Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. Her first major commercial success came with her third and fourth albums, Joan Armatrading (1976) and Show Some Emotion (1977), and she continues to play live and record studio albums. A three-time Grammy Award nominee, Armatrading has also been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist. She received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996.
Cara Elizabeth Dillon is a Northern Irish folk singer. In 1995, she joined the folk supergroup Equation and signed a record deal with Warners Music Group. After leaving the group, she collaborated with Sam Lakeman under the name Polar Star. In 2001, she released her first solo album, Cara Dillon, which featured traditional songs and two original Dillon/Lakeman compositions. The album was an unexpected hit in the folk world, with Dillon receiving four nominations at the 2002 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards.
Elkie Brooks is an English rock, blues and jazz singer. She was a vocalist with the bands Dada and Vinegar Joe, and later became a solo artist. She gained her biggest success in the late 1970s and 1980s, releasing 13 UK Top 75 singles, and reached the top ten with "Pearl's a Singer", "Sunshine After the Rain" and "No More the Fool" (1986). She has been nominated twice for the Brit Awards.
Katie Anne Noonan is an Australian singer and songwriter. In addition to a successful solo career encompassing opera, jazz, pop, rock and dance, she was the singer in the band George and remains the singer in the band Elixir; performs with her mother Maggie Noonan; and plays with her band The Captains. Noonan was the musical director of and performed at the 2018 Commonwealth Games' opening and closing ceremonies.
Beth Hart is an American musician from Los Angeles, California. She rose to fame with the release of her 1999 single "LA Song " from her second album Screamin' for My Supper. The single was a number one hit in New Zealand, as well as reaching the top 5 of the US Adult Contemporary and Top 10 on the Billboard Adult Top 40 charts.
Ana Popović is a blues singer and guitarist from Serbia who currently resides in the United States.
Bettye LaVette is an American soul singer who made her first record at sixteen, but achieved only intermittent fame until 2005, when her album I've Got My Own Hell to Raise was released to widespread critical acclaim, and was named on many critics' "Best of 2005" lists. Her next album, The Scene of the Crime, debuted at number one on Billboard's Top Blues Albums chart and was nominated for Best Contemporary Blues Album at the 2008 Grammy Awards. She received the Legacy of Americana Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2023 Americana Music Honors & Awards.
Beverley Knight is an English singer, songwriter, actress and radio personality. She released her first album, The B-Funk, in 1995. Heavily influenced by American soul music icons such as Sam Cooke and Aretha Franklin, Knight has released nine studio albums. Widely regarded as one of Britain's greatest soul singers, Knight is best known for her hit singles "Greatest Day", "Get Up!", "Shoulda Woulda Coulda", "Come as You Are" and "Keep This Fire Burning".
Alison Louise Balsom, Lady Mendes, is an English trumpet soloist, arranger, producer, and music educator. Balsom was awarded Artist of the Year at the 2013 Gramophone Awards and has won three Classic BRIT Awards and three German Echo Awards, and was a soloist at the BBC Last Night of the Proms in 2009. She was the artistic director of the 2019 Cheltenham Music Festival.
Alexandria "Sandi" Thom is a Scottish singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Banff, Scotland. She became widely known in 2006 after her debut single, "I Wish I Was a Punk Rocker ", topped the UK Singles Chart in June of that year, as well as in Australia and Ireland. The single became the biggest-selling single of 2006 in Australia, where it spent ten weeks at the top of the ARIA Singles Chart.
Natasha Khan, known professionally as Bat for Lashes, is an English singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. She has released six studio albums: Fur and Gold (2006), Two Suns (2009), The Haunted Man (2012), The Bride (2016), Lost Girls (2019), and The Dream of Delphi (2024). She has received three Mercury Prize nominations. Khan is also the vocalist for Sexwitch, a collaboration with the rock band Toy and producer Dan Carey.
Adele Laurie Blue Adkins, known mononymously as Adele, is an English singer-songwriter. She is known for her mezzo-soprano vocals and sentimental songwriting. Adele has received numerous accolades including 16 Grammy Awards, 12 Brit Awards, an Academy Award, a Primetime Emmy Award, and a Golden Globe Award.
Aimée Anne Duffy is a Welsh singer, songwriter and actress. Her music style has been described as a mixture of soul, blue-eyed soul, pop rock, neo soul and pop music.
Paloma Faith Blomfield is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. After signing to Epic Records in 2008, she released her debut studio album, Do You Want the Truth or Something Beautiful? (2009), which was certified double platinum in the UK and spawned the singles "Stone Cold Sober", "New York", and "Upside Down". Her second studio album, Fall to Grace (2012), charted at number two on the UK Albums Chart and earned her another double platinum certification. The album produced her first top ten single, "Picking Up the Pieces", the top twenty cover version of INXS's "Never Tear Us Apart", and earned her two Brit Award nominations.
Olivia Louvel is a French-born British composer and artist whose work is presented in the form of sound recordings, sound art installations, video art, and live performances. She won an Ivor Novello Award in Sound Art at The Ivors Classical Awards 2023 for LOL, a sonic intervention delivered through the public address system of Middlesbrough's CCTV surveillance network, reflecting the current state of political affairs in Britain.
The historic county of Sussex in southern England has a rich musical heritage that encompasses the genres of folk, classical and rock and popular music amongst others. With the unbroken survival of its indigenous music, Sussex was at the forefront of the English folk music revivals of the 19th and 20th centuries. Many classical composers have found inspiration in Sussex, and the county continues to have a thriving musical scene across the musical genres. In Sussex by the Sea, the county has its own unofficial anthem.
Dani Wilde is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist who fuses roots genres including blues, country, gospel, soul and Americana into popular song.
Royal Blood is an English rock duo formed in Littlehampton in 2011. The current lineup consists of Mike Kerr and Ben Thatcher (drums). Their signature sound is built around Kerr's bass playing style, which sees him using various effects pedals and amps to make his bass guitar sound like an electric guitar and bass guitar at the same time. The duo were signed by Warner Chappell Music in 2013 and have since released four studio albums: Royal Blood (2014), How Did We Get So Dark? (2017), Typhoons (2021), and Back to the Water Below (2023).
Sista Monica Parker was an American electric blues, blues rock, gospel and soul singer, songwriter, and record producer.
Trevor Babajack Steger is a British blues musician. He is best known for his work with his former band Babajack, and his subsequent solo career. To date, Steger has released three solo albums, one live album and been nominated for numerous British Blues Awards, winning Best Acoustic Act in 2023.
