Kate Nash | |
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.jpg) Nash performing atManchester Pride, 2013 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Kate Marie Nash |
| Born | (1987-07-06)6 July 1987 (age 37) Harrow,London, England |
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| Instruments |
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| Years active | 2005–present |
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| Website | katenash |
Kate Marie Nash (born 6 July 1987) is an English singer-songwriter and actress.
Nash launched her music career in 2005. Her 2007 single "Foundations" became a hit and brought her to public attention in the UK. Her debut album,Made of Bricks, peaked at No. 1 in the UK and was a moderate international success. Nash subsequently won the award forBest British Female Artist at the2008 Brit Awards.
Her second studio album,My Best Friend Is You, was released in 2010 and reached the top 10 in the UK and Germany. After her departure from a major label, Nash self-released her third studio album,Girl Talk, in 2013, but it failed to match the commercial success of her previous records. Her fourth studio album,Yesterday Was Forever, was also released independently in 2018, funded by her fans via aKickstarter campaign.
Aside from music, Nash has appeared in films such as the dramaGreetings from Tim Buckley (2012), the comedyPowder Room (2013), and the comedy-dramaSyrup (2013). She played Rhonda "Britannica" Richardson in theNetflix comedy-drama seriesGLOW (2017–2019).
Kate Marie Nash[1] was born in the London Borough ofHarrow,Greater London on 6 July 1987,[2] the second of three daughters born to an English father and Irish mother. Her father, Steve, is asystems analyst, while her mother, Marie (née Walsh), was ahospice nurse.[3][4] She learned to play the piano at an early age.[5] At 18, she underwent cardiacradiofrequency ablation in order to eliminatetachycardia.[6] The surgery subsequently inspired her song "Death Proof".[7] She attended theBRIT School and originally wanted to study acting, but turned to music after she was rejected from several drama colleges and universities,[4][8] including theBristol Old Vic Theatre School.[9] Prior to her musical career, she worked in aRiver Island shop[10] and aNando's restaurant.[11]
Nash embarked on a musical career in 2005, when she started recording after falling down the stairs and breaking her foot, which left her homebound.[8] She started performing live, holding her first shows in pubs, atopen mic nights, and an anti-folk festival inBrighton.[9] After several gigs, she uploaded her music toMySpace where she secured amanager and found exposure due to support fromLily Allen.[12] Her debutsingle, featuring songs "Caroline's a Victim" and "Birds", was recorded and produced inIceland byValgeir Sigurðsson, and released throughMoshi Moshi Records in February 2007. The release was limited to 2,000 copies and available only on7-inch vinyl. Due to demand, another 1,000 copies were made and these also sold out. CD promo copies were produced for distribution to the press and DJs and are occasionally available for sale. Themusic video for "Caroline's a Victim" was directed by Kinga Burza and received airplay onMTV2. The song was then included on the CDMoshi Moshi Singles Compilation and the single'sB-side, "Birds", later featured on Nash's debut album. Both tracks have also been released ondigital music platforms.
In April 2007, Nash was signed to thePolydor offshootFiction Records[13] and the following month made her official TV performance debut onLater... with Jools Holland. Her second single, "Foundations", which she co-wrote with producerPaul Epworth, was released by Fiction on 18 June 2007, and reached number two in the officialUK Singles Chart. Following this success, the label announced plans to bring forward the release of Nash's debut albumMade of Bricks to 6 August 2007. Produced by Paul Epworth, the album included many of the tracks she had been performing during her two nationwide tours.Made of Bricks was leaked tofilesharing networks a few days before its official commercial release and subsequently received mixed reviews;The Independent described it as being in "pole position for worst album of the year", while aBBC review called it "an album of surprising verve and variety".[14][15] It proved, however, to be commercially successful when it entered and peaked on theUK Albums Chart at number 1, and stayed in the chart for over forty consecutive weeks.[16]
During mid-2007, Nash performed at numerous festivals, including theWireless Festival,Bestival,Electric Gardens,Glastonbury,Latitude,Reading and Leeds,Oxegen andT in the Park. Throughout late 2007 and early 2008, she released three more singles fromMade of Bricks. "Mouthwash" and "Pumpkin Soup" both made the Top 40 in the UK Singles Chart. Although her fifth single "Merry Happy" did not chart well in the UK, the song enjoyed minor success in other countries, including the United States and Canada.Made of Bricks peaked at number 36 on the USBillboard 200 chart in January 2008.[17] It would later becertified Platinum in the UK and Gold in Germany.[18][19] In February 2008, Nash was honoured with theBest British Female Solo Artist award at the2008 Brit Awards.[20] She also won theQ Award for Breakthrough Artist and theNME Award for Best Solo Artist.[21][22] Nash embarked on her first tour in Australia and the US in 2008 and opened the2008Glastonbury Festival.
