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Joan Armatrading

 
Gale Contemporary Black Biography:

Joan Armatrading

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singer; songwriter

Personal Information

Born on December 9, 1950, in Basseterre, St. Kitts (Caribbean Islands); moved to Birmingham, England, 1958.
Education: Open University, B.A., 2001.

Career

Vocalist and songwriter. Performed in reggae group around Birmingham as teenager; appeared in British production of musical Hair; signed to A&M; released debut album, Whatever's for Us, 1973; released breakthrough album, Joan Armatrading, 1976; released album Me, Myself & I, 1980; reached top 40 in U.S. and top ten in Britain; released The Key, 1983; recordings and tours, 1980s-90s; moved to RCA label, 1995; released online single "The Messenger," a tribute to Nelson Mandela, 2001.

Life's Work

In the 1990s and beyond, female singer-songwriters formed an important segment of the pop marketplace, both critically and commercially. Such artists as Tracy Chapman and Melissa Etheridge sold millions of recordings thanks to a stylistic blend that was rooted in folk music, with its emphasis on insightful lyrics, but also incorporated blues, jazz, rock, and dashes of various international styles. That stylistic blend was partly the creation of Joan Armatrading, an Afro-British songwriter and vocalist who was in many ways ahead of her time. "I know I've been an incredible influence on many people and I've played a big part in all the stuff that happens now," Armatrading told the Los Angeles Times. "... But it's almost like people are in denial. If it's something that has touched you and been a big influence, you should say so."

Armatrading was born on December 9, 1950, on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts, but her family moved to the factory town of Birmingham, England, when she was seven. A shy youngster, she mastered the piano and guitar on her own and began writing songs. Her first experiences as a performer came when she and her boyfriend joined a proto-reggae Jamaican group that performed around Birmingham, but Armatrading had wide musical interests and showed little desire to pursue a purely Caribbean sound in her music. Jamaican music was at that time a largely male-dominated music. Armatrading drifted out of music in her late teens and took an office job.

She was drawn back to music when she went with a friend who wanted to audition for a role in the British production of Hair, a notorious hippie-era rock musical that included an onstage nude scene. The friend was cut, but Armatrading got a chorus part--and refused to shed her clothes for the nude scene. Joining forces with another Caribbean-born songwriter named Pam Nestor, Armatrading returned to songwriting and went in search of a record deal. She was signed to the Cube label in 1972--a significant breakthrough, for Cube was distributed in the United States by the hugely successful A&M label.

Armatrading's first two albums, Whatever's for Us (1973) and Back to the Night (1975) sold poorly but attracted some industry attention, and the consistent British hitmaker Glyn Johns was tabbed to produce her next recording. That album, 1976's Joan Armatrading, proved to be a career maker. The album spawned a single, "Love and Affection," which rose into the Top 10 on British charts. The Los Angeles Times called the ballad "alternately caressing and smoldering." Joan Armatrading won enthusiastic critical reviews on both sides of the Atlantic, giving rise to a small but devoted coterie of Armatrading fans.

That group of fans has never been large; only two of Armatrading's albums, 1980's Me, Myself, and I and The Key (1983), reached the Top 40 in the United States, and even in her British homeland, where she was more of a commercial force, the top levels of the charts eluded her. Part of the reason was that Armatrading never settled into an image or a musical formula that pop music's star-making machinery could build on. If an album reached a moderate level of success, Armatrading was just as likely to strike out in a new direction with the next one as to produce more work in the same vein. Her partnership with Glyn Johns endured for only a few albums after Joan Armatrading, and she has since worked with a great variety of producers and musicians.

That changeability, however, endeared Armatrading to her legion of fans, who would consistently buy each new Armatrading release and who insured that Armatrading would consistently create new material for the better part of two decades. Armatrading turned back to her Caribbean roots on 1981's Walk Under Ladders, which featured the hitmaking Jamaican rhythm team of Sly Dunbar and Robbie Shakespeare. She featured leading rock stars as guests on various albums, such as Mark Knopfler of the group Dire Straits on The Shouting Stage (1988). All these influences were grafted onto a core of what a Rolling Stone reviewer (quoted in Contemporary Authors) called "folk-jazz musings"--songs with serious lyrics, on a variety of topics, performed in a more rhythm-oriented and vocally improvisatory style than that of pure folk music.

