Anna Calvi’s sumptuous self-titled debut saw her catapulted from relative unknown to one of the most respected artists in music. Released in 2011, it was a record full of drama and beauty, nominated for the Mercury Music Prize and the BBC’s Sound of 2011 poll. Brian Eno and Nick Cave became avid fans, critics were falling over one another to heap praise on her work and Calvi established herself as one of the finest British songwriters of recent times.
She was exposed to a range of music from an early age and her obsession grew as she got older, becoming a classically trained violinist after convincing her parents to buy her one when she was six, and teaching herself to play guitar when she was eight. This seriousness about her art seems to inform everything she does creatively and marks her out from many of her contemporaries.
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