In March 2009, Nash became one of the founding members ofFeatured Artists' Coalition, anonprofit organization and lobbying group,[23] and revealed that she was in the early stages of recording her second album. She was introduced by her boyfriendRyan Jarman toBernard Butler, the producer ofDuffy's debut albumRockferry and a former guitarist forSuede.[24] The pair worked on eight songs atRAK Studios in the summer that year.[25] As a side project in late 2009, Kate joined apunk band called The Receders where she played bass guitar, with Jon Jackson and Brett Alaimo.[26] In December, the band played a live gig at 93 Feet East.[27]
In January 2010, Nash revealed that the album was complete, and the following month the song "I Just Love You More" was made available for free download from her official website.[28] The first official single from the album was "Do-Wah-Doo", which was released on 12 April 2010, to a moderate chart success. Nash's second studio albumMy Best Friend Is You was released a week later and was met with generally positive reviews.[29] The sound was described as having agirl group approach, influenced by a wide variety of genres, fromWall of Sound,Motown tono wave andriot grrrl.[30][31][32] The album reached the top 10 on the charts in the UK and Germany, and met with moderate success elsewhere. Two further singles from the album, "Kiss That Grrrl" and "Later On", were released in 2010, but failed to chart. To promote the record, the singer embarked on a tour, beginning with nine dates in North America in late April, with the all-female travelling festivalLilith Fair.[33][34] Her opening act wasSupercute!, apsychedelic pop teen girl trio from New York City.[35] She also took part in the 2010V Festival.[36] In August Nash performed in Australia atMelbourne'sCorner Hotel andSydney'sMetro Theatre. In February 2011, her concerts inRio de Janeiro andSão Paulo were the first contact with her Brazilian fans. The singer declared the Rio show "the best concert of her life" and "the happiest place she has ever been".[37][38]
After Fiction Records terminated her contract, Nash launched her own record label, Have 10p Records.[39] Indie act Brigitte Aphrodite (who had toured with Kate on many occasions) was the first artist signed to the label and released the debut single "I Dream Myself Awake" in 2011. Nash also appeared in Supercute!'s music video "Dumb Dumbs" and helped to produce their first album which eventually could not be released due to the band's split-up.[40] Later in 2011, she launched the Kate Nash's Rock 'n' Roll for Girls After School Music Club as a platform to inspire teenage girls to get into songwriting and making their own music, due to the shortage of female artists in the UK.[41][42] On her UK tour that year, Nash promoted the initiative in schools such as theCity of Portsmouth Girls' School,Woodchurch High School andJohn Madejski Academy.[43]
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In February 2012, Nash wrote and recorded a song with some of theOccupy London protesters camping outside theSt Paul's Cathedral, following workshops led by her and Sam Duckworth ofGet Cape. Wear Cape. Fly.[44] She contributed the song "My Chinchilla" to theNardwuar andThe Evaporators' albumBusy Doing Nothing!.[45] She also collaborated withBrisbane-based bandThe Thin Kids which resulted in the single "The Thin Kids Theme" released on her label[46] and wrote the song "I Am Me" withWillow Smith, which was released later in 2012.[47]
In June 2012, Nash embarked on a 12-date Faster Pussycat Run Run Tour across the UK[48] and released a new song, "Under-Estimate the Girl", for free on her website as an intro to her third studio album.[49] Thepunk andgrunge-influenced song, which Nash wrote, recorded and made a video for in under 24 hours,[50] received mostly negative feedback.[51][52] As a fan ofBuffy the Vampire Slayer, Kate staged a play based on the season six musical episode "Once More, with Feeling" atHackney Picturehouse.[53] In November, herEPDeath Proof was released. She had a small role inGreetings from Tim Buckley, a film aboutTim andJeff Buckley, which premiered at the2012 Toronto International Film Festival.[54][55] She also appeared in filmsSyrup andPowder Room, released the following year. She was featured onWatsky's song "Hey, Asshole" from his 2013 albumCardboard Castles.
