Fiona Bevan | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Fiona Mackay Barclay Bevan |
| Origin | Suffolk, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments |
|
| Labels | Navigator Records |
| Website | fionabevan |
Fiona Mackay Barclay Bevan is an English singer-songwriter fromSuffolk, England.[1] She co-wrote the song "Little Things" forOne Direction[2] along withEd Sheeran, which became a number-one single in 13 countries and received aBMI award.[3]
Bevan has co-written songs released byKylie Minogue,LIGHTS,5 Seconds Of Summer,Tom Walker,Steps,Mika,Shane Filan,Hey Violet, andNatalie Imbruglia. She has also written and been featured onStefflon Don's debut release.
As an artist, Bevan's debut solo studio album 'Talk to Strangers', (April, 2014) was released onNavigator Records. She has toured as a supporting act forNick Mulvey, Ryan Keen,Ed Sheeran,Hawksley Workman,Ingrid Michaelson,Gwyneth Herbert,Luke Friend, andBill Bailey. In 2014, Bevan completed a tour of Australia supportingBusby Marou, and the following year she toured Canada, supportingHawksley Workman.
Bevan runs a residency night at Servant Jazz Quarters inDalston, London, called "Fiona Bevan Presents," featuring acts including Mercury Prize-nominatedSam Lee andEd Harcourt, who also remixed her first single, "The Machine", in 2014.
Bevan is of British and Canadian parentage.[1] Her great-grandmother was the romantic novelistD. E. Stevenson, andTreasure Island authorRobert Louis Stevenson was her great-great-grandfather's cousin. She was born inBury St. Edmunds in Suffolk,[4] brought up in Suffolk, and attendedColchester County High School for Girls.[5]
Fiona Bevan's debut extended play (EP),In The Swimming Pool, was released in 2007.[6] Her debut studio albumPlant Your Heart, was released in 2009 on the Fallen Idol label.[7]
In 2011, she released an EP,Us and the Darkness, on Venus Climbing, co-produced with Robin Baynton. The EP featured Bevan on lead vocals and guitar, accompanied by Rosalie Bevan on bass and James Crichlow on violin.[8] One of the songs on the EP, "Dial D for Denial", was a semi-finalist at the 2011International Songwriting Competition.[1] The song "Pirates and Diamonds" was included on theOneTaste Collective Album Vol. 2, released on 14 June 2010, while she also appeared onWinter Hunter Remixes by The Living Graham Bond released on 26 July 2010 on the Fat label.[9]
Her song "Love in a Cold Climate" was included in theFor Folk's Sake Christmas 2011 compilation album.[10]
Bevan's second album,Talk To Strangers, was released in 2014 onNavigator Records in the UK, Planet Music in Australia, andP-Vine in Japan.[11] In 2015, it was released on Convexe /Universal Music in Canada and Convexe in the USA. The album's twelve songs were written, arranged, and played by Fiona Bevan, produced and played byShawn Lee, engineered by Pierre Duplan in Bloomsbury, London, and mastered by George Horn at Fantasy Studios, San Francisco.The Guardian wrote, "Bevan took us on startling odysseys that suggestedErykah Badu,Joanna Newsom, andKate Bush spine-tinglingly joined".[12]The Line of Best Fit called her work, "mesmerizingly beautiful".[13]
The first single "The Machine" was remixed byEd Harcourt and featured Fem Fel, which received airplay onBBC Radio 1 andBBC London. Clash Music commentated about the track: "Fiona Bevan contrasts pastoral, acoustic textures with her golden, golden voice".[14]
The next single, "Rebel Without a Cause", was released in May 2014, with remixes by Anushka, who was signed toGilles Peterson'sBrownswood Recordings, andMr. Hudson.
The single "They Sang Silent Night" was released in 2014 as a peacetime/Christmas song, marking the 100th anniversary of theChristmas Truce ceasefire when enemy troops united in peace to sing "Silent Night" across the trenches. A live version of the song aired on Christmas Day on nationalABC radio in Australia, featuring Fiona accompanied by Jeremy Marou fromBusby Marou on guitar.[15]
In December 2016, Bevan co-wrote and featured on the song 'Forever' onStefflon Don's mix-tapeReal Ting.
