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Katie Melua was born in Georgia (former USSR) in 1984, growing
up under the communist regime in the capital, Tbilisi. The
family left Georgia when Katie was eight and moved to Belfast
where her father got a job as a heart surgeon. Katie didn’t
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. After her GCSEs, Katie
joined the Brit School for Performing Arts where she undertook
a BTEC and Music A-level.
Composer/producer Mike Batt paid a visit to the school. Katie
signed to Batt’s record label Dramatico, but stayed
at the Brit School to complete her studies where she graduated
with distinction in July 2003.
Unable to secure a contract with a Major record company, Katie
and Mike decided to put her album “Call Off The Search”
(containing the song “The Closest Thing To Crazy”)
out on Batt’s own, small record label. After an initial
struggle, followed by an appearance on The Royal Variety Show,
19 year old Katie shot to the top of the UK album charts and
became the biggest selling female artist for the next two
years. Her two albums, (the second of which contained the
hit “Nine Million Bicycles”) have sold nearly
9 million copies to date. She is currently Europe’s
biggest selling female solo artist. She and her family took
British nationality in 2005.
The past years have been quite extraordinary for Katie (now
23). She has had a Dutch tulip named in her honour, toured
America coast to coast, met and played for Nelson Mandela
in South Africa visiting his Aids charity, has become a hard
working Ambassador for Save The Children, raced at 160mph
around Grand Prix circuit Silverstone, flown a plane, learned
to dive and parachute freefall, descended 303 metres into
the depths of the leg of a gas rig in North Sea (achieving
a Guinness World Record), and picked up various prestigious
awards within Europe, including a World Music Award, a Golden
Camera Award, and two German Echo Awards. In December 2007,
Katie had her first number one single with a duet with her
idol, the late Eva Cassidy, entitled “What A Wonderful
World”, with proceeds from the single going to support
the UK work of the British Red Cross.
October 2007 saw the internationally successful release of
Katie’s third album “Pictures” - a record
which has delighted her legions of fans, confirmed Katie’s
status as a unique and remarkable vocalist, and revealed the
third chapter in what is destined to be a long musical career.
Katie’s fourth album, “The Katie Melua Collection”,
is a musical summary of the 24 year old’s journey so
far and was released in October 2008.
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Click
here for an
introduction to the musicians Katie has worked with, both
live and in the studio. |