Eddi Reader

Born in Glasgow in 1959, Eddi Reader first honed her craft on the streets, singing in Glasgow and later in London and across Europe, before working as a backing vocalist and session musician with British pop acts such as Eurythmics, The Waterboys and Alison Moyet. Her voice came to prominence in the late 1980s with Fairground Attraction, a quartet blending acoustic pop, folk, light jazz and retro-tinged songwriting; she was the lead singer on the album The First of a Million Kisses (1988). After the group's split, Reader embarked on a solo career that leaned towards a restrained, warm folk-pop style with a strong focus on timbre, heard on Mirmama (1992), Eddi Reader (1994), Candyfloss and Medicine (1996) and Angels & Electricity (1998). Over the years she drew her repertoire closer to Scottish traditions, notably with Simple Soul (2001) and Sings the Songs of Robert Burns (2003), a major project dedicated to the poet Robert Burns. That tendency continued with Peacetime (2007), Love Is the Way (2009), Vagabond (2009), Cavalier (2018) and Light Is in the Horizon (2022). Between British folk, chamber pop and acoustic song, Eddi Reader has for decades alternated intimate shows, folk festivals and regular collaborations with Boo Hewerdine, John Douglas and Jools Holland.