Thea Gilmore
Encyclopedia
Thea Eve Gilmore is a British
female singer-songwriter
. She began her career working in a recording studio
, where she was discovered by her now long-time collaborator, producer and sometime co-songwriter Nigel Stonier
, whom she married in October 2005.
parents and lived in the village of North Aston
, Oxfordshire
. She became interested in music as a result of her father's record collection, which included work by Bob Dylan
, Joni Mitchell
, and The Beatles
. Later, she listened to Elvis Costello
, Tom Waits
, and The Replacements, among others. She began writing poetry at the age of 15 to cope with the divorce of her parents.
Gilmore released her first album as a teenager, entitled Burning Dorothy, in 1998 and over the course of the next four years, released increasingly well-received albums that earned her a reputation in the UK music press but no chart success. She finally made a breakthrough at 23 with the release of Avalanche in August 2003, which became her first album to break into the Official UK Album Chart, at #62, and spawned two minor hit singles, "Juliet (Keep That in Mind)" and "Mainstream", for which she garnered acclaim for producing a low-budget music video filmed in a local Virgin Megastore. The video received exposure on the BBC
's flagship music show Top of the Pops 2
.
In 2004, folk singer Joan Baez
personally invited Gilmore to open for her during her tour leading up to the US presidential election.
In 2005, Gilmore continued touring commitments, for the first time not releasing a new album (the covers collection Loft Music was widely released during 2004). In October 2005, she and Stonier married in a ceremony near their home in Cheshire
.
Gilmore finally returned to recording with the release of Harpo's Ghost in August 2006, after a two-and-a-half-year absence of new material. This was her first album on major label Sanctuary Records after many years of independent releases. The album was once again acclaimed in the music press and UK radio lent their support to the single "Cheap Tricks". Gilmore has been touted by Uncut magazine as "the best British singer-songwriter of the last 10 years...and then some" and has gained steady acclaim for each of her albums.
On 14 November 2006, Gilmore gave birth to her first child with Stonier, a son named Egan, having conducted a UK tour in the autumn whilst heavily pregnant.
Subsequent to the release of Harpo's Ghost she parted company with her manager Sara Austin, left Sanctuary Records and released EP The Threads independently on her March 2007 UK tour with remaining copies sold on her website afterwards.
On 19 May 2008 Fruitcake Records (via Fullfill and distributed by Universal Records) released Liejacker, Gilmore's eighth album featuring contributions from Joan Baez, Dave McCabe, and Erin McKeown
. It was preceded on 12 May by the single "Old Soul", a duet with McCabe. In June 2008, Gilmore signed to Rykodisc
(Warner) for the United States. Liejacker was released in the U.S. on 23 September 2008.
Thea's first ever live album Recorded Delivery was released on 25 May 2009, on Fullfill/Universal. The recordings are taken from UK shows during 2006 and 2008, with the first half of the album being acoustic, and the second half being electric, with a full band. In July 2009 she released a yearly subscription service / fan club, Angels in the Abattoir. Gilmore rounded out 2009 with the release of an album of Christmas- and winter-themed songs, Strange Communion, featuring eight originals penned by Gilmore and/or Stonier as well as two cover versions - Yoko Ono
's "Listen, the Snow is Falling" and Elvis Costello
's "The St. Stephen's Day Murders."
Beginning in October 2010, Gilmore and her band are engaged in a UK tour and have met good reviews.
In January 2011 Gilmore appeared at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in a tribute concert celebrating the 70th Birthday of Bob Dylan. She performed versions of "I Pity the Poor Immigrant" and "Masters of War." Subsequently, Gilmore entered the studio with producer and husband Stonier and recorded the entire set of tracks found on Dylan's original release of John Wesley Harding. The album - also titled John Wesley Harding - was released 23 May 2011.
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
female singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
. She began her career working in a recording studio
Recording studio
A recording studio is a facility for sound recording and mixing. Ideally both the recording and monitoring spaces are specially designed by an acoustician to achieve optimum acoustic properties...
, where she was discovered by her now long-time collaborator, producer and sometime co-songwriter Nigel Stonier
Nigel Stonier
Nigel Stonier is a UK based rock, roots and pop producer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist.-Biography:He was born in Cheshire, but first relocated to London when, at the age of seventeen he secured a publishing deal with Southern music, and recorded his first demos produced by Dave Cousins of...
