Jo Lawry

Last updated

Jo Lawry
Jo Lawry in a 2022 interview with SIMA.png
In a 2022 interview
Background information
Born South Australia
Genres Pop, rock, jazz
OccupationSinger
Years active2004–present
Website www.jolawry.net

Jo Lawry is an Australian singer and musician. Lawry's debut album, I Want to Be Happy, was released in 2008. Down Beat magazine gave it 4.5 out of 5 [1] and selected it as one of the "Best CDs of the 2000s". [2]

Contents

Music career

Jo Lawry was raised on an almond farm in South Australia. She studied jazz at the University of Adelaide [3] and the New England Conservatory of Music in Boston. In 2004, she reached the semi-finals in the Thelonious Monk International Jazz Competition, and the following year got second in the National Jazz Awards of Australia. In New York City, she met jazz pianist Fred Hersch and became a member of his Pocket Orchestra. She was also a member of James Shipp's Nos Novo, a jazz quartet for which she sang and played fiddle, mandolin, and melodica. [4]

In 2009, Lawry began working with Sting after winning an audition to tour with him. She appeared on his DVD A Winter's Night... Live from Durham Cathedral and toured with him through 2015. She sang on the Live in Berlin album and DVD and on The Last Ship album and DVD. [4] On her first album, I Want to Be Happy (2008), she sang a cover version of his song "Until". They performed a duet on "Impossiblé" from her second album, Taking Pictures. [3] Their collaboration on the song "Practical Arrangement" appeared on Sting's Duets album in 2021. She also provided backing vocals for Sting's song "Captain Bateman" on his 2021 album The Bridge .

Lawry is featured in the documentary film 20 Feet from Stardom . [5] [3]

She was announced as the Head of Jazz at the Guildhall School of Music starting February 2024. [6]

She is married to Will Vinson, a saxophonist from London. [3]

Discography

As leader

As guest

With Sting

With others

References

  1. ↑ Bouchard, Fred (October 2009). "Jazz: New Croons". Down Beat. 76 (10): 54.
  2. ↑ "Best CDs of the 2000s". Down Beat. 77 (1): 45. January 2010.
  3. 1 2 3 4 McDonald, Patrick (4 February 2015). "Jo Lawry enjoys sweet Sting of solo success". adelaidenow.com.au. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  4. 1 2 "Jo Lawry". www.jolawry.com. Retrieved 20 January 2017.
  5. ↑ Byrnes, Paul (20 November 2013). "20 Feet From Stardom review: Backing singers get their turn". The Sydney Morning Herald. Retrieved 10 May 2018.
  6. ↑ "Guildhall School of Music & Drama announces new Head of Jazz". Guildhall School of Music & Drama. 11 October 2023.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.