Kate Nash

b. 6 July 1987, Harrow, London, England. Nash became interested in music at an early age, learning the piano while attending school. Her musical talents played came second to her first love of acting, which gained her entry to the BRIT School of Performing Arts and Technology in south London. After an unsuccessful audition at the Bristol Old Vic Theatre, Nash had an accident when she fell down some stairs and broke her ankle. While convalescing her parents bought her a guitar which she learnt to play extremely quickly. She also began writing songs and, with her interest in a music career stimulated, she found a quick fanbase through her Myspace website, even getting paid for her first gig in London in 2006. Nash was quickly signed by hip independent record label Moshi Moshi, and released her debut double a-side "Caroline's A Victim"/"Birds" in early 2007. The two singles were very different, "Birds" a tale of love's young dream, and "Caroline's A Victim" a sparsely produced electronic song, which became a torch song for the loosely dubbed genre "chavtronica". The name was applied to describe the many acts from the south of England where the clipped Estuary English accent was very apparent, with lyrics describing the ennui and casual violence of urban life. Mike Skinner of the Streets and Lily Allen were obvious reference points. Nash had captured the hearts and minds of her teenage following and the music press, and she was by now being featured in many of the top UK magazines and newspapers. Fresh from signing a major label contract with Fiction Records, in August 2007 she had a number 1 hit with the suitably named "Foundations", telling the tale of a relationship falling apart over an extremely catchy melody. Her debut album, Made Of Bricks, followed in the same month.