Amelia Fletcher CBE | |
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Background information | |
Born | 1 January 1966 |
Origin | London, England, United Kingdom |
Genres | Indie pop |
Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter, guitarist, economist |
Years active | 1986–present |
Labels | Sarah, K, Wiiija, Elefant, Fortuna Pop!, Matinée |
Amelia Fletcher CBE (born 1 January 1966 [1] ) is a British singer, songwriter, guitarist and economist.
Fletcher has been the frontwoman of an evolving series of pop groups from the 1980s to the present. Her bands included Talulah Gosh, Heavenly, Marine Research, Tender Trap, and, since 2014, The Catenary Wires. [2] In 2020, she began a new band, Swansea Sound, with The Pooh Sticks's Hue Williams. She is associated with the twee pop scene.
She also sang backing vocals for The Wedding Present early in their career and on the Hefner album We Love the City . She toured with, and was guest vocalist for, The Pooh Sticks on their albums Orgasm, Million Seller and The Great White Wonder , and in 1988 released a single under her own name, "Can You Keep a Secret?" She has also appeared as a guest vocalist for The 6ths on the song "Looking for Love (In the Hall of Mirrors)", on “Monday Morning” by The Candyskins, on both Bugbear recordings, a single by The Hit Parade, and on the "Why Do You Have to Go Out With Him When You Could Go Out With Me?" single by The Brilliant Corners. From 1999 to 2003, she was keyboardist for Sportique. Amelia Fletcher was also an early promoter of Scottish group Bis who Heavenly performed alongside and whose lead singer, Manda Rin, repeatedly cited Amelia as one of her inspirations/influences.
With husband, Rob Pursey, she co-founded independent label, Skep Wax Records.
Fletcher read economics at St Edmund Hall, Oxford. [3] In 1993, she completed a D.Phil. in economics at Nuffield College, Oxford titled 'Theories of Self-Regulation'. In 2001, she was appointed Chief Economist at the Office of Fair Trading [4] and in 2008 took on the additional role of Senior Director of Mergers. [5] She left in April 2013, to become Professor of Competition Policy at the University of East Anglia. [6] She has been a Non-Executive Director on the boards of the Financial Conduct Authority (2013–2020), Payment Systems Regulator (2014–2020), [7] and Competition and Markets Authority (2016–2023). [8]
Fletcher was appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2014 New Years Honours list for services to competition and consumer economics and Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to the economy. [9]
Fletcher has two children with her husband Rob Pursey, also a member of Heavenly, Talulah Gosh, Marine Research, Tender Trap, The Catenary Wires and Swansea Sound. She is the daughter of Jean and Winston Fletcher.
Heavenly are a twee pop band, originally forming in Oxford, England in 1989. Amelia Fletcher (vocals/guitar), Mathew Fletcher, Peter Momtchiloff (guitar) and Robert Pursey (bass) had all been members of Talulah Gosh, a key member of the C86 scene.
Swansea University is a public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom.
David Kenneth Miles is a British economist. Born in Swansea, he has spent his working life in London, in teaching, business and the public sector. He is a professor at Imperial College London, and was Chief UK Economist of Morgan Stanley bank from October 2004 to May 2009. He was appointed to the Bank of England's interest-rate-setting Monetary Policy Committee (MPC) from 1 June 2009 to June 2012 and again from June 2012 to 31 August 2015, before being replaced by Gertjan Vlieghe. According to the Bank of England, "As an economist he has focused on the interaction between financial markets and the wider economy.". In December 2020 he was appointed to the main board of the central Bank of Ireland. He was appointed to the Budget Responsibility Committee of the Office for Budget Responsibility (OBR) in December 2021. He took up that role in January 2022.
Talulah Gosh were an English guitar-pop group from Oxford, and one of the leading bands of the indiepop movement, taking their name from the headline of an NME interview with Clare Grogan. They supposedly formed in 1986 when Amelia Fletcher and Elizabeth Price, both wearing Pastels badges, met at a club in Oxford. Their original line-up comprised Amelia Fletcher, her younger brother Mathew Fletcher (drums), Peter Momtchiloff, Rob Pursey (bass) and Elizabeth Price (vocals). Pursey left early on, to be replaced by Chris Scott.
