Sarah Gillespie
| Sarah Gillespie | |
|---|---|
Sarah Gillespie
|
|
| Born | London, England |
| Residence | London |
| Nationality | British and American |
| Education | Greenwich University, Goldsmiths, University of London |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter |
| Website | www.sarahgillespie.com |
Sarah Gillespie is a British American singer songwriter and guitarist based in London. She has 3 critically acclaimed albums and is known for combining poetic lyrics with folk, blues and elements of jazz.
Sarah Gillespie was born in London to an American mother and British father. She grew up in Norfolk, England – interspersed with numerous trips to Minnesota, where she soaked in the sounds of Bessie Smith, Bob Dylan, Cole Porter and early blues and jazz. From the age of 4, Sarah composed songs on piano, and then at 13 began playing guitar. At 18, she moved to the USA, busking in the streets and playing gigs.
On returning to London, she gained a first class degree in Film and Literature and an MA in Politics and Philosophy from Goldsmiths, University of London. Gillespie's albums Stalking Juliet (2009), In the Current Climate (2011) Glory Days (2013) and her anti war narrative suite The War on Trevor (2012) have all been critically acclaimed.
Gillespie plays festivals, clubs, arts centres and theatres in the UK and Europe. She has performed live on BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour,Loose Ends, BBC London and Jazz FM, and received airplay on BBC Radio 2, BBC Radio 3 and local stations in Europe and America. On 21 November 2011 Gillespie was interviewed by Andrew Marr on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week on the emerging role of politics in the arts. She was awarded by the British PRS for Music 'Women Make Music Scheme in 2012 for her narrative music project The War on Trevor which she launched with 2 headline shows at Ronnie Scott's.
On her mother's side Gillespie is related to CIA London Station chief Cleveland Cram and Irish politician Richard Mulcahy.
Gillespie composes her material on the guitar. She cites her main influences as Tom Waits, Cole Porter, Bob Dylan early blues and jazz, poets T. S. Eliot and James Tate and the 1950s Beat Poetry movement. Her style has been described as 'mixing folk, jazz and blues' with an emphasis on the lyrical content and delivery.The Guardian's jazz critic John Fordham writes "Gillespie, who joins Bob Dylan's lyrical bite and languid delivery to the forthrightness of Joni Mitchell, with a little rap-like percussiveness thrown in, is an original." Robert Shore of London's Metro points to "her Beat-like verbal collages ('Cinnamon ginseng bootleg bourbon Calvados Berlin') and beautifully controlled associative word strings, all delivered with her distinctive vocal mixture of dark romanticism and punkish attitude".
...
Wikipedia