Katie
Melua was born in Georgia (former USSR) in 1984, growing
up under the communist regime in the capital, Tbilisi.
The family left Georgia when Katie was eight and moved
to Belfast where her father got a job as a heart surgeon.
Katie didn’t always want to be a singer or songwriter.
Her ambition when she was thirteen was to be a politician
or a historian “I honestly thought I’d
be able to bring peace to the world...if I ruled it!”
The family lived in Belfast for five years before
moving to South East London. After her GCSEs, Katie
joined the Brit School for Performing Arts where she
undertook a BTEC and Music A-level.
Composer/producer
Mike Batt paid a visit to the school. Katie signed
to Batt’s record label Dramatico, but stayed
at the Brit School to complete her studies where she
graduated with distinction in July 2003.
Unable
to secure a contract with a Major record company,
Katie and Mike decided to put her album “Call
Off The Search” (containing the song “The
Closest Thing To Crazy”) out on Batt’s
own, small record label. After an initial struggle,
followed by an appearance on The Royal Variety Show,
19 year old Katie shot to the top of the UK album
charts and became the biggest selling female artist
for the next two years. Her two albums, (the second
of which contained the hit “Nine Million Bicycles”)
have sold nearly 9 million copies to date. She is
currently Europe’s biggest selling female solo
artist. She and her family took British nationality
in 2005.
The
past years have been quite extraordinary for Katie
(now 23). She has had a Dutch tulip named in her honour,
toured America coast to coast, met and played for
Nelson Mandela in South Africa visiting his Aids charity,
has become a hard working Ambassador for Save The
Children, raced at 160mph around Grand Prix circuit
Silverstone, flown a plane, learned to dive and parachute
freefall, descended 303 metres into the depths of
the leg of a gas rig in North Sea (achieving a Guinness
World Record), and picked up various prestigious awards
within Europe, including a World Music Award, a Golden
Camera Award, and two German Echo Awards. In December
2007, Katie had her first number one single with a
duet with her idol, the late Eva Cassidy, entitled
“What A Wonderful World”, with proceeds
from the single going to support the UK work of the
British Red Cross.
October
2007 saw the internationally successful release of
Katie’s third album “Pictures” -
a record which has delighted her legions of fans,
confirmed Katie’s status as a unique and remarkable
vocalist, and revealed the third chapter in what is
destined to be a long musical career.
Katie’s
fourth album, “The Katie Melua Collection”,
is a musical summary of the 24 year old’s journey
so far and was released in October 2008.