Kate's third full-length studio album,Girl Talk, was released on 4 March 2013, independently through Have 10p Records. It featured a heavier,rock andgrunge-influenced sound, and was a noticeable departure from her first two indie pop albums. Lyrically, it drew a lot of influence from theriot grrrl movement and explored the themes offeminism and female empowerment.[56] The album was financed through acrowdfunding campaign onPledgeMusic and recorded inLos Angeles.[57]Girl Talk received mixed to positive reviews[58] and was a minor commercial success. It was supported by singles "3AM", "OMYGOD!" and "Fri-End?", but none of them made an impact on the charts. Nash promoted the album by extensively touring Europe and the Americas. In late 2013, she released aChristmas EPHave Faith with Kate Nash This Christmas withThe Tuts.
In 2014, Nash performed at theCoachella andLollapalooza festivals, and released a new free single "She Rules" which was accompanied by aDIY music video filmed on a mobile phone.[59][60] In the same year, she relocated to Los Angeles[61] and set up Girl Gang, an online support and networking hub for the feminist community.[62] She co-wrote the song "Poison" which was a UK number 3 hit forRita Ora in 2015. Later that year, Nash discovered that her manager, Gary Marella, had been stealing large sums of money from her,[3] which resulted in near-bankruptcy. To try to recover financially, she went on to work for the comics store Meltdown in Los Angeles and started selling her clothes as second hand. Nash pressed legal charges against Marella and he was eventually ordered to pay her back the stolen money.[63]
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In 2016, Nash released a standalone single "Good Summer", followed by "My Little Alien" which was written about a dog she had adopted. In April 2017, she launched aKickstarter campaign to finance a fourth studio album[64] and released an EP,Agenda, promoted by the single "Call Me". She joined the cast of aNetflix seriesGLOW telling a fictionalized story of the 1980swomen's professional wrestlingpromotion, theGorgeous Ladies of Wrestling (GLOW), where she played Rhonda "Britannica" Richardson.[65] The series premiered in June 2017 to a very positive reception and was renewed for further three seasons.[66] In August she embarked on a UK tour to mark the 10th anniversary of her debut album.
Nash's fourth studio album,Yesterday Was Forever, was released independently on 30 March 2018, preceded by the singles "Drink About You" and "Life in Pink". It received mixed to positive reviews from critics,[67] but was not a commercial success and failed to chart. To promote the album, Nash toured the United States, Canada and the UK. In September 2018,Kate Nash: Underestimate the Girl,[68] a documentary film byAmy Goldstein, premiered at theLA Film Festival.[69][70] It follows Kate as she writes her fourth album, and features appearances fromJarrad Kritzstein,Alicia Warrington, andJeff Ellis, among others. The film was screened at thePérez Art Museum in Miami[71] and made its UK debut in June 2019 when it was screened atSheffield'sCrucible Theatre and released ontoBBC iPlayer.[72] Kate also appeared in a feature filmHorrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans and released two new singles in 2019: thegrunge-inspired "Trash", in which she condemns environmentalpollution, and the pop track "Bad Lieutenant".
Following the cancellation ofGLOW before its fourth season could be completed due to theCOVID-19 pandemic, Nash launched aPatreon page to connect with her fans more directly.[73] She continued working on her fifth studio album, partially inspired byIrish traditional music.[74][75] In May 2021, she released a new single, "Misery", followed by "Horsie" in September.
In 2022, she released the single "Imperfect" written for the AmericanNetflix seriesThe Baby-Sitters Club, and went on a European tour. In August, she released a new single, "Wasteman", with a music video starringDanny Dyer. In October, the musicalOnly Gold had its world premiere at theMCC Theater in New York City, featuring score by Nash and book byAndy Blankenbuehler and Ted Malawer.[76] Nash also starred in the production.[77] Her fifth studio album,9 Sad Symphonies, was confirmed as completed and set for release in 2023,[78] but was eventually released on 21 June 2024, after Nash had signed with the independent labelKill Rock Stars.[79] The album received generally positive reviews[80] and was a moderate chart success in the UK.