Though they did not top the charts, Armatrading's albums sold consistently over extended periods of time as new fans discovered her music. She has been credited with twenty gold records for sales of over 500,000 copies each. Armatrading continued to record regularly until 1995, the year she released What's Inside. Appearing on the RCA label in a departure from A&M, where she had remained since the beginning of her career, What's Inside was called by Billboard magazine "the most personal, delicate, and introspective album" of Armatrading's career. That album kicked off a new worldwide concert tour by the singer, who consistently sold out much larger concert halls than the volume of her recording sales would suggest.

Part of Armatrading's longevity was due to her avoidance of the excesses of the pop lifestyle. "I'm a very quiet person," she told People. "I don't smoke. I don't drink. I don't go to clubs." She remained stoic about the moderate dimensions of her album sales. "Sure, I'd like commercial success," she said in the same interview. "Tons. But I can't change my style or the style of my music just to get it. It has to be with what I do."

Independent as ever, she struck out in new directions in the late 1990s. Armatrading spearheaded an album called Lullabies with a Difference in 1998; soliciting lullabies from many of the musicians with whom she has enjoyed close relationships, including Tina Turner, the Cranberries, and Mark Knopfler. Armatrading turned over profits from the album to the children's charity PACES. Armatrading earned her bachelor's degree with honors from Britain's Open University in 2001. She told the London Independent that although she liked a music history course she had taken, "I didn't enjoy the analytical side of music theory at all."

Honored with two Grammy nominations for Best Female Vocalist earlier in her career, Armatrading received two more important awards at the turn of the century--even though it had been several years since she had released a full-length album of her own. In 1999 she was named one of the 100 most influential women in rock music by the television video channel VH1, and in 2001 she became a Member of the Order of the British Empire in a ceremony conducted by future king Prince Charles. Her most recent recording at this writing, "The Messenger," was a tribute to former South African President Nelson Mandela; it was made available as a download from Armatrading's website.

Awards

Two Grammy award nominations; named to list of 100 most influential women in rock music, VH1, 1999; became Member of the Order of the British Empire, 2001.

Works

Selected discography

  • Whatever's for Us, Metro, 1973.
  • Back to the Night, A&M, 1975.
  • Joan Armatrading, A&M, 1976.
  • Show Some Emotion, A&M, 1977.
  • To the Limit, A&M, 1978.
  • Me, Myself & I, A&M, 1980.
  • Walk Under Ladders, A&M, 1981.
  • The Key, A&M, 1983.
  • Track Record, A&M, 1983.
  • Secret Secrets, A&M, 1985.
  • Sleight of Hand, A&M, 1986.
  • Hearts & Flowers, A&M, 1990.
  • The Very Best of Joan Armatrading, Polydor, 1991.
  • Square the Circle, A&M, 1992.
  • Greatest Hits, A&M, 1996.
  • 20th-Century Masters: The Millennium Collection, 2000.

Further Reading

Books

  • Contemporary Musicians, volume 4, Gale, 1990.
  • Larkin, Colin, ed., The Encyclopedia of Popular Music, Muze UK, 1998.
Periodicals
  • Billboard, June 17, 1995, p. 14.
  • The Independent (London, England), September 4, 2001, p. Education-3.
  • Los Angeles Times, August 4, 1999, p. F1.
  • People, December 11, 1995, p. 35.
  • The Plain Dealer (Cleveland, Ohio), October 17, 2001, p. C2.
Online
  • All Music Guide, http://allmusic.com.
  • Joan Armatrading homepage, http://joanarmatrading.com (November 15, 2001).
  • Associated Press, http://wire.ap.org, (October 16, 2001).
  • Contemporary Authors Online, Gale, 2001; reproduced in Biography Resource Center, Gale, 2001.

