Alana Henderson | |
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![]() Alana at Byron Bay Bluesfest in 2015 | |
Background information | |
Birth name | Alana Henderson |
Born | Dungannon, County Tyrone, Northern Ireland | 6 October 1988
Genres | |
Occupations |
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Instruments |
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Years active | 2013–present |
Website | alanahenderson |
Alana Henderson (born 6 October 1988), [1] is a Northern Irish musician, cellist, singer and songwriter from Dungannon. [2] She released her debut EP, Wax & Wane in 2013, and her single, Let This Remain, in 2017. She is now living in Belfast. [3]
Alana Henderson was born in Dungannon, Northern Ireland. [4] With her family from County Armagh, Alana grew up in a very music-friendly environment, and started singing and dancing from a very young age. Alana attended St Patrick's Academy, Dungannon and picked up cello there. Alana studied Law at Queen's University, Belfast, determined to become a lawyer, but in her words, "Law was incredibly dry, quite boring and I really began to feel frustrated and so I started songwriting." [2] After completing the degree, she eventually left to become a singer-songwriter, just before her solicitor apprenticeship started. [3]
On 11 March 2013, Alana released her debut EP Wax & Wane, which also included "Song about a Song", "The Tower", and "Two Turtle Doves". [5] The EP got generally positive views, including Lee Gorman of The Thin Air Magazine saying "an immensely promising first effort, which marks Alana Henderson out as one to watch". [6]
In 2013, Alana joined The Jepettos, a Northern Irish alternative band, in their single, "Water". [7]
In 20 February 2014, Alana released an album called Windfall, which is "a side–project, separate from my own contemporary writing, in which I recorded an album of re–worked, contemporary arrangements of traditional songs from the North of Ireland", according to her own words. [8] The album was shortlisted for the Northern Ireland Music Prize in 2014. [9] Windfall is currently not available on iTunes.
Alana accompanied Hozier, an Irish singer-songwriter, on cello and vocals from late 2014 to early 2016. Together with Hozier, she played at over 300 shows, including Glastonbury, Saturday Night Live, Jools Holland, and a Grammy performance joined by Annie Lennox. Apart from cello, Alana joined the duet with Hozier for his song "In a Week" on tour, when Karen Cowley, the original singer of the song, was not present. [10] During the tour, Alana occasionally performed her original songs as an opening act for Hozier. [11] In July 2015, Alana played a stripped back folk set with Hozier in Newport Folk Festival, which was "a highlight of the tour" for her. [12]
On 27 October 2017, Alana released her single "Let This Remain", which was her first musical release after 2 years of touring. [13] In 2017, Alana recorded a duet song "Holllllogram" with Joshua Burnside, a Belfast-based singer-songwriter. [14] The song was tracked in his debut album, EPHRATA.
In 2007, Alana starred in Seacht , which was an Irish language television soap opera, and was broadcast by TG4 and BBC Two Northern Ireland. [15] She starred as Caroline, a singing cello player. [3]
Alana Henderson discography | |
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Studio albums | 1 |
EPs | 1 |
Singles | 1 |
Music videos | 2 |
Year | EP details | Peak chart positions |
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UK | ||
2013 | Windfall | — |
Year | EP details | Peak chart positions |
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UK | ||
2013 | Wax & Wane | — |
Year | Title | Chart Positions | Album | |||
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UK | IRL | UK Indie | ||||
2017 | "Let This Remain" | — | — | — | - | |
"—" denotes that a title did not chart. |
Year | Title | Director |
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2014 | "Wax & Wane" [17] | Angus Mitchell |
2017 | "Let This Remain" [18] | Aislínn Clarke |