38 Facts About Joan Armatrading

Joan Armatrading received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996.

Joan Armatrading, the third of six children, was born in 1950 in the town of Basseterre in what was then the British colony Saint Christopher and Nevis.

Joan Armatrading's father was a carpenter and her mother a housewife.

At about the age of 14 Joan Armatrading began writing songs by setting her own limericks to music on a piano that her mother had purchased as "a piece of furniture".

Joan Armatrading left school at the age of 15 to help support her family.

Joan Armatrading lost her first job after taking her guitar to work and playing it during tea-breaks.

Joan Armatrading first performed in a concert at Birmingham University for her brother at the age of about 16.

Joan Armatrading only knew her own songs, but her brother asked her to perform something that would be familiar to the audience; she chose "The Sound of Silence".

Joan Armatrading then performed her own songs around the local area with a friend from school, and played bass- and rhythm-guitar at local clubs.

In 1968 Joan Armatrading joined a touring production of the stage musical Hair.

Nestor wrote the lyrics to 11 of the 14 songs on the album, while Joan Armatrading wrote the lyrics to three of them, performed all the vocals, wrote all the music and played an array of instruments on the album.

Joan Armatrading credited English singer Elkie Brooks on the sleeve notes as she had cooked for Joan Armatrading and the band in the studio while they had been making the album, which was produced by Brooks' then husband Pete Gage.

Also at this time Joan Armatrading wrote and performed "The Flight of the Wild Geese", which was used during the opening- and end-titles of the 1978 war film The Wild Geese.

Between 1972 and 1976, Joan Armatrading made a total of eight appearances in session for the John Peel show, and the decade saw her become the first Black British female singer-songwriter to enjoy international success.

On 14 May 1977, Joan Armatrading appeared as the musical guest on of NBC's Saturday Night Live.

Joan Armatrading performed "Love and Affection" and "Down to Zero".

In 1980, Joan Armatrading revised her playing style and released Me Myself I, a harder rock- and pop-oriented album produced by Richard Gottehrer, who had previously produced albums for Blondie.

Joan Armatrading performed in 1985 at a sold-out concert at the Red Rocks Amphitheater in Morrison, Colorado and another concert in Arizona with Cook da Books.

Into the Blues, which Joan Armatrading called "the CD I've been promising myself to write for a long time", was nominated for a Grammy Award, making her the first female UK artist to be nominated in the Grammy Blues category.

In 2007 Joan Armatrading appeared in Episode 3 of the second series of Live from Abbey Road performing "Tall in the Saddle" from her 1976 self-titled album, and "Woman in Love" from the album Into The Blues.

Joan Armatrading presented Armatrading's Singer-Songwriters, a two-part radio series showcasing these artists, which was broadcast on BBC Radio Two in February 2013.

In 2014 and 2015, Joan Armatrading embarked on her last major tour, the Me Myself I Tour, the first to feature her solo on stage.

In 2016, Joan Armatrading was commissioned by director Phyllida Lloyd and the Donmar Warehouse to write the music to an all-female production of William Shakespeare's The Tempest.

Joan Armatrading appeared in the film The Secret Policeman's Third Ball in 1987.

Joan Armatrading followed this up with another five-part series called Joan Armatrading: More Guitar Favourites, which was broadcast in November and December 2011.

On 19 May 2015 Joan Armatrading appeared on BBC Two's Later.

In September 2019 Joan Armatrading was the subject of the one-hour documentary Me Myself I, aired on BBC Four, in which she tells her life story, both as a songwriter and as a performer, with key performances from many of the musicians she has influenced.

Joan Armatrading is reluctant to discuss her personal life in interviews.

Between 2005 and 2010, Joan Armatrading served as president of the Women of the Year Lunches.

Joan Armatrading has been a trustee of The Prince's Trust since 2020 and an ambassador since 1983.

Joan Armatrading entered into a civil partnership with artist Maggie Butler in the Shetland Islands in 2011.

Joan Armatrading died of cancer on 10 May 2021, at the age of 59.

Joan Armatrading performed as a cameo vocalist for the song "Don't Lose Your Head" on the 1986 Queen album A Kind of Magic.

Joan Armatrading has been nominated three times for a Grammy Award and twice for a Brit Award as best female vocalist.

Joan Armatrading received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996.

Joan Armatrading has received honorary degrees from the Liverpool John Moores University, the University of Birmingham, the University of Northampton, Aston University, the Royal Scottish Academy of Music and Drama, and the Open University and the University of the West Indies.

Joan Armatrading was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire in the 2001 Birthday Honours and Commander of the Order of the British Empire in the 2020 Birthday Honours for services to music, charity and equal rights.

In October 2011, Joan Armatrading was presented with a BASCA Gold Badge Award in recognition of her contribution to music.