— James M. Manheim

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Gale Musician Profiles:

Joan Armatrading

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Pop singer, songwriter

In the late 1980s the pop music world enjoyed a refreshing change of pace when several gifted young female singer/songwriters—among them Tracy Chapman, Suzanne Vega, and Sinead O’Connor—emerged to give a powerful voice to the struggles of contemporary women. Their songs were substantive, urgent, and yet strangely simple and direct. Invariably these women will point to a particular artist as one of their earliest inspirations, a woman who has been writing soulful, personal songs since 1973. And Joan Armatrading has endured as an international pop star through the lean years of the late 1970s and early 1980s, when being a "woman folk singer" was not "in."

A self-described loner with an introspective disposition, the shy, reclusive Armatrading would seem the unlikeliest of pop stars. But her powerful, emotional songs, brought forth from the rich, smoky confines of a voice that seems to emanate directly from her soul, quickly convert any skeptics who might expect a flashier, more self-conscious performer. "Armatrading’s heroic songs are an irresistable brew of jazz, rock, soul, and West Indian influences, performed in a dusky, Odetta-like voice and accompanied by sinewy chordal attacks on acoustic rhythm guitar," wrote Newsweek’s Barbara Graustark. "As an interpreter, she is the fastest change-of-pace artist in the business today: from rich chest tones of silky smoothness, her voice will suddenly take off into a light scat with the ease of a Porsche negotiating a hairpin turn."

It is this sort of critical response which has helped Armatrading on her way and established her with a small but intensely devoted following—and it is help she dearly needed, mainly due to her reserved nature and the fact that quiet, ordinary-looking, West Indian-British black women do not ordinarily become pop stars. Even today, despite her success, Armatrading lives a hermitic existence at her little home outside London, rarely associating with paparazzi, record industry people, or even other musicians. "I haven’t picked up lots of friends along the way," Armatrading told Rolling Stone. "I’m not going out to dinner and parties. I don’t need a million acquaintances; one or two friends are plenty for me."

Born on the Caribbean island of St. Kitts in 1950, Armatrading was one of six children who moved with their father and mother to the English industrial city of Birmingham. It was a disruptive move for a delicate child of seven, and Armatrading’s childhood was spent mostly at a distance from other children, where she lived vicariously through the play of others and practiced on her guitar. As a teenager she began writing songs and performing with a boyfriend in a Jamaican group that played clubs in black sections of Birmingham.

But Armatrading quickly tired of the Jamaican sound, and so it was mostly luck that launched her early career. She was working as an office girl when she accompanied a friend to an audition for the English production of Hair; though her friend was turned away, Armatrading landed a role in the chorus and spent the next eighteen months touring Great Britain with the troupe—and distinguished herself as the only member of the cast who refused to disrobe onstage during a particular scene in the musical.

Armatrading spent the next couple of years writing songs and trying to find someone to produce them. Her first album, Whatever Is for Us, was released in 1973 with the help of lyricist Pam Nestor. The album drew critical acclaim but sold very few copies. Armatrading went solo on her second LP, Back to the Night (1975), but it was not until her third record, Joan Armatrading (1976), that she received enough publicity from her record company, at the time A & M Records, to ensure a wider audience. The result was more excellent reviews, extensive radio play, and Armatrading’s first Top 10 U.K. single, "Love and Affection." Over the next few years Armatrading continued to build a loyal following of sophisticated adult listeners.

The story of the ensuing few years is a testament to Armatrading’s determination to keep evolving as a musician. Rather than rely on a tried-and-true format, she consistently broke new ground with each record by working with different producers, musicians, and record companies, which lent new flavors to her music and also served to keep any outsiders from getting to close to her fiercely independent creative niche. Her peak period seemed to arrive in the early 1980s, when her LPs Me, Myself, I (1980), Walk under Ladders (1981), and The Key (1983) all were very popular in the U.K. and even had some success in the United States, a market that had never really warmed to Armatrading’s music.

