Ruth Ojadi | |
---|---|
Background information | |
Born | Crouch End, North London, England | 17 October 1986
Genres | Jazz |
Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
Years active | 2005–present |
Ruth O. Ojadi (born 17 October 1986) is a British singer-songwriter who appeared in BBC's documentary, Tourettes: I Swear I Can Sing. [1] She attended Middlesex University in 2006 but dropped out after two years due to her Tourette syndrome. [2] [3] She also appeared in the Channel 4 show The Undateables and is bisexual. [4]
She was born in Crouch End, North London, to Nigerian parents. Her father went back to Nigeria when she was two.
Natalie Renée McIntyre, known by her stage name Macy Gray, is an American R&B and soul singer and actress. She is known for her distinctive raspy voice and a singing style heavily influenced by Billie Holiday.
Ann Lennox is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving moderate success in the late 1970s as part of the new wave band the Tourists, she and fellow musician Dave Stewart went on to achieve international success in the 1980s as Eurythmics. Appearing in the 1983 music video for "Sweet Dreams " with orange cropped hair and wearing a man's lounge suit, the BBC wrote, "all eyes were on Annie Lennox, the singer whose powerful androgynous look defied the male gaze". Subsequent hits with Eurythmics include "There Must Be an Angel ", "Love Is a Stranger" and "Here Comes the Rain Again".
Charlotte Maria Church is a Welsh singer-songwriter, actress, and television presenter from Cardiff.
Elizabeth Mary Driver, was a British actress and singer, best known for her role as Betty Williams in the long-running ITV soap opera, Coronation Street, a role she played for 42 years from 1969 to 2011, appearing in 2732 episodes. She had previously appeared as Mrs Edgley in Coronation Street spin-off Pardon the Expression (1965–1966) opposite Arthur Lowe. In her early career she was a singer, appearing in musical films such as Boots! Boots! (1934), opposite George Formby, and in Penny Paradise (1938), directed by Carol Reed. She was made an MBE in the 2000 New Year Honours.
Amy Jade Winehouse was a British singer and songwriter known for her deep, expressive contralto vocals and her eclectic mix of musical genres, including soul, rhythm and blues, reggae, and jazz.
Annie Ross was a British-American singer and actress, best known as a member of the influential jazz vocal trio Lambert, Hendricks & Ross. She pioneered the vocalese style of jazz singing, with a style described by critic Dave Gelly as "a kind of dreamy watchfulness that is a definition of 1950s hip." In 2010, she was named a Jazz Master by the National Endowment for the Arts.
Usha Iyer Uthup is an Indian pop, filmi, jazz, and playback singer during the late 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.
Patricia Ngozi Komlosy OBE, known professionally as Patti Boulaye, is a British-Nigerian singer, actress and artist who rose to prominence after winning New Faces in 1978 and was among the leading black British entertainers in the 1970s and 1980s. In her native Nigeria she is best remembered for starring in Lux commercials and Bisi, Daughter of the River, as well as her own series, The Patti Boulaye Show.
Nicola Jane Walker is an English actress, known for her starring roles in various British television programmes from the 1990s onwards, including that of Ruth Evershed in the spy drama Spooks and DCI Cassie Stuart in Unforgotten (2015–2021). She has also worked in theatre, radio and film. She won the 2013 Olivier Award for Best Supporting Actress for the play The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time and was twice nominated for the BAFTA TV Award for Best Supporting Actress for the BBC drama Last Tango in Halifax.
Ruth Wilson is an English actress. She has played the eponymous protagonist in Jane Eyre (2006), Alice Morgan in the BBC psychological crime drama Luther, Alison Lockhart in the Showtime drama The Affair (2014–2018), and the eponymous character in Mrs Wilson (2018). From 2019 to 2022, she portrayed Marisa Coulter in the BBC/HBO fantasy series His Dark Materials, and for this role she won the 2020 BAFTA Cymru Award for Best Actress. Her film credits include The Lone Ranger (2013), Saving Mr. Banks (2013), I Am the Pretty Thing That Lives in the House (2016), and Dark River (2017).
