Amy Victoria Wadge (born 22 December 1975)[1] is an English singer and songwriter. She has co-written tracks with Ed Sheeran, including "Thinking Out Loud" for which she won the 2016 Grammy Award for Song of the Year.
Amy Wadge | |
|---|---|
 Wadge at The Celtic Festival of Wales in 2010 | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Amy Victoria Wadge |
| Born | 22 December 1975[1] |
| Origin | Backwell, England |
| Genres | |
| Occupations |
|
| Years active | 1992–present |
| Website | amywadge |
Early life
editWadge was born and brought up in Backwell, a small village just outside Bristol, England. Her father's passion for music influenced her enormously, and on the subject of her paternal influences she has said that she "grew up listening to early Elton John, Joni Mitchell and James Taylor. That was the stuff I cut my teeth on and now I listen to everything you can possibly imagine from hip hop to country".[2]
While still at school, aged 14, Wadge signed her first record deal. She released her first single at the age of 16.[3]
Career
editSongwriting
editApart from writing songs for herself, Wadge has been active in collaborating with new performers in Britain, including Ed Sheeran. The two collaborated on a number of songs, and Sheeran titled his self-released 2010 EP Songs I Wrote with Amy. One track was included with the deluxe edition of Sheeran's album +.[4] Wadge continued her collaborative relationship with Sheeran in 2014. The single "Thinking Out Loud", written on a guitar given to Sheeran, features on the album x.[5]
Wadge has also written with Lewis Watson and has collaborated with Shannon Saunders and other artists.[citation needed] She wrote and performed the songs for the soundtrack of the BBC Wales series Keeping Faith in 2018, and for the second series, shown in 2019.[6] Wadge also co-wrote "Consequences", the third single from Camila Cabello's debut album Camila.[citation needed]
Also in 2019, Wadge gave Bonnie Tyler three tracks ("Older" from Amy Wadge 2016 , "Bad for Loving You" from Walking Disaster 2018 and "To the Moon and Back" from Recovery 2014) for the Bonnie Tyler album Between the Earth and the Stars.[7][better source needed]
In 2021, she co-wrote the song "All of My Friends" from the Delta Goodrem album Bridge Over Troubled Dreams.[8][9]
In 2022, she co-wrote the UK's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, "Space Man" by Sam Ryder.[citation needed][10]
Solo performer
editHaving moved to Wales and graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Wadge started performing at open mic sessions in Cardiff's Toucan Club and soon started developing a fanbase and gaining critical recognition. She was quickly spotted and received encouragement from some of the big players in the city, among them Manics/Catatonia/Super Furry Animals producer Greg Haver, who recorded her debut mini-album, The Famous Hour. This album "brought her more attention and acclaim". She played alongside Stereophonics, Embrace and Lenny Kravitz at the launch party for BBC 6 Music.[11]
In 2002, Wadge won "Best Female Solo Act" at the annual Welsh Music Awards, ahead of Charlotte Church. In 2003, she toured Australia with the Welsh Rugby Team during the Rugby World Cup with the song "Adre Nôl". Later that year, she retained her "Best Female Solo Act" at the Welsh Music Awards.[citation needed]
2004 saw her release her first full album, WOJ (a play on her surname, which is often mispronounced), to critical acclaim. In June 2004, she performed at London's Royal Albert Hall on a bill that included Jeff Beck and Jan Hammer, charted by Billboard magazine as one of the world's top-grossing concerts of the summer.[12]
2006 saw the release of Wadge's second album, No Sudden Moves. The album includes a cover of the Manic Street Preachers single A Design for Life. 2008 saw the release of her third album, Bump, which (according to her own sleeve notes) was recorded over two days when she was 8 months pregnant. It includes a cover of "Don't Leave Me This Way" (originally recorded by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and later covered by The Communards).
