Plant Your Heart". Discogs. Retrieved 30 July 2013. 
  15. ↑ "Fiona Bevan: In the Swimming Pool". AllMusic. Retrieved 30 July 2013. 

External links

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