Artist Spotlight

Having sold a quarter of a million albums in the States and become the biggest selling British female debut artist in the US in 2004, Welsh star Jem finally realised her dreams of success in her home country in 2005 with the release of her debut single They on March 14th 2005, which entered the UK singles chart at No.6

The success of the single saw her debut album Finally Woken smash into the UK Top 10, and it has now sold just shy of 350,000 copies here.

Finally Woken has been some years in the making. Born Jemma Griffiths in Cardiff, the decision to become a singer came to her at the tender age of 13. "I somehow knew that I would go on to make music one day," she says. "Not because I was particularly ambitious or driven, but just because writing songs relaxes me, makes me happy, and it seemed right and logical somehow." She is being slightly disingenuous here, because Jem is both ambitious and driven, not so much so that she ever thought she would be a star overnight, but she knew what she wanted.

In early 2002, she spent some time in Los Angeles, still determined to land that elusive record deal. Here, as far as she is concerned, is where fate intervened. She was washing the dishes one weekday morning and listening to local radio station KCRW, on which the influential ex-pat Brummie DJ Nic Harcourt (who had helped break both Norah Jones and Coldplay in the US) was playing music that Jem loved. In a flash of inspiration, she instructed her flatmate to drive her, at speed, to the studio where she dropped in her demo. Harcourt was broadcasting live from Woodstock at the time, but on his return, a chance play of her demo lead to instant raves, and he subsequently placed the tracks on heavy rotation. "I owe Nic everything, but then I suppose that's karma for you," she says, her eyes burning bright with a zeal that, quite clearly, can never fully sit still.

She then signed to ATO Records, an independent subsidiary of RCA and the US label that first exposed David Gray to American audiences. In March 2004, with the multi-skilled Yoad Nevo on co-production duties, Finally Woken came out to universal critical acclaim and a consistent word-of-mouth campaign that, by early autumn, had garnered the singer an ever-burgeoning fanbase across the nation. She deserves it, of course, but not just for that drive of hers. Finally Woken is a disarmingly beautiful record, her crystal clear vocals floating weightlessly over a succession of sparkling songs like Just A Ride, Come On Closer and Stay Now which blend pop and folk with the music Jem grew up listening to: sunshine reggae, languid hip hop, and shuffling breakbeats. In an era in which female singer-songwriters are either coffee table bland or distressingly obsessed with Woodstock, Jem is neither. Instead, she stands alone with one of the brightest, and most effortlessly beguiling, albums you will have heard in some time. Meanwhile, she has also just launched her own vinyl imprint, CrazyWiseMusic, on which to release club mixes of the songs by the likes of Photek and Cut Chemist.

Source: Sony BMG Music UK