Amy MacDonald (born 25 August 1987 in Bishopbriggs, near Glasgow[1]) is a Scottish singer/songwriter. Her debut album, This Is the Life, was released on 30 July 2007. Her first single, "Poison Prince", was released on 7 May 2007. She has been scheduled to play shows at music festivals such as Glastonbury, Hyde Park, T in the Park, and V festival. She has signed a record deal with Vertigo, the same record label which hosts The Killers and Razorlight. Macdonald started playing on-stage acoustic gigs at the age of 15. Her main influences include Travis and The Libertines. Macdonald is currently on her first European mainland tour playing shows mostly in Scandinavia and West Europe as well as writing songs for her next album.
Macdonald's lyrics are often written in a typical pop style. She has stated in interviews that her lyrics are based on real life issues and situations rather than the melodramatic lyrics offered by other artists of her age. Her song "Footballer's Wife" is based on British tabloid obsessed culture while "Poison Prince" focuses on the drug addiction of Babyshambles frontman Pete Doherty.
Reviewers often cite Amy Macdonald as a shy spoken 20 year old girl who comes alive with her booming singing voice. Despite her Scottish origins, her singing voice has been described as partly Irish. She has also called herself a slight tomboy. On her myspace blog, she mentions cars, such as Audis, and video games as her interests. Macdonald has also repeatedly expressed how fast her life is moving when she mentions her admiration when meeting other British singers such as Travis's Fran Healy and Elton John. In the song "Footballer's Wife," however, she conveys that she does not want the celebrity lifestyle and would rather focus her attention on her music. She backed this up in an interview in October 2007, saying that she is glad that Kate Nash has come to prominence at the same time as her, as she feels that Nash has taken some of the spotlight from her, so she can just get on with her music.
Macdonald is also the first artist to have a single featured on Bebo/iTunes "Free single of the week" program starting 23 June 2007. The free single, "Youth of Today", was written when she was 15 years old. The video for her single, "L.A." has been filmed in Malaga, Spain. The song itself is about having and valuing your own dreams. She has also appeared as a musical performing guest on several popular British and foreign shows such as The Album Chart Show, Loose Women, Friday Night Project, Taratata (France), and This Morning. Her next single will be "This Is the Life" from the album of the same name. The song was voted as a hit on Chris Evans' BBC Hit or Miss radio show and was also the biggest hit the show featured.[citation needed]. Her album also won her the best newcomer of 2007 award by Radio Forth. She has attributed the success of her album to constant gigging rather than internet promotion.
Related links:
Video clip
MySpace page
