Music

She was born in 1950 in Basse-Terre, the tiny capital of the microscopic Saint Kitts and Nevis in the British-controlled Lesser Antilles. Her family moved to Birmingham long before the independence of America's smallest state in 1983.

Joan Armatrading's life could simply be summed up as follows: everything for music! Indeed, her biography reports that she was fired from her first job because she insisted on bringing her guitar to work and playing it in front of her colleagues during breaks! 

After deciding to move to London, she landed her first professional contract in the musical “Hair” in 1970. She was then just 20 years old. Two years later, she released her very first album, “Whatever For Us”, with the help of lyricist Pam Nestor. Just a few days ago, on November 22 to be exact, she released her 21st studio album, “How Did This Happen And What Does It Now Mean”, recorded in her home in Surrey. As usual, she combines careful orchestration with strings (“Say It Tomorrow”), but also has fun proving that guitar hero can also be a woman. The blues instrumental “Back And Forth” leaves no doubt about that. When the English musician abandons her favorite acoustic Ovation, she dexterously grabs one of her Stratocasters customized by luthier Tom Anderson.

During a career spanning more than half a century, Joan Armatrading has enjoyed some major successes, but she has never been a queen of the popular charts. Although she was nominated several times for both the American Grammy Awards and the Brit Awards at home, she didn't win any of them. 

Among her best-known compositions are the acoustic ballad “Love And Affection” on an eponymous 1976 album (her voice is masterful here), “Drop The Pilot” or the reggae “Rosie” on the 1983 album “The Key”, the syncopated “Show Some Emotion” on the 1977 album of the same name, the atmospheric “I'm Lucky” on 1981's “Walk Under Ladders” and, above all, the titular track on 1980's “Me Myself I”.

You've also most probably heard her brief vocal appearance on “Don't Loose Your Head” on Queen's 1986 album “A Kind Of Magic”, without it even having crept into your memory. But let's face it, it's a pretty low-key affair, and not one of Freddie Mercury's greatest hits either. In 1997, she also took part in a version of Lou Reed's “Perfect Day” for the BBC and offered her song “These Times” a few years later for the “Songs For Tibet” charity compilation.

For some years now, however, she has been extremely discreet on stage. Her last major UK tour was in 2018, and her last known appearance in March 2023 at London's Royal Albert Hall in support of the Teenage Cancer Trust. Invited by Roger Daltrey (The Who), she shared the stage with Richard Ashcroft (The Verve) and Lola Lennox (Annie's daughter). She performed five songs...

(MH with AK - Photo: © Etienne Tordoir)
Photo: Joan Armatrading on stage at Forest-National, Brussels (Belgium), March 28, 1985