But her music is such a distinctive blend of a wide variety of musical styles from around the world, Armatrading could truly be called an international pop star, and more than twenty gold records in seven countries can surely testify to that. Though she has always insisted that nothing, especially money, can influence her creative world, Armatrading admitted to trying to lure a larger audience. "To talk about making more ’commercial’ music is misleading," Armatrading told Rolling Stone. "It makes it sound as if you’re just making records for the sake of selling them… But I would like millions of people to buy what I do rather than ten people. And it is your living, you know? You’ve got to be realistic; it’s what buys your food, pays to get your clothes cleaned and puts petrol in the car. I can’t say it’s art for art’s sake."

Selected discography
Whatever Is for Us, Cube, 1973.
Back to the Night, A & M, 1975.
Joan Armatrading, A & M, 1976.
Show Some Emotion, A & M, 1977.
To the Limit, A & M, 1978.
How Cruel, A & M, 1979.
Me, Myself, I, A & M, 1980.
Walk Under Ladders, A & M, 1981.
The Key, A & M, 1983.
Secret Secrets, A & M, 1985.
The Shouting Stage, A & M, 1988.
Hearts and Flowers, A & M, 1990.

Sources
Books
Hardy, Phil, and Dave Laing, Encyclopedia of Rock, Schirmer, 1988.

Periodicals
Esquire, September 1982.
Newsweek, February 11, 1980.
Rolling Stone, March 18, 1982; December 1, 1988.
AMG AllMusic Guide: Pop Artists:

Joan Armatrading

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  • Genres: Rock

Biography

Born in 1950 on the island of St. Kitts, British singer/songwriter Joan Armatrading was her country's -- as well as Britain's -- first woman to make commercial inroads into her chosen genre, spicing her take on folk with elements of rock, blues, and jazz, and has had a remarkably long, consistent career. Armatrading immigrated to England in 1958 and began writing songs six years later. In 1970, she met lyricist Pam Nestor at a touring production of Hair, and the two began collaborating on material later featured on Armatrading's 1972 debut, Whatever's for Us. The two ended their partnership afterward, and Armatrading resurfaced in 1975 with Back to the Night. Featuring former members of Fairport Convention, 1976's Joan Armatrading catapulted the singer into the U.K. Top 20 and produced her only Top Ten single, "Love and Affection." Armatrading's subsequent albums sold well in the U.K. to her newly established fan base but only respectably in the U.S., where it took her until 1980 to have a real hit (the all-electric Me Myself I). The Key also did quite well, but Armatrading remained largely a cult artist with a small but devoted following in America, never quite achieving the stardom she had in Britain. Armatrading has been successful enough to tour and record regularly into the new millennium. She released Lovers Speak (Denon, 2003), Live: All the Way from America (Savoy, 2004), and her first all-blues project, Into the Blues (429, 2007), which debuted at number one on Billboard's Blues Albums chart -- a first for a U.K. female artist. The rollicking This Charming Life (also 429) followed early in 2010. ~ Steve Huey, Rovi
Wikipedia on Answers.com:

Joan Armatrading

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Joan Armatrading

Joan Armatrading performing in Germany, 2007
Background information
Birth name Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading
Born 9 December 1950 (1950-12-09) (age 61)
Basseterre, Saint Kitts
Genres Rock, Pop, Folk rock, Blues
Occupations singer-songwriter
Instruments Vocals, guitar, piano
Years active 1972—present
Labels Cube Records, A&M, RCA, Universal, EMI, Savoy Jazz
Website http://www.joanarmatrading.com

Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, MBE (born 9 December 1950) is a British singer, songwriter and guitarist.[1] Armatrading is a three-time Grammy Award-nominee[2] and has been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist. She also received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996.[3] In a recording career spanning 40 years she has released a total of 17 studio albums, as well as several live albums and compilations.