Dame Linda Jane Colley, is an expert on British, imperial and global history from 1700. She is currently Shelby M. C. Davis 1958 Professor of History at Princeton University and a long-term fellow in history at the Swedish Collegium for Advanced Study in Uppsala. She previously held chairs at Yale University and at the London School of Economics. Her work frequently approaches the past from inter-disciplinary perspectives.
Haberdashers' Girls' School is a private day school in Elstree, Hertfordshire. It is often referred to as "Habs". The school was founded in 1875 by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, one of the Great Twelve Livery Companies of the City of London.
Marine Research were an indiepop group, based in Oxford/London (UK), formed in 1997 by four of the five members of Heavenly, following the death of Heavenly drummer Mathew Fletcher. The band were joined on drums by DJ Downfall, who is also a solo recording artist.
Tender Trap are an English indiepop/twee pop band based in London, England, formed in 2001 by three of the five members of Marine Research - Amelia Fletcher, Rob Pursey, and John Downfall.
Dame Katharine Mary Barker is a British economist. She is principally noted for her role at the Bank of England and for advising the British government on social issues such as housing and health care.
We Love the City is the third album by British indie rock band Hefner. It was released by Too Pure in two formats in 2000, the standard version and a second version with a disc featuring videos for "I Took Her Love for Granted" and "Good Fruit," as well as a John Peel session. The entire John Peel session was later released as the album Maida Vale. The album was reissued in 2009.
Dame Diane Coyle is a British economist. Since March 2018, she has been the Bennett Professor of Public Policy at the University of Cambridge, co-directing the Bennett Institute.
Ruth Jane Lea, Baroness Lea of Lymm, is a British parliamentarian and political economist.
Bridget Clare Rosewell, is a British economist, specialising in transport, infrastructure and related policy analysis.
How Does It Feel to Be Loved? is a London-based nightclub which predominantly plays indie pop, Northern Soul and Motown music. On the club's website, founder Ian Watson explains: "We love pop, we love guitars that jangle, we love foot stomping melodies and huge choruses." The club's name is taken from the lyrics to The Velvet Underground song "Beginning to See the Light".
Linda Yi-Chuang Yueh is a British/American economist, broadcaster, and author, born in Taiwan and of dual British and American citizenship. Yueh is an adjunct professor of economics at London Business School, and a Fellow in Economics at St Edmund Hall, Oxford University. She was also a Visiting Professor at Peking University and associated with both the Centre for Economic Performance and IDEAS research centres at the London School of Economics (LSE). She is a TV and radio presenter, including for BBC programmes such as Radio 4 Analysis, Business Daily on BBC World Service, and Radio 4 Today programme. From 2013 to 2015, she was Chief Business Correspondent and a Contributing Editor for BBC News when she hosted Talking Business with Linda Yueh, as well as former Economics Editor at Bloomberg Television.
Wyggeston Grammar School for Boys was a grammar school in Leicester, England, in existence from 1876 to 1976.
Wendy Joan Carlin, is a professor of economics at University College London, expert advisor to the Office for Budget Responsibility, and research fellow at the Centre for Economic Policy Research. Her research focuses on macroeconomics, institutions and economic performance, and the economics of transition.
Uzoamaka Linda Iwobi FLSW is a British-Nigerian solicitor and equalities practitioner. She is the former Specialist Policy Adviser on Equalities to the Welsh Government, an Honorary Fellow at the University of Wales Trinity St David and founder, secretary and former chief executive officer at Race Council Cymru. She is also Vice President of the Royal Welsh College of Music & Drama.
Swansea Sound are an indie pop band from Kent and Swansea, formed in 2020. The group reunites Amelia Fletcher and Hue Williams, who previously sang together in 1990s indie band The Pooh Sticks. The songs are written by Rob Pursey, Fletchers's husband and long-term musical partner in Heavenly, Marine Research and Tender Trap. Ian Button, formerly of Death in Vegas and Thrashing Doves plays drums. Bob Collins, of The Dentists, plays guitar.