In November 2024, Nash disclosed in a BBC interview that she was usingOnlyFans to sell revealing content, reportedly to offset financial losses from her ongoing tour across the US, UK, and Europe, titled "Butts for Tour Buses". The BBC described the content as "revealing but not explicit".[81]
In a sympathetic review, David Walsh, arts editor at theWorld Socialist Web Site deplores the fact that Nash is compelled to resort to OnlyFans to support her creative endeavors: “That performers have to resort to semi-pornography to earn a living brings to mind the general identification in the 18th century of actresses with prostitutes.”[82]
Nash's biggest musical influences includeHole,[83] citing their 1994 recordLive Through This as her favourite album.[84] She is also influenced byriot grrrl groupBikini Kill, crediting lead vocalistKathleen Hanna as her idol.[85] Nash is also a fan ofArctic Monkeys. She appeared alongside the band in the documentaryEvidently... John Cooper Clarke where she discussed the influence ofJohn Cooper Clarke's poetry upon her lyrics, singling out the song "Foundations" in particular.[86] Kate has also citedM.I.A. as inspiration, claiming she was her favourite artist in 2014.[87][88] Some of her earlier influences includeBuzzcocks,Celine Dion, theSpice Girls,Nirvana,Mis-Teeq,the Beatles,Pink,Blink-182, andSum 41.[63][89]
Beginning in theGirl Talk album era, Kate started to incorporate elements ofpunk rock andgrunge into her work as well as 1990s-inspired visuals, notably in the music videos "She Rules" and "Trash". She is also known for retaining her thick London accent when she sings and makes no attempt to sing in an American accent.[90] Her music was used as part of an exhibition at theBritish Library which traced the history ofCockney English. The exhibition, which ran from November 2010 to April 2011, used Nash's music to demonstrate today's younger urban mode of Cockney English.[91]
Nash is a natural redhead but dyed her hair black for her role in the filmGreetings from Tim Buckley, and subsequently maintained two-tone black and blonde hair to promote the 2013 albumGirl Talk. In April 2014, she dyed her hair pink for her performance atCoachella Festival.[92] Between 2015 and 2016, she would dye her hair platinum blond, but she eventually returned to her natural red hair for the role of Rhonda "Britannica" Richardson in theNetflix seriesGLOW, and for her 2018 albumYesterday Was Forever. She often wearspunk-inspired jewelry, such as earrings made ofsafety pins and razor blades.[93]
In September 2009, Nash helped to raise funds for five-year-oldTilly Lockey, who lost her hands due tomeningococcal disease. She used an auction oneBay to help donate money to Lockey's parents so that she could afford a pair of prosthetic hands.
During the2011 England riots, Nash volunteered to collect donations for those made homeless by riots inTottenham, setting up her own public donation stand and delivering donations to Tottenham Leisure Centre in her car.[94]
Nash is a vocalfeminist and campaigns to fight gender inequality in the music industry. She supported the Russian feminist bandPussy Riot during their trial by encouraging her fans to make posters and raise awareness of their situation and, alongside other musicians, signed a letter to the Russian presidentVladimir Putin demanding the release of the imprisoned band.[95] In 2013, she became the Global Ambassador for the movementBecause I Am a Girl and partnered with them for her own campaign, Protect a Girl.[96]
Nash is a supporter of theLGBT community and has a large LGBT following, especiallylesbians.[97] She described her 2010 song "I've Got a Secret" as "an anti-homophobic rant".
Nash began datingRyan Jarman in 2007, frontman ofThe Cribs, after meeting while they were both guests on an episode of the music television programmeLater... with Jools Holland that year.[98] The pair were reported to be planning to get married in early 2009,[98] but Jarman announced in March 2012 that they had broken up, in part due to his struggle withanorexia and other psychological problems.[99]
In 2008, following intensive touring, Nash had what she described as a "proper breakdown", including a relapse of the mildOCD that she had experienced as a child.[4] She has been open about her mental health problems and struggles withanxiety.[100]
Nash became avegan in 2017, having been avegetarian since 2009. Her decision was prompted by watching the filmOkja.[101] She is bisexual.[102][103]
| Year | Title | Role | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | Greetings from Tim Buckley | Carol | Feature |
| 2013 | Syrup | Beth | Feature |
| 2013 | Powder Room | Michelle | Feature |
| 2014 | The Distortion of Sound | Herself | Documentary |
| 2017–19 | GLOW | Rhonda "Britannica" Richardson | Series |
| 2019 | Horrible Histories: The Movie – Rotten Romans | Boudicca | Feature |
| 2020 | Truth Seekers (episode 6) | Mary Coleford | Series |
| 2022 | Wild Bitch | Melanie Fischer | Short |
| 2022 | Bad Rabbit | Elspeth | Short |
| 2023 | Coffee Wars | Jo | Feature |
On 20 February 2008, Nash received aBrit Award forBest Female Artist.[20]
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