Contents

Early life

Joan Armatrading was born in Basseterre, on the Caribbean island of Saint Kitts, in 1950, as the third of six children.[4][5] Her mother was born in Antigua and her father was from Saint Kitts.[6] When she was three, her parents moved with their two eldest boys to Birmingham, England, and she lived with her grandmother on Antigua.[7] She joined her parents in a largely white district of Birmingham in early 1958, at the age of seven.[6][7][8][9] Her father had played in a band in his youth, later forbidding his children from touching his guitar.[9] Armatrading began writing lyrics and music at the age of 14 on a piano that her mother had purchased as "a piece of furniture".[4][10] Shortly thereafter her mother bought her a £3 guitar from a pawn shop in exchange for two prams, and the younger Armatrading began teaching herself the instrument.[4][9]

She left school at the age of 15 to support her family,[4][5] and her first job was at Rabone Chesterman, an engineering tool manufacturer in Hockley, Birmingham. She was released from this job because she brought her guitar to work and played it during tea breaks.[11]

Career

Late 1960s and 1970s

Armatrading in concert in the early 1970s

Armatrading first performed in a concert at Birmingham University for her brother at the age of about 16. She only knew her own songs, but her brother asked her to perform something that would be familiar to the audience; she chose "The Sound of Silence".[9] She then performed her own songs around the local area with a friend from school, and played bass and rhythm guitar at local clubs.[7][12] In 1968, Armatrading joined a repertory production of the stage musical Hair.[7] There she met the lyricist Pam Nestor in 1970,[13] and they worked together on Armatrading's debut album Whatever's for Us, released by Cube Records in 1972.[8] Nestor wrote the lyrics to eleven of the fourteen songs on the album, while Armatrading wrote the lyrics to three of them, performed all the vocals, wrote all the music and played an array of instruments on the album. Although Nestor was credited as co-lyricist, Cube considered Armatrading to be the more likely star material. These events produced a tension which broke up the partnership.

On 28 November 1972 Armatrading appeared on the BBC Radio 1 John Peel Show performing "Head Of The Table", "Spend A Little Time", "Child Star" and "Whatever's For Us". She sang and played acoustic guitar and piano.[14] In 1973 Armatrading's first single "Lonely Lady"(with lyrics by Nestor), a song that had not been included on the album, was released by Cube on the Fly Label (catalogue: Bug 31). It was unsuccessful in the charts. A period of inactivity for Armatrading followed, while she extricated herself from her contract with Cube Records. The single was subsequently withdrawn by Cube and re-released as a promotional single in the US by Armatrading's new label A&M Records, the same year, as A&M1452. In January 1974 she appeared again on the John Peel Show. Performing "Some Sort Of Love Song", "Lonely Lady" and "Freedom", she again sang and played acoustic guitar and piano, but was accompanied by supporting musicians Snowy White (guitar), Mike Tomich (bass) and Brian Glassock (drums).[15]

In 1975, Armatrading was free to sign with A&M Records, and issued the album Back to the Night,[8] which was promoted on tour with a six-piece jazz-pop group called The Movies. Armatrading credited English singer Elkie Brooks on the sleeve notes as she had cooked for Armatrading and the band in the studio while they had been making the album, which was produced by Brooks' then husband Pete Gage. A major publicity relaunch in 1976 and the involvement of producer Glyn Johns propelled her next album, Joan Armatrading, into the Top 20 and spawned the Top 10 hit single "Love and Affection".[8] The album mixed acoustic work with jazz-influenced material, and this style was retained for the 1977 follow-up Show Some Emotion, also produced by Glyn Johns, as was 1978's To the Limit. These albums included songs which continue to be staples of Armatrading's live shows, including "Willow", "Down To Zero", "Tall in the Saddle", and "Kissin' and a Huggin". Also at this time, Armatrading wrote and performed "The Flight of the Wild Geese", which was used during the opening and end titles for the 1978 war film The Wild Geese. The song was included on the soundtrack album for the film, originally released by A&M Records, later released under licence as a Cinephile DVD. A live album entitled Steppin' Out was released in 1979.

Between 1972 and 1976 Armatrading made a total of eight appearances in session for the John Peel show and the decade saw her become the first Black British female singer/songwriter to enjoy international success.[12]

1980s and 1990s

In 1980, Armatrading radically revised her playing style and released Me Myself I, a harder pop-oriented album produced by Richard Gottehrer, who had previously produced albums for Blondie. The album became Armatrading's highest ever charting album both in the UK and the US, while the title track became her second UK Top 40 hit single.[8] The same pop style, now coupled with synthesisers, was also evident on the 1981 album Walk Under Ladders and 1983's The Key. All three of these albums were Top 10 successes in the UK, with The Key also producing the hit single "Drop the Pilot", Armatrading's third UK Top 40 hit single. To capitalise on her success, A&M released the best of compilation album, Track Record in 1983.

