Kristyna Myles

Kristyna Myles
Kristyna Myles
Background information
Born	(1984-05-10) 10 May 1984 Leicester, England
Genres	Pop, soul
Occupations	Singer-songwriter
Instruments	Vocals, piano, flute
Years active	2005–present
Labels	Decca
Website	www.kristynamyles.com

Kristyna Myles (born 10 May 1984) is a British singer-songwriter who is currently based in Manchester. Originally from Leicestershire, she came into prominence after winning Busk Idol, a 2005 nationwide singing competition organised by BBC Radio 5 Live. Since winning, she has featured on albums by Chris de Burgh and Rick Guard, and has performed on television programmes such as Songs of Praise, Wogan Now & Then and Play It Again. She also supported de Burgh on nine dates of his European tour. In 2009, she was nominated for a MOBO award as part of gospel act DTWG : Desire To Worship God and has recently signed a five-album deal with Decca Records.

Life and music career

1984–2002: Early life

Myles was born and raised in Leicestershire. She attended Thomas Estley Community College in Broughton Astley before moving up to Lutterworth Grammar School (now Lutterworth College) at age 14. She studied Flute with Elizabeth Hextall {Black Rat} and later recorded the Black Rat track 'Jane' which was on the album 'Rich Pickings' Her first experience of the music industry came when she was 16 years old, when she was invited by Basement Jaxx to audition for the lead vocals in their single "Romeo".^{[citation needed]} In 2002 she was accepted into the University of Salford, where she studied Popular Music and Recording^[1] and was in the same year as Manchester bands Delphic and Everything Everything.^[2]

2003–2007: Busk Idol and Chris de Burgh

While studying at university, Myles formed a band and won a national songwriting competition. This led to her having her song "Thank You" released as a single in the Netherlands and performing in Amsterdam for the launch party.^{[citation needed]} After graduating, she busked on Market Street, Manchester, before representing the city on BBC Radio 5 Live's Busk Idol competition in 2005, which she went on to win with her guitarist Ben Williams.^[1]

By winning Busk Idol, Myles caught the attention of British singer Chris de Burgh,^[3] who invited her to record a duet entitled "Raging Storm" with him at London's Abbey Road Studios, for his latest album The Storyman.^[4] Myles performed the song with de Burgh at one of his concerts at the NEC Arena in Birmingham in 2006^[5] and on the television show Wogan Now & Then. She was subsequently offered an opening slot on nine dates of de Burgh's 2006 European tour, which saw her perform in cities such as Frankfurt, Munich and Amsterdam.^[6]

	"My Lord" "My Lord" from One of a Kind made use of brass accompaniment and a backing choir.
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Later that year, Myles featured on an Manchester-themed episode of the BBC show Songs of Praise, where she performed her own composition "My Lord".^[7] In January 2007, Myles returned to the city centre of Manchester to help guitarist Andy Rourke and the annual charity concert Versus Cancer set a world record for largest group busk^[8] then, in April, performed with de Burgh and singer Aled Jones on the television programme Play It Again.^[9] She released her debut EP, One of a Kind, as a digital download through Roots Music Group in 2007, which featured four original compositions: "One of a Kind", "My Lord", "Setback" and "Sunshine".^[10] Myles also featured on the track "Sense of Purpose" from the EP The Bells of St Mary by British band Detours, which was also used on their studio album Sense of Purpose.^[11]

2008–2011

During 2008, Myles was the only unsigned artist to feature on the Universal Music compilation album Songbird 2008, with "My Lord", a track from One of a Kind.^[12] In July she supported Mick Hucknall on part of his UK tour, playing at venues such as Echo Arena Liverpool^[13][14] and in October she performed at Oxjam events in Lancaster, Lancashire, alongside Joe De Luca and Mike Dignam.^[15][16] During the next year she recorded a duet named "Making Movies" with jazz singer Rick Guard for his 2009 album Anyone But Me. That August, Myles was nominated for Best Gospel Act at the MOBO Awards 2009 as part of the gospel collective DTWG : Desire To Worship God,^[17] but lost out to Victizzle.^[18]

Myles has been performing at venues and festivals across the UK and Europe throughout 2010 and 11. She played at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas in March^[2] and featured on BBC Radio Manchester in May.^[19]

2012

Myles recently finished recording tracks for her debut album with producer Ken Nelson and announced that she had signed a five-album deal with Decca Records and that her debut album, called Pinch Me Quick, is due for release in September 2012. A first single from the album called I'm Not Going Back is due for release on 16 July.

As part of the build-up to the release Myles is campaigning to raise funds for British homeless charity Centrepoint. She plans to busk and fund raise across the UK and will be playing guest slots at Festivals like the Kew The Music Festival at London's Kew Gardens in order to encourage donations.

In June Myles will be supporting Ben Montague on his UK tour.

Discography

Extended plays

Other appearances

The following songs have been officially released, but do not feature on an album by Myles.

See also

• List of Decca Records artists

References

External links

• Official website
• Kristyna Myles at AllMusic
• Kristyna Myles discography at Discogs
• Kristyna Myles discography at MusicBrainz
• Kristyna Myles on Myspace
• Kristyna Myles on Twitter
• Kristyna Myles's channel on YouTube
• Interview with Kristyna Myles on Yuzu Melodies