Joan Armatrading

Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading was born on 9 December 1950 in Basseterre, St Kitts, the third of six children of Amos Ezekiel and Beryl Agatha Armatrading. Her parents moved to Birmingham in the early 1950s, leaving her with her grandmother in Antigua, and in 1958, at seven, she flew to join them as part of the Windrush generation. They settled in the Brookfields district of Birmingham.

Armatrading left school at 15 and worked a series of local jobs while writing her own songs. She first performed at Birmingham University at 16, played in local pubs and became accomplished on guitar and bass. By 1972 she had moved to London, appeared in the stage musical Hair, and signed to A&M Records, and her debut album Whatever's for Us followed.

Her breakthrough was the self-titled third album Joan Armatrading in 1976, produced with Glyn Johns, which reached the UK top 20 and spawned the top ten single Love and Affection. She followed it with Show Some Emotion (1977), To the Limit (1978), Me Myself I (1980), Walk Under Ladders (1981) and The Key (1983), which were popular on both sides of the Atlantic. She was widely seen as the first Black female singer-songwriter to enjoy major commercial success in Britain.

Independent, private and fiercely in control of her work, she has released 18 studio albums. She received Grammy nominations in 1980 and 1983, and in 2008 her album Into the Blues made her the first female UK artist nominated in the blues category. She received the Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996 and was twice nominated for Best British Female Solo Artist at the Brit Awards.

She was appointed MBE in 2001 and CBE in 2020, and has been honoured with the BASCA Gold Badge Award. Her songs, including Love and Affection, Down to Zero and Drop the Pilot, have been covered by many other artists, and she continues to tour and record, still known for her warm contralto, her guitar playing and her honesty.