Lorraine Bowen

Lorraine Bowen
Background information
Also known as The Lorraine Bowen Experience
Born 31 October 1961
Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England
Occupation(s) Singer, songwriter, musician
Website www.lorrainebowen.co.uk

Lorraine Bowen (born 31 October 1961, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, England) is an English singer, songwriter and musician.[1] Born in Cheltenham, Bowen was brought up in Chelmsford, Essex.

Early career

She studied music at the University of Surrey,[1] and then busked around London. She was a member of two bands in the 1980s: See You in Vegas and The Dinner Ladies, as well as performing regularly with Billy Bragg on stage and on record. She has also made many appearances on BBC Radio 4 including John Shuttleworth's show Radio Shuttleworth and the 1999 all-female sketch show Heated Rollers, starring Lynda Bellingham, Gwyneth Strong and Joanna Monro. She has also written for BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends.[1]

Solo career

In 1990, Billy Bragg encouraged Lorraine to start a solo career. Armed with three songs, a Casio keyboard and an ironing board, she started to perform solo shows under name of The Lorraine Bowen Experience. This has led to shows all over the world, including festivals in Winnipeg, Saskatoon, Vancouver, San Francisco, Orlando, Michigan, and in the UK, Glastonbury, Edinburgh, Glasgay, Bestival, The Big Chill, and The Secret Garden, and many shows in Italy and Spain. Her songs are quirky, funny and often with a sense of kitsch.[2] Themes include: food, film stars (one of her most popular songs is about Julie Christie), mobile phones and launderettes. They have catchy choruses and she encourages audience participation.[2]

Polyester Fiesta!

Lorraine Bowen's Polyester Fiesta show celebrates polyester and has 4 models, a scientist and a wardrobe mistress. Lorraine acts as hostess, model and sings down the catwalk. Lorraine Bowen has been a collector of vintage polyester outfits since visiting jumble sales as a girl and the collection has been featured on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.[3]

Polyester Fiesta! has been performed at Glasgay,[4] The South Bank Vintage Festival, Brighton Fringe Festival,[5] John Lewis, Colchester Arts Centre [6] and Royal Vauxhall Tavern among others.

Comfort Zone

Lorraine Bowen Comfort Zone show was a 'durational project' of three connected concerts exploring hibernation in connection with Brighton's Pink Fringe and the Nightingale Theatre. The show ran through the winter of 2011 and 2012 [7]

Lorraine Bowen Meets Barbara Moore

Lorraine Bowen discovered Barbara Moore in Bognor Regis in 2011 while interviewing for Brighton's Lorraine Bowen's Stereo Spectacular radio programme. Barbara Moore is a legendary 1960s composer and arranger who worked with Jimi Hendrix and others but is not widely known. Lorraine created 'Lorraine Bowen meets Barbara Moore' to interview Barbara on stage and to show others how prolific Barbara had been in the 1960s and 1970s. Barbara plays the piano during the show with moving examples of how she arranged 60s pop songs including Elton John's Border Song.

Work with other Artists

Billy Bragg

Lorraine was discovered by Billy Bragg at the Hackney Empire performing with The Dinner Ladies.[8] After a successful audition to fill in for Cara Tivey's maternity leave, she found herself performing her first show with Billy at the Liverpool Opera House as part of the Workers Playtime Tour. She then toured East Germany just prior to reunification, performing in Army camps and stadia.

John Shuttleworth

Lorraine made an appearance in two episodes of Radio Shuttleworth with John Shuttleworth (Series 1, episode 2 and Series 2, episode 3).

