Speech Debelle

A self-confessed "spoilt brat" as a child, Speech Debelle was suspended from school, turned to poetry and was rapping by the time she was 13. A major fall-out with her mother led her to leave home at 19 and she spent four years staying with friends and living in homeless hostels. before taking her nickname, Speech, and her grandmother's surname, Debelle, as a tribute, prior to signing with the Big Dada label in 2007. With laid-back jazz influences and an understated flow, debut album Speech Therapy (2009) told the story of her life in candid detail, discussing her homelessness, her absent father and her experiences of London's seedy underbelly. The diverse sound and sharp lyricism led to the album winning the prestigious Mercury Music Prize, a complete shock considering record sales of barely 10,000, and Debelle shot to national fame. The critical acclaim, however, didn't result in commercial sales and she left her label after blaming them for not capitalising on the success. Undeterred by various setbacks, including the cancellation of her planned American debut due to visa problems, Debelle set about writing material for her second album The Art Of Speech in 2011.