Gabrielle Aplin

Gabrielle Aplin
Gabrielle Aplin performing in Islington, London on 25 June 2010
Background information
Birth name	Gabrielle Ann Aplin[1]
Born	(1992-10-10) 10 October 1992[2] Bath, England, United Kingdom[1]
Origin	Chippenham, England, United Kingdom
Genres	Folk, Pop, Indie, Country
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, guitarist, pianist
Instruments	Singing, guitar, piano, drums
Years active	2008–present
Labels	Parlophone, Never Fade Records, BA1 Records
Website	gabrielleaplin.co.uk

Gabrielle Aplin (born 10 October 1992) is a British singer-songwriter from Sutton Benger, England.^[3] Aplin gained a following online after publishing acoustic covers of songs by bands such as Paramore and You Me at Six on YouTube.

Since 2010, Aplin has released three EPs and toured the United Kingdom and Europe.

In February 2012, Aplin announced she had signed to Parlophone and was recording her debut album. She gained mainstream attention the following November when she was selected to soundtrack a John Lewis television commercial with a cover of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "The Power of Love", which topped the UK Singles Chart in December 2012.^[4] The second single "Please Don't Say You Love Me" followed in 2013, it became her second top ten hit on the chart, peaking at number six.

Her debut album English Rain was released in May 2013 to positive reviews, it debuted and peaked at number two on the UK album chart, along with new single "Panic Cord", which peaked at number nineteen. The 4th single, "Home", was released in July 2013, it joined BBC Radio 1's 'C' list and BBC Radio 2's 'B' list and peaked at number forty eight on the UK Singles Chart.

Biography

Early life and career beginnings (1992–2010)

Aplin was brought up in a council house in the small village of Sutton Benger, the first of two children. At the age of 11, her parents bought her first guitar,^[5] and she says her music is influenced by listening to their Joni Mitchell and Bruce Springsteen collections growing up.^[6] She is a fan of singer-songwriters Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, as well as rock band The National.^[5] After moving to Wood Green, London for 8 months, she now lives in Richmond.^[5]

She attended Sheldon School in Chippenham, where she describes her fellow pupils as "upper-middle class and I don't think I fitted in with their lifestyles".^[5]

She went on to study music at City of Bath College,^[3] participating in the college's in-house label BA1 Records.^[7]

Aplin developed a fanbase by posting performance videos to YouTube. Her most popular videos include her original composition "Home", and covers of "The Liar and the Lighter" by You Me at Six, "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry and "Forget You" by Cee Lo Green. She has described her music as "very family orientated, very personal".^[8]

In July 2010, Aplin performed on her local radio station BBC Wiltshire.^[9] Her first release was the 5-track Acoustic EP which was released on the iTunes Store on 13 September 2010. It reached the top 25 in the UK iTunes album chart, and features the song "Reverse" which was used on E4 TV show Made in Chelsea.^[10]

Never Fade, Home and BBC Introducing (2011–12)

Her second EP Never Fade was released on 9 May 2011 and saw Aplin expand her sound, showcasing a more folk rock sound and playing all instruments herself.^{[citation needed]}

In April 2011, Aplin was invited to perform for BBC Introducing at Maida Vale Studios, where she played 3 tracks from Never Fade and a cover of the Coldplay song Fix You.^[3] Her cover is one of the most viewed videos on the BBC Introducing YouTube channel.^[11]

Aplin released her third EP, Home, on 9 January 2012. Her YouTube channel features her performing the EP in St Mary's Church, Bath. She described the release as "the most honest thing I've ever written and recorded."^[12] The lead track "Home" was featured on the iTunes Store as "single of the week" and was available to download for free as a part of iTunes' New Artists 2012 promotion. It was also played on BBC Radio 1 and was the song near the end of BBC Ones television drama series Prisoners' Wives series 2, episode 4.

English Rain (2012–present)

On 29 February 2012, Aplin announced that she had signed to Parlophone.^[13] She began recording her debut album in March, and expected it to be out in early 2013. Her first major label single "Please Don't Say You Love Me" was set for release on 10 February 2013.^[14] Aplin was working with the record producer Mike Spencer.^[15]

Aplin was confirmed as the soundtrack to the John Lewis 2012 Christmas television advertisement, covering Frankie Goes To Hollywood's "The Power of Love".^[16] In an interview, she said "I was worried people might hate me because they were so attached to the original single. But I've since been in touch with Holly Johnson, and he said some lovely things about my take on his song."^[6]

On 12 December 2012, Aplin announced that the title of her debut album would be "English Rain". In addition, she also unveiled its artwork and release date of 29 April 2013. However, the album's release date was later confirmed as 13 May 2013.^[17]

Aplin announced live on 17 February Radio 1 Chart Show that her third single would be Panic Cord. The song originally featured on her Never Fade EP and it was released on 5 May 2013, charting at #19.

On 12 March 2013, Aplin released previews of the songs that would appear on the standard edition of English Rain.

'English Rain' charted at #2 on both the UK and Scottish album charts, while reaching #11 in Ireland.

In 2013, Aplin announced that her record label, Never Fade, which was originally launched in 2010 so Aplin could release her own music, would now represent other musicians. Her first signings were Welsh folky-jazz singer Hannah Grace, who will join Aplin on a future tour, and indie folk artist Saint Raymond.^[18] Never Fade record's first release since Aplin's own 'Home EP' in January 2012 was Saint Raymond's 'Escapade EP' released on 22 April 2013.

Tours

As of November 2012, Aplin has completed six headline UK and Ireland tours. Her first headline tour, coinciding with the release of her Acoustic EP in September 2010, covered London, Birmingham, Manchester, Plymouth, Bath and Bristol. After the success of the first headline tour she then embarked on a further tour in November 2010 taking in additional cities including Cardiff, Glasgow and Newcastle. Her next tour took place shortly after the release of her Acoustic EP in November/December 2010 where she played at more cities including Leeds, Plymouth and Newcastle.

Her third tour coincided with the release of her Never Fade EP in May 2011, where she played abroad for the first time in Dublin. Following this Aplin appeared at her first festivals including Glastonbury Festival, Secret Garden Party, and Kendal Calling.

In November 2011, Aplin embarked on her next UK tour starting off with the Borderline in London. She played songs from Acoustic EP and Never Fade EP, alongside covers such as "Sheila" and a rendition of Fix You by Coldplay. In addition she premiered songs such as "Home" and "Keep Pushing Me" from her next release, Home.

In March 2012, Aplin toured Home across the UK.^[19] This was followed by four more dates in July.

In addition to her headline touring, Aplin has appeared as a support act for Matt Cardle, Charlie Simpson and Gotye.^[7] Aplin is supporting Ed Sheeran on his 2013 tour of Australia and New Zealand. Aplin announced in March 2013 that she'll be returning to UK to tour a bigger headline show across the country in autumn 2013.

In the autumn of 2013 she supported John Mayer on his "Paradise Valley" European Tour.

In 2013 Gabrielle headlined her "English Rain Tour" appearing in Newcastle, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Norwich, Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham, Cardiff, Bournemouth, London, Oxford, Exeter, Glasgow and Liverpool before moving on to a select few locations in Asia.

Discography

Albums

Extended plays

Live albums

Singles

References