Armatrading's next studio album was 1985's Secret Secrets. The album was a top 20 hit but failed to yield any hit singles, cementing Armatrading's status as an "album artist". Taking over production responsibilities herself, she continued to record the albums Sleight of Hand (1986), The Shouting Stage (1988) and Hearts and Flowers (1990) for A&M Records, which all made the UK Top 40 but failed to achieve the level of success of her earlier works despite successful national tours (a show from her 1988 "Shouting Stage" tour was also filmed for television).

In 1989 she was the guest of Sue Lawley on the BBC Radio 4 radio programme Desert Island Discs where her favourite choice was Van Morrison's "Madame George".[16] Armatrading's full list included Ella Fitzgerald and Gustav Mahler.[17] Her luxury item was a guitar, while her castaway's book was Why Didn't They Ask Evans? by Agatha Christie.

In 1991, A&M released the compilation The Very Best of Joan Armatrading which returned her to the Top 10. However, her following studio album for A&M, 1992's Square The Circle did not replicate this success and would be her final recording for the label. Following her departure from A&M, a label she had been with for almost 20 years, Armatrading signed with RCA for her 1995 album What's Inside. Despite various television appearances and a full tour (which included a string quartet in addition to her stage band), the album was not a commercial success, becoming her lowest charting studio album in 20 years.

Later work and honours

In 2003, no longer attached to a major label, she released the album Lovers Speak. Though it was her first album in eight years, it met with little commercial success.

Her 2007 album Into the Blues debuted at #1 on the US Billboard Blues Chart, making Armatrading the first UK female artist to earn that distinction. Into the Blues, which Armatrading calls "the CD I've been promising myself to write for a long time", was nominated for a Grammy Award, also making her the first female UK artist to be nominated in the Grammy Blues category.

Armatrading has been nominated twice for a Brit Award as best female vocalist and has received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996 and in 2006 received an honorary degree from Aston University, Birmingham. In 2008 she was part of Cyndi Lauper's True Colors Tour 2008.

In 2007, Armatrading appeared in Episode 3 of the second series of Live from Abbey Road performing "Tall In The Saddle" from her 1976 self-titled album, and "Woman In Love" from the album Into The Blues. She also appeared on Later... with Jools Holland where she performed "Love and Affection", as well as "Woman In Love" and "My Baby's Gone" both from her 2007 Into The Blues album.

On 29 March 2010, she released a new album, This Charming Life. The album peaked at #4 on the US Billboard Folk Albums chart.[18] She embarked on an international tour to promote it, and a concert from this tour in April 2010 at the Royal Albert Hall in London was released on the CD/DVD album Live at the Royal Albert Hall, along with two tracks from a concert in Denver, Colorado, U.S., in February 2011.[19]

Appearances and other media

In addition to recording, Armatrading has toured extensively and xappeared in high profile concerts such as "The Picnic at Blackbushe" in 1978 (alongside Bob Dylan and Eric Clapton) and The Prince's Trust Rock Gala in 1983. She also appeared in the film The Secret Policeman's Third Ball in 1987. Several films have also used classic Joan Armatrading songs on their soundtracks, including Whoopi Goldberg's 1995 Boys on the Side ("Willow") and Goldberg's 1995 Moonlight and Valentino ("The Weakness in Me"). She has also made many appearances on television, including The Old Grey Whistle Test in 1975, “Joan Armatrading: Rock Over Europe” in 1980, “Joan Armatrading in Concert” in 1982, “Late Night in Concert” in 1984 and “Joan Armatrading” in 1985.[12]

In 2003, "Save Me" from Armatrading's self-titled album appeared in Season 6, Episode 7 of the prison drama OZ during a capital punishment scene.

On 30 November 2010, "This Charming Life" was played on the season finale of Sons of Anarchy, the hit television show on FX.

In 2011, "It Could Have Been Better" was featured in the British film Kill List.