, whom she married in October 2005.
Career
Gilmore was born in Oxford to IrishIrish people
The Irish people are an ethnic group who originate in Ireland, an island in northwestern Europe. Ireland has been populated for around 9,000 years , with the Irish people's earliest ancestors recorded having legends of being descended from groups such as the Nemedians, Fomorians, Fir Bolg, Tuatha...
parents and lived in the village of North Aston
North Aston
North Aston is a village and civil parish about south of Banbury and north of Oxford.The village is mainly situated around a traditional village green, complete with hand-carved sign and drinking fountain – the latter originally installed in 1863 on the orders of the then Lord of the Manor,...
, Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire
Oxfordshire is a county in the South East region of England, bordering on Warwickshire and Northamptonshire , Buckinghamshire , Berkshire , Wiltshire and Gloucestershire ....
. She became interested in music as a result of her father's record collection, which included work by Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan
Bob Dylan is an American singer-songwriter, musician, poet, film director and painter. He has been a major and profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960s when he was an informal chronicler and a seemingly...
, Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell
Joni Mitchell, CC is a Canadian musician, singer songwriter, and painter. Mitchell began singing in small nightclubs in her native Saskatchewan and Western Canada and then busking in the streets and dives of Toronto...
, and The Beatles
The Beatles
The Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
. Later, she listened to Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
, Tom Waits
Tom Waits
Thomas Alan "Tom" Waits is an American singer-songwriter, composer, and actor. Waits has a distinctive voice, described by critic Daniel Durchholz as sounding "like it was soaked in a vat of bourbon, left hanging in the smokehouse for a few months, and then taken outside and run over with a car."...
, and The Replacements, among others. She began writing poetry at the age of 15 to cope with the divorce of her parents.
Gilmore released her first album as a teenager, entitled Burning Dorothy, in 1998 and over the course of the next four years, released increasingly well-received albums that earned her a reputation in the UK music press but no chart success. She finally made a breakthrough at 23 with the release of Avalanche in August 2003, which became her first album to break into the Official UK Album Chart, at #62, and spawned two minor hit singles, "Juliet (Keep That in Mind)" and "Mainstream", for which she garnered acclaim for producing a low-budget music video filmed in a local Virgin Megastore. The video received exposure on the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...
's flagship music show Top of the Pops 2
TOTP2
Top of the Pops 2 is a British television music show broadcast on BBC Two, showing archive footage from the long-running Top of the Pops show, some dating back to the 1960s when the programme first aired on British television....
.
In 2004, folk singer Joan Baez
Joan Baez
Joan Chandos Baez is an American folk singer, songwriter, musician and a prominent activist in the fields of human rights, peace and environmental justice....
personally invited Gilmore to open for her during her tour leading up to the US presidential election.
In 2005, Gilmore continued touring commitments, for the first time not releasing a new album (the covers collection Loft Music was widely released during 2004). In October 2005, she and Stonier married in a ceremony near their home in Cheshire
Cheshire
Cheshire is a ceremonial county in North West England. Cheshire's county town is the city of Chester, although its largest town is Warrington. Other major towns include Widnes, Congleton, Crewe, Ellesmere Port, Runcorn, Macclesfield, Winsford, Northwich, and Wilmslow...
.
Gilmore finally returned to recording with the release of Harpo's Ghost in August 2006, after a two-and-a-half-year absence of new material. This was her first album on major label Sanctuary Records after many years of independent releases. The album was once again acclaimed in the music press and UK radio lent their support to the single "Cheap Tricks". Gilmore has been touted by Uncut magazine as "the best British singer-songwriter of the last 10 years...and then some" and has gained steady acclaim for each of her albums.
On 14 November 2006, Gilmore gave birth to her first child with Stonier, a son named Egan, having conducted a UK tour in the autumn whilst heavily pregnant.
Subsequent to the release of Harpo's Ghost she parted company with her manager Sara Austin, left Sanctuary Records and released EP The Threads independently on her March 2007 UK tour with remaining copies sold on her website afterwards.