Connie Fisher is a British actress, singer and TV presenter, who won the BBC One talent contest How Do You Solve a Problem Like Maria?
Faryl Smith is a British soprano who performs opera, classical and classical crossover music. Smith rose to fame after appearing on the second series of the ITV television talent show Britain's Got Talent in 2008 as a child. After the programme, in December 2008, Smith signed a contract with Universal Classics and Jazz for a £2.3 million advance, the largest ever granted to a schoolgirl. Her debut album, Faryl, was recorded from December 2008 to January 2009 and released in March 2009. Faryl became the fastest-selling solo classical album in British chart history, selling 29,200 copies in the first week. It debuted at number six and rose to number four the following week, making Smith the third Britain's Got Talent contestant to have a top ten album. In 2010, on account of Faryl, Smith was nominated for two Classical BRIT Awards and became the youngest artist ever to receive a double nomination.
Tourettes Action is a United Kingdom support and research charity for people with Tourette syndrome (TS) and their families. TS is a neurological condition characterised by tics—involuntary sounds and movements.
Susan Magdalane Boyle is a Scottish singer. She rose to fame in 2009 after appearing as a contestant on the third series of Britain's Got Talent, singing "I Dreamed a Dream" from Les Misérables. As of 2021, Boyle has sold 25 million records. Her debut album, I Dreamed a Dream (2009), is one of the best-selling albums of the 21st century, having sold over 10 million copies worldwide, and it was the best-selling album internationally in 2009. In 2011, Boyle made UK music history by becoming the first female artist to achieve three successive albums debut at No.1 in less than two years.
Kirsty Anna MacColl was an English singer and songwriter, daughter of folk singer Ewan MacColl. She recorded several pop hits in the 1980s and 1990s, including "There's a Guy Works Down the Chip Shop Swears He's Elvis" and cover versions of Billy Bragg's "A New England" and the Kinks' "Days". Her first single, "They Don't Know", had chart success a few years later when covered by Tracey Ullman. MacColl also sang on a number of recordings produced by her husband Steve Lillywhite, most notably "Fairytale of New York" by the Pogues. Her death in 2000 led to the "Justice for Kirsty" campaign.
Elliot Brown is an actor from Welwyn, Hertfordshire, England.
Leanne Mitchell is an English pop singer, best known for winning the first series of The Voice UK on 2 June 2012. Mitchell released her debut solo single "Run to You" on 3 June 2012.
Cynthia Onyedinmanasu Chinasaokwu Erivo is an English actress and singer. She gained recognition for starring in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple from 2015 to 2017, for which she won the 2016 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Musical and the Grammy Award for Best Musical Theater Album. Erivo ventured into films in 2018, playing roles in the heist film Widows and the thriller Bad Times at the El Royale. For her portrayal of American abolitionist Harriet Tubman in the biopic Harriet (2019), Erivo received a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actress; she also wrote and performed the song "Stand Up" on its soundtrack, which garnered her a nomination in the Best Original Song category.
Jessica Thom is a British theatre-maker and comedian who established Touretteshero, an alter-ego and project aimed at increasing awareness of Tourette syndrome, the neurological condition which she was diagnosed with in her early twenties. The first Touretteshero production, Backstage in Biscuit Land debuted at Edinburgh Fringe Festival in 2014. The show won critical acclaim and has since toured across the UK and internationally, including various performances across North America and Australia. Thom has also made numerous appearances on British television, notably an interview on Russell Howard's Good News which has garnered more than 995,000 YouTube views as of August 2019, and was reported on by The Independent and Metro newspapers.
John Davidson MBE is a Scottish campaigner for Tourette syndrome, who lives in Galashiels. At age 16, Davidson was the subject of the BBC TV documentary John's Not Mad (1989) about the manifestations of Tourette syndrome with which he lived, and a number of follow-up BBC documentaries throughout his life. He is a "nationally known ambassador for the condition", who gives talks and workshops for school pupils, teachers and police, and has organised an annual two-day residential Tourette camp for young people. In 2019 he was awarded an MBE in recognition of "his efforts to increase understanding of the condition and helping families deal with it across the country."