On Monday 2 November 2009, Wadge released her new single "Hold Me" with new record label, Choice Music. She also released a Welsh version of the track ("Dal Fi") which was a fundraiser for her daughter's Ysgol Feithrin (Welsh nursery school), with 20p from the sale of every Welsh language download being donated to Mudiad Meithrin, a Welsh language nursery organisation.[13]
In 2010 and 2011, Wadge and Pete Riley released a CD (Rivers Apart), as well as two live DVDs, and toured extensively together.[14] Her single "USA? We'll Wait and See" was released in both English and Welsh.[15]
Personal life
editWadge is married to actor Alun ap Brinley. They live near Pontypridd, in Wales.[16]
Songwriting credits
edit| Title | Year | Album | Artist | Written with |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| "She" | 2011 | Songs I Wrote with Amy | Ed Sheeran | Ed Sheeran |
| "Where We Land" | ||||
| "Fire Alarms" | ||||
| "Fall" | ||||
| "Cold Coffee" | ||||
| "The A Team" | + | |||
| "Gold Rush" | ||||
| "Once Before" | 2012 | Another Four Sad Songs | Lewis Watson | Lewis Watson |
| "Sink or Swim" | ||||
| "Scars" | Non-album single | Shannon Saunders | Shannon Saunders | |
| "Comfortably Alone" | 2014 | |||
| "Bodies and Beats" | Shannon Saunders, Eg White | |||
| "Sink or Swim" | The Morning | Lewis Watson | Lewis Watson | |
| "Halo" | ||||
| "Even My Dad Does Sometimes" | X | Ed Sheeran | Ed Sheeran | |
| "Thinking Out Loud" | ||||
| "Make It Back to Me" | 2015 | Ben Haenow | Ben Haenow | Ben Haenow |
| "Slamming Doors" | ||||
| "Let Myself Try" | Adore | Jasmine Thompson | Jasmine Thompson | |
| "Don't Let Me Let You Go" | Jamie Lawson | Jamie Lawson | Jamie Lawson | |
| "Start Again" | 2016 | Beautiful Life | Birdy | Birdy |
| "Numb" | Max Jury | Max Jury | Max Jury | |
| "Stand in the Rain" | Non-album single | Jessarae | Jessarae | |
| "When Christmas Comes Around" | Matt Terry | Ed Sheeran | ||
| "Broken" | 2017 | Only When We're Naked | Zak Abel | Zak Abel, Fred Cox |
| "Craving You" | The Waiting Game | Una Healy | Una Healy | |
| "All You Ever Need is Love" | ||||
| "Stay My Love" | ||||
| "2005" | The Afterlove | James Blunt | James Blunt, Steve Mac | |
| "Paradise" | James Blunt | |||
| "Barcelona" | ÷ | Ed Sheeran | Ed Sheeran, Johnny McDaid, Foy Vance, Benjamin Levin | |
| "Nancy Mulligan" | Ed Sheeran, Johnny McDaid, Foy Vance, Benjamin Levin, Murray Cummings | |||
| "Save Myself" | Ed Sheeran | |||
| "Galway Girl" | Ed Sheeran, Johnny McDaid, Foy Vance, Damien McKee, Sean Grahan, Liam Bradley, Eamon Murray, Niamh Dunne | |||
| "I Don't Know" | Non-album single | Molly Kate Kestner | Molly Kate Kestner | |
| "Little By Little" | 2018 | Clare Bowen | Clare Bowen | Clare Bowen, Brandon Young |
| "Hollow Hallelujah" | Southern Gothic | Tyminski | Dan Tyminski, Jesse Frasure, Sarah Buxton, | |
| "Consequences" | Camila | Camila Cabello | Camila Cabello, Emily Weisband, Nicolle Galyon | |
| "Parallel Line" | Graffiti You | Keith Urban | Keith Urban, Ed Sheeran, Johnny McDaid, Julia Michaels, Benjamin Levin | |