Style

[icon] This section requires expansion.

Armatrading's music is considered to be mostly pop with forays into rock, folk, jazz, blues, soul and even reggae.

Personal life

Armatrading is reluctant to discuss her personal life in interviews. In a 2003 interview with David Thomas of The Daily Telegraph, she said:[5]

People who like my music have a legitimate interest in me, but I need to retain some privacy, not to be telling people what's going on, or what I feel. When you go home, the reason it's beautiful is because it's personal to you and the people you want to include in it.

In addition to her music career, in 2001, after five years of studying, Armatrading gained a BA (Hons) degree in History from the Open University, of which she is now a trustee.[12]

In April 2011, it was reported that Armatrading and her girlfriend Maggie Butler were to enter a civil partnership on 2 May 2011, in the Shetland Isles.[20][21]

Collaborations

Armatrading performed as a cameo vocalist for the song "Don't Lose Your Head" on the 1986 Queen album A Kind of Magic.

Discography

Albums

Year Album UK Album Charts[22] US US Blues BPI certifications
1972 Whatever's for Us - - - -
1975 Back to the Night - - - -
1976 Joan Armatrading 12 67 - Gold
1977 Show Some Emotion 6 52 - Gold
1978 To the Limit 13 125 - -
1979 How Cruel (EP) - - - -
1979 Steppin' Out (live album) - - - -
1980 Me Myself I 5 28 - Gold
1981 Walk Under Ladders 6 88 - Gold
1983 The Key 10 32 - Gold
1985 Secret Secrets 14 73 - Silver
1986 Sleight of Hand 34 70 - Silver
1988 The Shouting Stage 28 100 - Silver
1990 Hearts and Flowers 29 161 - -
1992 Square the Circle 34 - - -
1995 What's Inside 48 - - -
2003 Lovers Speak - - - -
2004 Live All the Way from America - - - -
2007 Into The Blues - - 1 -
2010 This Charming Life - - - -
2011 Live at Royal Albert Hall - - - -

Compilations

Year Album UK[22] U.S. BPI certifications
1983 Track Record[23] 18 113 -
1987 Classics Volume 21 (Canada only)[24] -
1991 The Very Best Of Joan Armatrading 9 - Gold
1996 Love & Affection (2 CD) - - -
2003 Love And Affection: Classics (1975–1983) (2 CD)[25] 24 - -

Singles

Year Title UK Singles Chart[22] US Billboard Hot 100 US Mainstream Rock
1973 "Lonely Lady" - - -
1976 "Love and Affection" 10 - -
1976 "Down To Zero" - - -
1978 "Show Some Emotion" - 110 -
1980 "Rosie" 49 - -
1980 "Me Myself I" 21 - -
1980 "All the Way from America" 54 - -
1981 "I'm Lucky" 46 - -
1981 "No Love" 50 - -
1983 "Drop the Pilot" 11 78 33
1983 "(I Love It When You) Call Me Names" - - -
1983 "Heaven" - - -
1985 "Temptation" 65 - -
1985 "Thinking Man" - -
1986 "Kind Words (And a Real Good Heart)" 81 - 37
1986 "Reach Out" - - -
1986 "Jesse" - - -
1988 "The Shouting Stage" 89 - -
1988 "Living for You" 98 - -
1990 "More Than One Kind of Love" 75 - -
1990 "Free" - - -
1991 "Love and Affection" (reissue) 91 - -
1992 "Wrapped Around Her" 56 - -
1992 "True Love" - - -
1995 "Everyday Boy" - - -
1995 "Shapes and Sizes" - - -

