Beth Rowley

Born in Lima, Peru on October 10th, 1981 and raised in Bristol on a diet of eclectic musical influences including blues numbers and Latin American rancheras, English singer-songwriter Beth Rowley spent much of her early life gigging and studying music. After stints as a backing singer for pop stars Ronan Keating and Enrique Iglesias, she joined forces with jazz saxophonist Ben Castle for a series of EPs including a 2004 self-titled debut, 2006’s Sweet Hours and 2007’s Violets. The latter project came at a pivotal time in her career, enjoying editorial support from iTunes and landing around the same time as her uncredited Crowded House collaboration “Transit Lounge”. By 2008, Rowley had signed to Universal imprint Blue Thumb and released a debut album, Little Dreamer, which entered the UK Albums Chart at number six and led to an appearance at the BBC Electric Proms. The following year, she was nominated for the BRIT Award for Best British Female Solo Artist, contending against Duffy, Adele, Estelle and M.I.A. In 2013, Rowley returned with a fourth extended play, Wretched Body, initially billed as the first instalment in a three-part series of EPs which was ultimately scrapped. She garnered renewed attention in 2017 after her song “I Walk Beside You” was used as the theme tune for J. K. Rowling’s BBC One series Strike, and capitalised on this success with the prompt release of her sophomore album, Gota Fría, in 2018. She returned a year later with two new offerings, “Good Thing” and “Distractor”.