Laura Mvula

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Laura Mvula

Glastonbury Festival, 30 June 2013
Background information
Birth name Laura Douglas
Born (1986-04-23) 23 April 1986[citation needed]
Birmingham, United Kingdom
Genres Soul, jazz
Occupations Singer-songwriter, musician
Years active 2012—present
Labels RCA
Website www.lauramvula.com

Laura Mvula (née Douglas)[1] is an English soul singer-songwriter from Birmingham. Her debut album Sing to the Moon was produced by Steve Brown and released on 4 March 2013.

Early and personal life

Mvula grew up in the Birmingham suburbs of Selly Park and Kings Heath with two younger siblings, and was influenced by the girl band Eternal.[2] In 2005, Mvula sang with Black Voices, an a cappella group set up by her aunt.[2][3] In 2008, she formed a jazz/neo-soul group called Judyshouse, singing lead vocals and writing material for the band.[4] She is also Director of the Lichfield Community Gospel Choir, founded by Black Voices and Lichfield Festival in 2009.[5] She also frequently directs the Alvechurch Community Choir.[6] She graduated from the Birmingham Conservatoire with a degree in composition.[7][8] While she was working as a supply teacher in a Birmingham secondary school, she started writing songs on her laptop.[7] She was working as a receptionist when she sent out two demos to several people in the music industry. One of them, Steve Brown, heard the songs and sent them to his manager Kwame Kwaten who would become Laura's manager.[2][8] Laura is married to singer Themba Mvula.[2]

Career

After several showcases, Laura Mvula was signed by Colin Barlow to Sony subsidiary RCA.[8] She released her debut extended play, She, on 16 November 2012. Her debut studio album, Sing to the Moon, was released on 4 March 2013.[8][9] She worked on the album with producer Steve Brown [10][11] and mix engineer Tom Elmhirst.[12] Paul Lester from The Guardian described her music as "gospeldelia", calling it a new musical genre.[1] The album was preceded by the single "Green Garden".[8] The song is an elegy to her home in Kings Heath.[2] On 6 December 2012, Mvula was shortlisted for the Critics' Choice award at the 2013 BRIT Awards.[13] On 9 December, she was nominated for the BBC's Sound of 2013 poll, and finished in fourth position.[14] On 1 February 2013, she gave her first live TV performance on The Graham Norton Show on BBC One, singing "Green Garden".[15] Mvula stated her influences include Jill Scott, Erykah Badu, Lauryn Hill.[16]

Sing to the Moon reached number 9 on the UK Albums Chart and within the top 100 in seven other countries and has so far reached 173 in the US Billboard 200

In October 2013, Mvula won awards for best female act and best R&B or soul artist at the 2013 MOBO Awards.[17]

Discography

Studio albums

Title Details Peak chart positions
UK
[18]		 AUS
[19]		 BEL
[20]		 DEN
[21]		 FR
[22]		 IRE
[23]		 NL
[24]		 NZ
[25]		 SWI
[26]		 US
[27]
Sing to the Moon 9 33 26 40 93 15 58 16 83 173

Extended plays

Title Details
iTunes Festival: London 2012
  • Released: 16 September 2012
  • Label: RCA
  • Format: Digital EP
She
  • Released: 16 November 2012
  • Label: RCA
  • Format: Digital EP

Singles

Year Single Peak chart positions Album
UK
[18]		 BEL
[20]		 DEN
[21]		 IRE
[23]		 NL
[24]
2012 "She" — — — — — Sing to the Moon
2013 "Green Garden" 31 3 40 50 74
"That's Alright" — 52 — — —
"Sing to the Moon" — — — — —
"—" denotes single that did not chart or was not released.

Promotional singles

Title Year Album
"Like the Morning Dew" 2012 Sing to the Moon

Awards and nominations

  • 2013 BRIT Awards : Nominated for Critics' Choice Award [13]
  • 2013 BBC's Sound of 2013 : Fourth Place [14]
  • 2013 Mercury Prize : Nominated for debut album Sing To The Moon [28]
  • 2013 MOBO Awards : Winner for Best Female Act and Best R&B / Soul Act. Nominated for Best Video and Best Album.[29]
  • 2013 Urban Music Awards : Nominated for Best Newcomer, Best Female Act and Artist of The Year [30]
  • 2013 Q Awards : Nominated for Best New Act [31]
  • 2014 BRIT Awards: British Female Solo Artist and British Breakthrough Act (Pending)

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 Lester, Paul (31 December 2012). "Ones to watch in 2013: Laura Mvula". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 February 2013. 
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 Jones, Alison (22 february 2013). "Birmingham singer songwriter Laura Mvula singled out to be music's next big star". Birmingham Post (Trinity Mirror). Retrieved 22 February 2013. 
  3. ↑ "Black voices". 
  4. ↑ "judyshouse". 
  5. ↑ "lichfield choir". 
  6. ↑ "alvechurch community choir". 
  7. ↑ 7.0 7.1 "Laura Mvula to support Jessie Ware on tour". counteract-magazine.com. Retrieved 10 February 2013. 
  8. ↑ 8.0 8.1 8.2 8.3 8.4 Cosyns, Poppy. "Brit Awards nominee Laura Mvula: Everything’s gone at 110mph". The Sun (News Group Newspapers). Retrieved 22 February 2013. 
  9. ↑ "Sing To The Moon out now". lauramvula.com. 
  10. ↑ Alexis Petridis, "Laura Mvula: Sing to the Moon – review", The Guardian, 28 February 2013.
  11. ↑ Neil McCormick, "Laura Mvula, Sing To the Moon, CD review", The Telegraph, 1 March 2013.
  12. ↑ "Album Mixing for Sing to the Moon". 
  13. ↑ 13.0 13.1 "Brits Critics' Choice tips three new acts for 2013". BBC. 6 December 2012. Retrieved 10 December 2012. 
  14. ↑ 14.0 14.1 "Sound of 2013 Profile: Laura Mvula". BBC. 2012-12-10. Retrieved 2012-12-10. 
  15. ↑ "Laura Mvula performs 'Green Garden' live on Graham Norton". The British Blacklist. Retrieved 10 February 2013. 
  16. ↑ "influences". 
  17. ↑ http://www.theguardian.com/music/2013/oct/21/2013-mobo-awards-laura-mvula
  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 "Laura Mvula > UK Charts". officialcharts.com/ Official Charts Company. 
  19. ↑ "Discography Laura Mvula". australian-charts.com/ Hung Medien. 
  20. ↑ 20.0 20.1 "Discografie Laura Mvula". ultratop.be/nl/ Hung Medien. 
  21. ↑ 21.0 21.1 "Discography Laura Mvula". danishcharts.com/ Hung Medien. 
  22. ↑ "Discography Laura Mvula". lescharts.com/ Hung Medien. 
  23. ↑ 23.0 23.1 Peak positions for Ireland:
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 "Discografie Laura Mvula". dutchcharts.nl/ Hung Medien. 
  25. ↑ "Discography Laura Mvula". charts.org.nz/ Hung Medien. 
  26. ↑ "Discographie Laura Mvula". hitparade.ch/ Hung Medien. 
  27. ↑ http://www.billboard.com/artist/1561798/laura-mvula
  28. ↑ http://www.mercuryprize.com/aoty/shortlist.php
  29. ↑ http://www.mobo.com/news-blogs/mobo-awards-2013-nominations-list-revealed
  30. ↑ http://urbanmusicawards.net/2013/09/11th-annual-urban-music-awards-2013-nominations-revealed/
  31. ↑ http://news.qthemusic.com/2013/09/david_bowie_arctic_monkeys_daf.html

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