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KT Tunstall

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Kate "KT" Tunstall (born April 15th 1970) is a Scottish singer-songwriter from St Andrews, Fife.

Personal life

Tunstall was born in Edinburgh, and was subsequently adopted. Her father is a physicist, and her mother is a school teacher. Tunstall also has an older brother named Jo and a younger brother named Daniel, who has a hearing impairment; the Tunstalls brought up their children in a home without a television or stereo, as the devices interfered with Daniel's hearing aid.

In her twenties, Tunstall met her biological mother, who told her that her natural father was a folk musician.

She spent time performing on the famous Church Street in Burlington, Vermont (USA) and at a commune in rural Vermont.

Tunstall is currently dating drummer Luke Bullen (The Mescaleros, John Squire). She has indicated her intention to live in Edinburgh with Bullen.

She is of Chinese and Irish descent.

Career

Tunstall (right) performing at the 2005 Glastonbury Festival.
Tunstall performing at the Cardiff Union on October 19 2005.

Tunstall studied at the High School of Dundee; Madras College in St Andrews; Kent School, Connecticut; and at Royal Holloway. Throughout her twenties she mostly played in independent bands including Elia Drew and Tomoko, and focused on songwriting. Her debut album, Eye to the Telescope, was released in late 2004. Tunstall's style of music varies from folk to pop.

Tunstall's first appearance of note was a solo performance of "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" on Later with Jools Holland. The performance was notable as she had only twenty-four hours to prepare after scheduled performer Nas cancelled due to his father's ill health. Her performance caught the eye of many viewers, upstaging more established acts such as The Cure, Embrace, and The Futureheads, and she then went on to top the post-show poll on the website for that episode.

Shortly after the "Later" appearance, Eye to the Telescope was rereleased, and shot up the UK charts, eventually peaking at three (on its first release it had entered at seventy-three); it was nominated for the 2005 Mercury Music Prize. It was released in the U.S. on February 7 2006.

Tunstall released a new acoustic album in May 2006, KT Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza, which is only available as a CD from her website, although downloadable versions are available from online music shops.

Live performances

Tunstall is known for her live performances in which she becomes a one-woman band. She has toured extensively since and plans to tour after the release of her next album, which is to be recorded in late 2006.

Since her debut appearance on Later with Jools Holland, she has returned to the show to perform "Suddenly I See", "Under the Weather", "Tangled up in Blue" (she performed the same song, as well as "Simple Twist of Fate" and "This Wheel's on Fire" on a BBC 4 Bob Dylan tribute) and an Ella Fitzgerald song ("Ain't Misbehavin'" by Fats Waller) with Jools Holland on piano.

She ended 2005 on New Year's Eve by performing at Edinburgh's Concert in the Gardens alongside Scottish band Texas.

During her concerts, Tunstall uses an AKAI E2 headrush loop pedal on stage, which she affectionately calls "Wee Bastard".

Awards

In addition to the Mercury Music Prize nomination, Tunstall received three Brit award nominations when they were announced on 11 January 2006. Tunstall was nominated for Best British Live Act, British Breakthrough Act, and British Female Solo Artist. At the ceremony on 15 February 2006, Tunstall performed "Suddenly I See" and won the award for Best British Female Solo Artist, remarking that she wished to share it with fellow nominee Kate Bush.

Other credits

Tunstall also appears on the Sophie Solomon song "Lazarus", on the album Poison Sweet Madeira, and provided guest vocals for three tracks, "Ladino Song", "Refugee", and "Yesterday's Mistake", on the Oi Va Voi album Laughter Through Tears (2003). She has also performed "Get Ur Freak On" by Missy Elliott and "High and Dry" by Radiohead at Live Lounge. Tunstall's seventh single, "Another Place to Fall", featured a cover of Radiohead's "Fake Plastic Trees".

During her early songwriting career, Tunstall has also written and performed music for children's television shows, but remains secretive as to which shows in particular.

Name

When asked about her nickname, "KT", by Ken Bruce on BBC Radio 2 in a pre-BRIT Awards 2006 interview, she said that it is just an abbreviation of the initials of her name, Kate Tunstall. While a student at Royal Holloway, University of London she performed on an acoustic guitar in a student bar, under the name "Katie". She was also known as the Princes Street Busker, and headlined the 2006 Edinburgh's Hogmanay Celebration.

Trivia

  • Tunstall sparked some controversy in 2005 when she publicly bashed singer/songwriter Dido, stating that the artist "can't fucking sing" after several fans compared the two musically. Tunstall later apologised, stating that she did not want to be involved in a public feud.
  • Due to some of her songs containing ambiguous lyrics, some fans (especially lesbians) were interested to know whether she is also gay, but she has stated that she is not. [1] The lesbian rumours were fuelled by a demo version of "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" which surfaced on the Internet in April 2005. It has different backing vocals to the released version, with the phrase "pubes in the teeth" being chanted between the "woo hoo" refrain. Tunstall told lesbian magazine Diva in June that the recording had been made as a joke during some drunken hijinks at a recording session and was later leaked without her knowledge.

Discography

Albums

  • Eye to the Telescope (2004) 3 UK; 33 U.S.; 42 Canada; 85 Australia.
    • More than 2.6 million copies have been sold since January 2005.

(Source of U.S. sales: Soundscan sales)

Singles/EPs

UK Release Title Album Chart positions
UK U.S. U.S. Pop U.S. AC U.S. Adult U.S. Digital
1 Mar 2004 "Throw Me a Rope" Eye to the Telescope - - - - - -
11 Oct 2004 "False Alarm" (EP) Eye to the Telescope - - - - - -
21 Feb 2005 "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree" Eye to the Telescope 28 20 22 11 1 9
9 May 2005 "Other Side of the World" Eye to the Telescope 13 - - - - -
29 Aug 2005 "Suddenly I See" Eye to the Telescope 12 71 53 - - 41
5 Dec 2005 "Under the Weather" Eye to the Telescope 39 - - - - -
13 Mar 2006 "Another Place to Fall" Eye to the Telescope 52 - - - - -
  • Notes:
  1. "Throw Me a Rope" was released as a 7" vinyl only and was limited to 300 copies.
  2. "False Alarm" was released as an EP.

Awards

  • Q Music Awards 2005 — Best Track for "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"
  • BRIT Awards 2006 — Best British Female Solo Artist
  • Ivor Novello Awards 2006 — Best Song Musically and Lyrically for "Suddenly I See"
Wikimedia Commons has media related to KT Tunstall.
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