Amy Wadge

Amy Wadge
The Celtic Festival of Wales (2010)
Background information
Birth name Amy Victoria Wadge
Born 22 December 1975 (1975-12-22) (age 42)
Origin Backwell, Somerset
United Kingdom
Genres
Occupation(s) Singer-songwriter
Years active 1992–present
Associated acts
Website www.amywadge.com

Amy Victoria Wadge (born 22 December 1975) is a British singer-songwriter living in Wales but originally from Bristol. She has co-written tracks with Ed Sheeran, including his hit song "Thinking Out Loud" for which she won the 2016 Grammy Award for Song of the Year.

Early life

Wadge was born and brought up in Backwell, a small village just outside Bristol, England. Her father's passion for music influenced her enormously, and on the subject of her paternal influences she has said that she "grew up listening to early Elton John, Joni Mitchell and James Taylor. That was the stuff I cut my teeth on and now I listen to everything you can possibly imagine from hip hop to country".[1]

She began to write her own songs at the age of 9 on the family piano. When she was 11, her parents bought her her first guitar from a junk shop. It was when Wadge taught herself to play along to Tracy Chapman's debut album that she discovered her affinity for the guitar.

While still at school, Wadge regularly gigged around Bristol. At the age of 14, she signed her first record deal, along with her band Two of a Mind. She released her first single at the age of 16.[2]

Career

Songwriting

Apart from writing songs for herself, Wadge has been active in collaborating with new performers in Britain, most notably Ed Sheeran. The two collaborated on a number of songs, and Sheeran titled his self-released 2010 EP Songs I Wrote with Amy. One track was included with the deluxe edition of Sheeran's album +.[3] Wadge continued her collaborative relationship with Sheeran in 2014. The single "Thinking Out Loud", written on a guitar given to Sheeran, features on the album x.[4]

Wadge has also written with Lewis Watson, with tracks "Halo" and "Sink or Swim" appearing on the album The Morning (All of the Songs). She has collaborated with Shannon Saunders, Anna Pancaldi and other notable artists. She wrote and performed the songs for the soundtrack of the BBC Wales series Keeping Faith in 2018, and is writing songs for the second series.[5]

Solo performer

Having moved to Wales and graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Wadge started performing at open mic sessions in Cardiff's Toucan Club and soon started developing a fanbase and gaining critical recognition. She was quickly spotted and received encouragement from some of the big players in the city, among them Manics/Catatonia/Super Furry Animals producer Greg Haver, who recorded her debut mini-album, The Famous Hour. This album "brought her more attention and acclaim", and the BBC invited her to launch the digital radio station BBC 6 Music along with Lenny Kravitz and Stereophonics.[6]

In 2002, Wadge won "Best Female Solo Act" at the annual Welsh Music Awards, ahead of Charlotte Church. In 2003, she toured Australia with the Welsh Rugby Team during the Rugby World Cup with the song "Adre Nôl". Later that year, she retained her "Best Female Solo Act" at the Welsh Music Awards.

2004 saw her release her first full album, WOJ (a play on her surname, which is often mispronounced), to critical acclaim. In June 2004, she performed at London's Royal Albert Hall on a bill that included Jeff Beck and Jan Hammer, charted by Billboard magazine as one of the world's top-grossing concerts of the summer.[7]

2006 saw the release of Wadge's second album, No Sudden Moves. The album includes a cover of the Manic Street Preachers single A Design for Life. 2008 saw the release of her third album, Bump, which (according to her own sleeve notes) was recorded over two days when she was 8 months pregnant. It includes a cover of "Don't Leave Me This Way" (originally recorded by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and later covered by The Communards).

On Monday 2 November 2009, Wadge released her new single "Hold Me" with new record label, Choice Music. She also released a Welsh version of the track ("Dal Fi") which was a fundraiser for her daughter's Ysgol Feithrin (Welsh nursery school), with 20p from the sale of every Welsh language download being donated to Mudiad Meithrin, a Welsh language nursery organisation.[8]

In 2010 and 2011, Wadge and Pete Riley released a CD (Rivers Apart), as well as two live DVDs, and toured extensively together.[9] Her single "USA? We'll Wait and See" was released in both English and Welsh.[10]

She occasionally presents shows on BBC Radio Wales. She presented Suck It and See, a programme about the harmonica on BBC Radio 4.

Personal life

Wadge is married to actor Alun ap Brinley. They livelives near Pontypridd, in Wales.[11]

Discography

Albums

  • The Famous Hour (mini-album) (2002) – FF Vinyl
  • WOJ (2004) – Manhattan Records
  • No Sudden Moves (2006) – Manhattan Records
  • Bump (2008) – Amy Wadge Records
  • Acoustig (2009)
  • Rivers Apart (2010) – with Pete Riley
  • Afterglow (2012) – with Pete Riley
  • Amy Wadge (2016)
  • Walking Disaster (2018)
  • Keeping Faith (2018)[12]

Singles

  • "The Great Pretender" (1992)
  • "Saddest Eyes" (2001) – FF Vinyl
  • "Just in Time" (2004) – Manhattan Records
  • "USA? We'll wait and see.../USA, oes angen mwy...?" (2005) – Manhattan Records
  • "A Design for Life" (2005) – Manhattan Records
  • "Hold Me" (2009) – Choice Music

DVDs

  • Amy Wadge 'Live' Mini DVD (2006) – Manhattan Records
  • Amy Wadge and Pete Riley, Live at Acapela DVD (2010)
  • Rivers Apart DVD Amy Wadge and Pete Riley (2011)

References

  1. ↑ Wadge, Amy (18 March 2014). ""A Real Muso's Gig!" – Amy Wadge Interview". Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
  2. ↑ Amy Wadge, Maverick
  3. ↑ Wadge, Amy (17 February 2012). "Wales Music: Amy Wadge: My role in Ed Sheeran's success". BBC. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
  4. ↑ Wadge, Amy (30 June 2014). "How I wrote Ed Sheeran's song...On Harry Styles' guitar". WalesOnline. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
  5. ↑ "Bafta Cymru: Keeping Faith songwriter's show delight". VVC News. 14 October 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
  6. ↑ Amy Wadge, BBC Wales
  7. ↑ Billboard. Vol. 116, No. 30. Neilsen Business Media, Inc. 24 July 2004. p. 19. ISSN 0006-2510.
  8. ↑ "Wadge to release Single in Welsh". WalesOnline.
  9. ↑ Amy Wadge and Pete Riley Archived 21 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine., Moneypenny Agency
  10. ↑ Pontypridd-based singer mum Amy Wadge gets back on the road to avoid stage fright, WalesOnline
  11. ↑ https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/ed-sheeran-amy-wadge-13169909
  12. ↑ https://www.amazon.co.uk/Keeping-Faith-Amy-Wadge/dp/B079VN95SL
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