On 19 May 2008 Fruitcake Records (via Fullfill and distributed by Universal Records) released Liejacker, Gilmore's eighth album featuring contributions from Joan Baez, Dave McCabe, and Erin McKeown
Erin McKeown
Erin McKeown is an American multi-instrumentalist and folk-rock singer/songwriter.McKeown began her career in the folk scene. She released her first album, Monday Morning Cold, on her own label , travelling throughout New England while still a student at Brown University in order to promote the...
. It was preceded on 12 May by the single "Old Soul", a duet with McCabe. In June 2008, Gilmore signed to Rykodisc
Rykodisc
Rykodisc Records is an American record label. It is owned by Warner Music Group, operates as a unit of WMG's Independent Label Group and is distributed through Alternative Distribution Alliance.-Company history:...
(Warner) for the United States. Liejacker was released in the U.S. on 23 September 2008.
Thea's first ever live album Recorded Delivery was released on 25 May 2009, on Fullfill/Universal. The recordings are taken from UK shows during 2006 and 2008, with the first half of the album being acoustic, and the second half being electric, with a full band. In July 2009 she released a yearly subscription service / fan club, Angels in the Abattoir. Gilmore rounded out 2009 with the release of an album of Christmas- and winter-themed songs, Strange Communion, featuring eight originals penned by Gilmore and/or Stonier as well as two cover versions - Yoko Ono
Yoko Ono
is a Japanese artist, musician, author and peace activist, known for her work in avant-garde art, music and filmmaking as well as her marriage to John Lennon...
's "Listen, the Snow is Falling" and Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello
Elvis Costello , born Declan Patrick MacManus, is an English singer-songwriter. He came to prominence as an early participant in London's pub rock scene in the mid-1970s and later became associated with the punk/New Wave genre. Steeped in word play, the vocabulary of Costello's lyrics is broader...
's "The St. Stephen's Day Murders."
Beginning in October 2010, Gilmore and her band are engaged in a UK tour and have met good reviews.
In January 2011 Gilmore appeared at Glasgow Royal Concert Hall in a tribute concert celebrating the 70th Birthday of Bob Dylan. She performed versions of "I Pity the Poor Immigrant" and "Masters of War." Subsequently, Gilmore entered the studio with producer and husband Stonier and recorded the entire set of tracks found on Dylan's original release of John Wesley Harding. The album - also titled John Wesley Harding - was released 23 May 2011.
Albums
- Burning DorothyBurning DorothyBurning Dorothy is the debut album by English singer-songwriter Thea Gilmore. It was released in November 1998.-Track listing:All songs written by Thea Gilmore.#"Sugar" – 3:39 #"Get Out" – 3:17 #"People Like You" – 3:19...
(1998) - The Lipstick Conspiracies (2000)
- Rules For Jokers (2001)
- Songs From The Gutter (2002)
- Avalanche (2003) UKUK Albums ChartThe UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
#62 - Loft Music (2004)
- Harpo's Ghost (2006) UK #69 (illustrated)
- Liejacker (2008)
- Recorded Delivery [live] (2009)
- Strange Communion (2009)
- Murphy's Heart (2010)
- John Wesley Harding (2011)
- Don't Stop Singing with Sandy Denny (2011) UK #89
EPs
- Instead of the Saints (1998)
- As If EP (Limited Edition) (2001)
- The Threads EPThe Threads EPThe Threads EP is an EP by Thea Gilmore, her first release after she parted with former label Sanctuary. The disc was sold only on her 2007 spring tour with remaining copies sold through the official web site afterwards...
(Limited Edition) (2007)
Singles
- "Saviours and All" (2001)
- "Fever Beats" (2002)
- "Juliet (Keep That in Mind)" (2003) UKUK Singles ChartThe UK Singles Chart is compiled by The Official Charts Company on behalf of the British record-industry. The full chart contains the top selling 200 singles in the United Kingdom based upon combined record sales and download numbers, though some media outlets only list the Top 40 or the Top 75 ...
#35 - "Mainstream" (2003) UK #50
- "Cheap Tricks" (2006)
- "Old Soul" (2008)
- "You Spin Me Right Round" (2008)
- "That'll Be Christmas" (2009)
- "You're The Radio" (2010)
- "Teach me to be bad" (2010)
External links
- Official site
- Angels in the Abattoir home
- Summer 2006 interview in Wears the Trousers magazine
- 2004 interview
- Nigel Stonier biography at Foxy Music
- [ Thea Gilmore] at Allmusic.com