Katie Melua

Melua is often praised for her soothing acoustic performances. Catapulted to fame in the UK with the release of Call Off the Search during 2003. She followed this success with the release of her second album, Piece by Piece, in 2005.Katie didnt always want to be a singer or songwriter. Her ambition when she was thirteen was to be a politician or a historian I honestly thought I'd be able to bring peace to the world.... If I ruled it! The family lived in Belfast for five years before moving to South East London. When Katie was fifteen she entered a TV talent competition called Stars Up Their Nose - singing Mariah Carey's "Without You". Despite just entering for fun, she won the competition the prize was a bedroom makeover and an arm chair for her dad and also gained valuable experience by performing live on ITV three times.

After her GCSEs Katie joined the Brit School for Performing Arts where she undertook a BTEC and Music A-level. A friend of mine had already enrolled and it sounded like a good place and it was free! During her time at the Brits she discovered different styles of music including Queen, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Irish folk music and Indian music. On hearing an Eva Cassidy song Katie was blown away and when she discovered that Eva was no longer alive wrote the song Faraway Voice as a tribute to her.

The composer and producer Mike Batt paid a visit to the school looking for musicians to form a jazz band. At the last minute Katie decided to perform Faraway Voice and Mike realised that he had found someone very special: artists like Katie dont come along very often, she is a true original. Katie signed to Batts record label Dramatico but stayed at the Brits to complete her studies she graduated with distinction in July 2003.

Katie and Mike teamed up in the studio where Mikes wealth of experience and proven song-writing ability worked brilliantly with Katies fresh approach, unique view of life and exceptional voice. The resulting album housed original songs by both Katie and Mike as well as some carefully selected covers.

Her sensational voice caught the attention of Terry Wogan who, as he did with Eva Cassidy, chose to pioneer Katie, playing the single The Closest Thing To Crazy throughout the summer of 2003. Michael Parkinson had also picked up the mantle giving her frequent air-time on his show. The release of the single saw Katie achieving her first hit single entering the charts at number 10.

Music, both the creation and performance is obviously a deep passion for Katie: I started writing songs in 2001 and have, with my parents help, a small studio set up at home. I strongly believe that music should be performed live and that great artists are original and talented in their music performance. I always get a warm feeling when I see someone holding a guitar or violin case on the street. Its like I know Id get on with that person. I always smile and say hi!

The end of 2003 was a very exciting time for 19 year old Katie. She was invited to perform at the Royal Variety, where she met the Queen who said I have heard your record on the radio, it is very nice. In November 2003 Katie headlined her own gig at the Shepherds Bush Empire Melua stunned the audience into silence with warm pure jazz vocals - The Times, it was here that her new fans really could see her natural talent for performing.

Her debut album Call Off the Search was released in Britain in November 2003 and in January 2004 hit number 1 in the album charts knocking Dido off the top spot where it stayed for three weeks. Temporarily deposed by Norah Jones, Katie returned to the top spot again where she stayed for a further three weeks.

At the end of February 2004 Katie embarked on her debut live tour in which she played 14 dates, she said I love walking out on stage and connecting with my band and the audience, there's nothing like it". As well as playing large gigs Katie also enjoys the smaller acoustic venues, such as Londons 12 Bar and the Enterprise, as she appreciates the intimacy. At the other end of the scale, Katie and Jamie Cullum performed a superb version of the The Cures Love Cats at the Brit Awards 2004.

Katies second single Call Off The Search was released in the UK on March 15th 2004 and her third UK single was released on July 19th. Meanwhile in America, the album was released on June 8th, on the same day that Katie started her 11 date US live tour.

September saw Katie heading to continental Europe for her live tour after which she returned to the UK for her second British live tour. Katie performed on the Late Late Show in America in January 2005 and embarked on her second US tour. A special edition of the Call Off The Search album, which includes a bonus 70 minute DVD, was released in October to coincide with the tour. December 2004 saw a download only special release of Belfast Penguins and Cats, My Aphrodisiac Is You and an exclusive recording of Have Yourself A Merry Little Christmas.