Radio

Lorraine Bowen's Stereo Spectacular[9] is a much loved quirky sonic radio experience made up of binaural field recordings, interviews and eclectic tracks. Award winning,[9] featured on Brighton's Radio Reverb, the shows are now available as a podcast.[10]

Films

Lorraine provided the soundtrack for No Deposit, No Return by Dallas Campbell.[11] Lorraine Bowen's original song "Julie Christie" appeared on the Canadian independent film, Better Than Chocolate soundtrack.[12] Bowen also provides vocals on "There Must Be An Angel"[13] in Sorrentino's 2013 film, The Great Beauty.[14]

Television

She sang on the Fantastic Plastic Machine cover of "There Must Be an Angel", which featured in the British sitcom Spaced.[15][16]

Discography

OTHER ARTISTS BILLY BRAGG

THE DAMNED

Teaching Work

Bowen also worked as a part-time music teacher in schools across Hackney. Since relocating to Brighton, she has been running singing workshops at the Brighton Dome[25] and Bexhill's De La Warr Pavilion.[26]

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Gregory, Andy (2002) International Who's Who in Popular Music, Europa, ISBN 1-85743-161-8, p. 56
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 Maupin, Elizabeth (1993) "Bowen's Perkiness Won't Stop: Bubbly and Uninhibited Lorraine Bowen Even Gets the Audience Involved in Her Wackiness", Orlando Sentinel, 29 April 1993, p. E1
  3. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b00zdbj3
  4. ↑ <https://www.list.co.uk/article/38346-interview-lorraine-bowen-celebrates-material-world-in-polyester-fiesta/
  5. ↑ http://www.thenewcurrent.co.uk/#!polyester-fiesta/c1pzx
  6. ↑ http://www.eadt.co.uk/ea-life/martin_newell_s_joy_of_essex_polyester_fiesta_would_bring_crackle_back_to_saturday_night_1_2199407
  7. ↑ http://m.theargus.co.uk/news/9529847.Lorraine_Bowen___s_Comfort_Zone__The_Nightingale_Theatre__Brighton__February_11/
  8. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Dinner-Ladies-These-Knees-Have-Seen-The-World/release/1845941
  9. ↑ 9.0 9.1 http://arts.commedia.org.uk/news/modulate-project-recording/
  10. ↑ https://itunes.apple.com/gb/podcast/lorraine-bowens-podcasts-stereo/id507208805?i=135852165&mt=2
  11. ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/filmnetwork/films/p004pws9
  12. ↑ [Better Than Chocolate discogs page]
  13. ↑ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zIGPUDVrRa0
  14. ↑ IMDB page
  15. ↑ Fantastic Plastic Machine's imdb page
  16. ↑ Fantastic Plastic Machine - Les Plus discogs page
  17. ↑ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Greatest-Hits-Lorraine-Bowen-Experience/dp/B0000258BD/ref=sr_1_cc_1?s=aps&ie=UTF8&qid=1421582770&sr=1-1-catcorr&keywords=lorraine+bowen+greatest+hits+vol+1
  18. ↑ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Greatest-Hits-Lorraine-Bowen-Experience/dp/B0000252AF/ref=sr_1_fkmr0_2?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1421582832&sr=1-2-fkmr0&keywords=lorraine+bowen+greatest+hits+vol+2
  19. ↑ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Bossy-Nova-Lorraine-Bowen-Experience/dp/B000056JQJ/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1421582888&sr=1-1&keywords=lorraine+bowen+bossy+nova
  20. ↑ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Lorraine-Bowens-Vital-Organs-Bowen/dp/B000GIXWF6/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1421582943&sr=1-1&keywords=lorraine+bowen+vital+organs
  21. ↑ http://www.amazon.co.uk/Suburban-Exotica-Lorraine-Bowen/dp/B004A9T18Y/ref=sr_1_1?s=music&ie=UTF8&qid=1421582977&sr=1-1&keywords=lorraine+bowen+suburban+exotica
  22. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Billy-Bragg-The-Internationale/release/739981
  23. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Billy-Bragg-Dont-Try-This-At-Home/release/1712955
  24. ↑ http://www.discogs.com/Damned-So-Whos-Paranoid/release/2087087
  25. ↑ http://brightondome.org
  26. ↑ http://www.dlwp.com/event/deck-the-halls-with-bexhill-voices

External links