Footnotes

  1. ^ Lindsey, Craig D (13 July 2000). "Union Joan". Houston Press. http://www.houstonpress.com/2000-07-13/music/union-joan/. Retrieved 31 October 2011. 
  2. ^ Official website
  3. ^ Gregory, Andy (ed.) (2002). International Who's Who in Popular Music. Europa Publications Ltd. ISBN 1857431618. 
  4. ^ a b c d Birch, Helen (4 November 2005). "Interview: Joan Armatrading". The Guardian. http://www.guardian.co.uk/music/2005/nov/04/popandrock.gender. Retrieved 29 April 2011. 
  5. ^ a b c Thomas, David (27 March 2003). "Reluctant exposure". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/rockandjazzmusic/3591904/Reluctant-exposure.html. Retrieved 11 August 2011. 
  6. ^ a b Tuber, Keith (September 1983). "Joan Armatrading hopes The Key finds success". Orange Coast Magazine (Emmis Communications): 130–131. ISSN 02790483. http://books.google.com/books?id=FBEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA130. Retrieved 27 September 2011. 
  7. ^ a b c d Mendez, Serafín; Cueto, Gail; Rodríguez Deynes, Neysa (July 2003). "Joan Armatrading (1950–) St. Kitts Singer and Songwriter". Notable Caribbeans and Caribbean Americans: a biographical dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 22–24. ISBN 978-0-313-31443-8. http://books.google.com/books?id=NLPrMMKmynwC&pg=PA22. Retrieved 27 September 2011. 
  8. ^ a b c d e Strong, Martin C. (2000). The Great Rock Discography (5th ed.). Edinburgh: Mojo Books. pp. 29–30. ISBN 1-84195-017-3. 
  9. ^ a b c d Brown, Helen (27 August 2005). "Don't drop the pilot!". The Daily Telegraph. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/music/3646128/Dont-drop-the-pilot.html. Retrieved 29 April 2011. 
  10. ^ "Joan Armatrading is looking for new talent". Birmingham Mail. 15 July 2011. http://www.birminghammail.net/what-is-on-in-birmingham/rock-and-pop/2011/07/15/music-joan-armatrading-is-looking-for-new-talent-97319-29055956/. Retrieved 27 September 2011. 
  11. ^ BBC Radio 1 interview with Janice Long
  12. ^ a b c d "Joan Armatrading (b.1950)" at National Portrait Gallery
  13. ^ Joan Armatrading biography at Allmusic. Retrieved 28 September 2011.
  14. ^ 31/10.1974 Joan Armatrading – Keeping It Peel at bbc.co.uk
  15. ^ 14/01.1974 Joan Armatrading – Keeping It Peel at bbc.co.uk
  16. ^ Joan Armatrading, Desert Island Discs at bbc.co.uk
  17. ^ The full list was Violin Concerto in E Minor by Felix Mendelssohn, “That Old Black Magic” by Ella Fitzgerald, “Madame George” by Van Morrison, Symphony No. 4 in G major by Gustav Mahler, The Magnificent Seven theme by the Cincinnati Pops Orchestra, “Dies irae” (from Requiem Mass) by Giuseppe Verdi, “I'm a Man” by Muddy Waters and Symphony No. 9 in E minor (from The New World) by Antonin Dvořák.
  18. ^ Billboard.com (This Charming Life)
  19. ^ Jurek, Thom. Review of Live at Royal Albert Hall at Allmusic. Retrieved 5 May 2011.
  20. ^ "Joan Armatrading to marry girlfriend". http://www.lesbilicious.co.uk/music/joan-armatrading-to-marry-girlfriend/. Retrieved 25 April 2011. 
  21. ^ Marter, Hans “Joan Armatrading to 'tie the knot' in Shetland”. www.shetnews.co.uk
  22. ^ a b c Roberts, David (2006). British Hit Singles & Albums (19th ed.). London: Guinness World Records Limited. p. 29. ISBN 1-904994-10-5. 
  23. ^ with 2 unreleased tracks
  24. ^ "Joan Armatrading – Classics Volume 21 (CD)". Discogs.com. http://www.discogs.com/Joan-Armatrading-Classics-Volume-21/release/555678. Retrieved 30 July 2009. 
  25. ^ different tracks than the 1996 Love & Affection compilation

Reference bibliography

  • Logan, Nick (1976 & 1977), The Illustrated New Musical Express Encyclopedia of Rock, Salamander Books, ISBN 0861010094 
  • Clifford, Mike (1992), New Illustrated Rock Handbook, Salamander Books, ISBN 0861017218 

Further reading

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Joan Armatrading

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