Katie joined the line up for the Band Aid 20 single to record a new version of Do They Know Its Christmas. As an ambassador for Save The Children this was particularly poignant for Katie. Katie was also asked by Sharon Osbourne to join the recording of Eric Claptons beautiful song Tears In Heaven as a fundraising single for the Tsunami appeal.

Call Off The Search has scored top 10 positions throughout Europe and has been certified gold in Holland, Hong Kong and Switzerland, platinum in Denmark, New Zealand and Australia, 2xplatinum in Germany, Ireland, Norway and South Africa and received the IFPI double Platinum Award for 2 million European Sales. In March 2005 Call Off The Search hit the number 1 spot in Denmark, a year after its initial release and became a top five album in Japan.

Katie was awarded Best International Newcomer at Germanys ECHO Awards in April 2005. In Britain Katie was the highest selling female artist in 2004 Call Off The Search has now sold 1.8 million copies and is 6xplatinum.

In March 2005 Katie was invited by Nelson Mandela to perform at his 46664 concert in aid of Mandelas AIDS foundation. In addition to performing a full live set, Katie joined Queen on stage to perform a moving version of Too Much Love Will Kill You. Katie flew from South Africa to Sri Lanka where she experienced the work that is being done by Save The Children, particularly with child soldiers.

In August Katie and her family swore allegiance to The Queen and became British Citizens following a ceremony in Surrey, England. Katie was recently invited to perform at the Royal Wedding of Prince Pieter-Christiaan in Holland and at the Norwegian Royal Gala Concert in the presence of the Crown Prince Of Norway. Continuing the royal theme, the American TV show Good Morning America recently broadcast live from Buckingham Palace and Katie was invited by the show to perform Nine Million Bicycles and The Closest Thing To Crazy. Katie performed at the Nobel Peace Prize Ceremony in Norway.

In between her overseas travel Katie recorded her new album, Piece By Piece, which was released in Europe on September 26th 2005. The album comprises more self-penned songs including the title track as well as a cover of the 1987 Cure hit Just Like Heaven that Katie has recorded for a new DreamWorks film starring Reese Witherspoon which opened in America in September 2005 going straight to Number 1 at the Box Office, the film will open across Europe in December 2005.

The first single, Nine Million Bicycles, preceded the album release and gave Katie her highest UK single chart entry at number 5. One week later and Katie entered the UK album charts at number 1 and Europe swiftly followed with the album reaching 1 in Norway, Denmark and Holland, 2 in Ireland, 2 in Iceland, South Africa 3, 4 in Poland and 5 in Germany giving an overall chart position of 2 on the Billboard European Top 100 Chart.

Katie was nominated for two Brit Awards in the Best Female and Pop categories and for the Best International Female at the Edison Awards in Holland and for the Best International Female Rock & Pop at the Echo Awards in Germany. Katie performed on the hugely influential German TV show Wetten Dass? Once again Katie was pronounced the highest selling female artist in Britain in 2005 selling more than 1 million albums.

Katies 10 week European sell-out tour included 18 dates in Britain and a further 28 dates across continental Europe with a total audience exceeding 150,000 people. Following the European released of the self-penned single Spiders Web Katie travelled to America where Piece By Piece was released on June 6th followed by a special guest slot on tour with Il Divo and her own coast-to-coast headline tour.

Katie Melua returned from America to release Its Only Pain, a brand new single, and a special edition of her multi-platinum album Piece By Piece which included a bonus DVD. The original version of Piece By Piece, released in September 2005, has now sold more than 1.2 million copies in Britain and more than 3 million copies worldwide. Katie has sold more than 6.5 million albums worldwide since November 2003

Katies recently performed a headline concert at the Grand Prix Masters, headlined the BBC Summer Proms in Manchester and set a Guinness World Record for the deepest underwater concert when she played a special concert at the bottom of the North Sea in a gas rig.

In November Katie will be releasing the single Shy Boy and in December 2006 Katie will be playing at Londons Wembley Arena.