In February 2017, the British newspaperThe Observer identified Bevan's song "Little Things” in an article entitled "A History of the Love Song in 10 Tracks", as an important song in the digital era. In the article, author Jude Rogers, wrote: "["Little Things"] tackled the physical inadequacies many young women feel in the age of social media and told them they were OK to have". Bevan commented that "it felt very important to write it like a feminist love song...Girls at that age – 12, 13, when their self-esteem is often rock bottom – need to hear those things said, so to hear them from their heroes is life-changing." Bevan received "hundreds of messages from girls on social media after the song grew in popularity.[16]
Bevan released a new solo EP,Wild Angels, Sweet Demons on Venus Climbing Records in 2018.[17]
Bevan co-wrote theOne Direction song "Little Things" withEd Sheeran, which appeared on their second studio albumTake Me Home (2012).[2] In October 2012, Sheeran acknowledged her songwriting skills in an interview with the British radio networkCapital FM, stating:
"The great thing about it is I wrote that song with a girl called Fiona Bevan when I was 17 and we lost the song. I've kept in touch with Fiona, we've done gigs and stuff, and about two months ago she sent me the tune and was like, 'Oh, do you remember this?' I was like, 'Yeah, I do remember that', and I was in the studio with the One Direction boys at the time and I was playing it and they were like, 'We really like that'. It's got one of my favorite lines that I've ever written in a song."[18]
In 2017, Fiona worked with the groupSteps on their comeback albumTears on the Dancefloor.[19] "Scared of the Dark", the single she and Carl Ryden co-wrote for Steps, reached number 37 on theUK Singles Chart.[20]
Bevan co-wrote "One Night" forBen Haenow with Ben and producer duo Red Triangle (production team) for his deluxe debut album.[21] The album reached the top 10 in the UK, and his subsequent 'One Night Tour' was also named after the track.[22]
Bevan co-wrote, withGwyneth Herbert, two songs on Herbert's 2013 albumThe Sea Cabinet – "I Still Hear the Bells" and "The King's Shilling"– and performed with Herbert on the album and at its London launch atWilton's Music Hall in May 2013.[23]
WithLaura Welsh, Bevan co-wrote the singles 'Red' and 'Concrete' from the 'See Red EP' which The Line Of Best Fit called "stunning".[24] Bevan also co-wrote Laura's previous single 'Sex and Violence' which was released as a 'Stream Only' premiere on Spin.com.[25][26]
Alongside Neil Luck, Bevan co-composed music for and performed alongside the avant-garde string ensemble ARCO onLast Wane Days (squib-box), a two-act monodrama for voice and ensemble,[27] released on 12 March 2012. In a review, Tim Rutherford-Johnson wrote: "Bevan, in particular, can turn her voice on a dime. As co-composers, Luck and Bevan use sound and recurring motifs cleverly so that the rampant dislocations achieve an unexpected coherence and continuity. Serious artistry".[28]
For several months in 2011, Bevan was joint lead guitarist in the Poussez Posse, a band fronted byGeorgina Baillie and mentored byAdam Ant. Other members included fellow lead guitarists Danie Cox (later known as Danie Centric and GobbyHolder ofSlady), bassist Molly Spiers MacLeod (daughter ofSpizz), and drummer Rachael Smith. The latter three eventually left to form the self-styled "flock rock" bandThe Featherz.
This lineup of the Posse performed several support slots for Ant in 2011 and recorded tracks for a planned single and EP. They were later replaced by a new lineup, still fronted by Baillie and featuring futureCurse of Lono bassist Charis Anderson. This updated lineup continued to support Ant on tours in the UK, mainland Europe, and Australia until the end of 2012.
Footage from 2011 of a band meeting of Bevan's lineup of the Poussez Posse at Ant's home is featured inThe Blueblack Hussar, a documentary about Ant directed byJack Bond.[29][30]
In the spring of 2015, Bevan's track "Slo Mo Tiger Glo" from her albumTalk To Strangers was chosen as the theme music for the HSBC adverts aired in the UK and Ireland.[31] Her song "Beginners Luck" was used as the E! 2015 winter red carpet season USA track.[citation needed]
| Album | Release date | Label |
|---|---|---|
| Plant Your Heart[32] | 16 November 2009[32] | Fallen Idol |
| Talk to Strangers[33] | 28 April 2014 | Navigator Records |
| EP | Release date | Label |
|---|---|---|
| In the Swimming Pool | 16 February 2007[6] | Fiona Bevan |
| Us and the Darkness | March 2011 | Venus Climbing |
| Wild Angels Sweet Demoms | November 2018[17] | Venus Climbing |
| Girl With Telescope[34] | ||
| First Woman On The Moon[35] |
indicates a background vocal contribution.
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