Best Female Artist Cymru to Liverpool

• 7th Sep 2003

Winner of the Best Female Solo Artist category at the Welsh Music Awards in 2002, Amy Wadge is off on her UK headlining tour and will be passing through Liverpool on the way, playing @ the Masque on the 24th April on a glasswerk.co.uk bill. Doors open at 8.30pm and it is £4/£5 with flyer. See Website for more details.

2002 was a great year for Amy Wadge. She supported Lenny Kravitz; had The Stereophonics open for her; received a nomination for Best Newcomer at the televised Pop Factory Awards, and was voted Best Female Solo Artist at the Welsh Music Awards.

Amy's performance has been described as – 'a ray of light one moment- shot through with sorrow the next'.

Her voice – 'tough but tender', having a 'soulful smokiness' and simply 'amazing'.

Her songs, which infuse slowly into your memory, have a 'graceful intensity' and powerful, 'cutting lyrics'.

Amy writes ' breathtaking' songs, with 'stunning turns of phrase delivered through an emotive voice.'

In 2001 Amy released the single 'Saddest Eyes', and was heralded as 'The New Joni Mitchell' by the London Evening Standard. She was asked to perform at Radio 2 Live in Cardiff and the gig was such a success, it was broadcast in it's entirety on Janice Long's show.

In 2002 Amy released the mini album 'The Famous Hour' on Welsh Label FFvinyl. Produced by Greg Haver (Manic Street Preachers, Catatonia and The Super Furry Animals), it drew a huge response. It proved a hit with several BBC 6 DJ's and led to Amy playing at the BBC 6 launch party alongside Lenny Kravitz and Embrace.

Born in the village of Backwell, just outside Bristol, Amy was getting her first Radio 1 airplay at the age of just 14. As half of the girl-group 'Two of A Mind', she recorded a cover version of 'The Great Pretender', which reached number 75 in the charts. Aged 16, Amy decided to go solo, performing as a singer/songwriter. She went on to study at the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, and settled permanently in Wales.

Amy has made a number of television appearances, performing live on Stuart Cable's (Stereophonics' Drummer) new show, singing in Welsh on Welsh Language show 'Session Hwyr'and performing live on the BBC's Working Lunch.

Last Summer Amy played the Cambridge Folk Festival and the Mardi Gras in Cardiff to 30,000 people and was heralded by the French National Press as the 'Highlight' of the Lorient Interceltique Festival in France. She returned to support Eric Bibb for the whole of his UK and Ireland tour which spanned the end of 2002 and the start of 2003.

This Year Amy is to headline her first UK tour and release her first full- length album in September.
She has already been booked for a number of major festivals in the UK as well as headlining the 'Welsh Night' at Lorient in the summer to some 40,000 people.

Amy is also performing for two weeks in Sydney, Australia for the Rugby World Cup by invitation of the Welsh Assembly.

Live, Amy is equally mesmerising performing with just her guitar, or with her band, featuring Jonathan Thomas on Bass/ Pedal Steel and Aled Richards (ex-Catatonia) on drums.