| "Sincerely Yours" | Golden | Kylie Minogue | Kylie Minogue, Jesse Frasure | |
| "Rollin'" | Kylie Minogue, Sky Adams | |||
| "Radio On" | Kylie Minogue, John Green | |||
| "Every Little Part of Me" | Kylie Minogue, Sky Adams | |||
| "Wonder Woman" | Golden Hour | Kacey Musgraves | Kacey Musgraves, Jesse Frasure, Hillary Lindsey | |
| "Run in the Rain" | Lighting Matches | Tom Grennan | Tom Grennan, Adj Buffone | |
| "Because" | Thank You & Goodnight | Boyzone | Ronan Keating, Ed Sheeran | |
| "Ain't That Funny" | A Northern Soul | Sheridan Smith | Sheridan Smith, Jimmy Hogarth | |
| "Are You Just Sleeping" | ||||
| "Handle With Care" | ||||
| "Remedy in the Melody" | ||||
| "Rock Bottom" | ||||
| "Ladies in the 90's" | Non-album single | Lauren Alaina | Lauren Alaina, Jesse Frasure | |
| "If You" | Story of Me | Megan McKenna | Megan McKenna | |
| "How Many Times" | ||||
| "Story of Me" | ||||
| "Everything but You" | ||||
| "Paperboy" | Jon Maguire, Catherine McGrath | |||
| "By Christmas Eve" | A Legendary Christmas | John Legend | John Legend, Dan Lafrombe Evans | |
| "Faith's Song" | Keeping Faith – EP | Amy Wadge | ||
| "We Fall Down" | ||||
| "Here I Go Again" | ||||
| "Pain" | ||||
| "Evan's Song" | ||||
| "Let The Light Back In" | ||||
| "How Long" | ||||
| "No Prayer" | ||||
| "Not Enough" | ||||
| "Steve's Song" | ||||
| "End Of It All" | ||||
| "The Haunting of Me" | 2019 | The Years In Between | Jamie Lawson | Jamie Lawson |
| "Not Like Us" | Fire & Brimstone | Brantley Gilbert | Brantley Gilbert, Brock Berryhill, Rhett Akins | |
| "Almost" | Thomas Rhett, Ashley Gorley, Jesse Frasure | |||
| "VHS" | Thomas Rhett, Ashley Gorley, Jesse Frasure | |||
| "Center Point Road" | Center Point Road | Thomas Rhett | Thomas Rhett, Cleve Wilson, Jesse Frasure | |
| "Let It Be Love" | Ocean | Lady A | Hillary Scott, Jordan Reynolds | |
| "This" | Non-album single | Megan McKenna | Megan McKenna, Alex Stacey | |
| "Monsters" | Once Upon a Mind | James Blunt | James Blunt, Jimmy Hogarth | |
| "FUNoah" | Non-album single | Noah Cyrus | Noah Cyrus, Varren Wade, London Holmes | |
| "This" | Megan McKenna | Megan McKenna | ||
| "Blue" | My Name Is Michael Holbrook | Mika | Mika | |
| "Platform Ballerinas" | Mika | |||
| "Dear Jealousy" | George Moore, Mika | |||
| "Woman" | The Good & The Bad | Anthony Ramos | Anthony Ramos, Jackson Morgan, Johan Carlsson, Ross Golan | |
| "Used to This" | Romance | Camila Cabello | Camila Cabello, Finneas O'Connell | |
| "First Man" | Camila Cabello, Jordan Reynolds | |||
| "Under Dog" | 2020 | Alicia | Alicia Keys | Alicia Keys, Ed Sheeran, Foy Vance, Johnny McDaid, Jonny Coffer |
| "Stop" | Non-album single | Anthony Ramos | Anthony Ramos, Sean Douglas, Jesse Shatkin, Joel Castillo | |
| "Airpods" | Leave It Beautiful | Astrid S | Astrid S, Jakob Hazell, Svante Halldin | |
| "Bad Things" | no one else, not even you | Mae Muller | Mae Muller, Westen Weiss | |
| "All of My Friends" | 2021 | Bridge over Troubled Dreams | Delta Goodrem | Delta Goodrem |
| "Visiting Hours" | = | Ed Sheeran | Ed Sheeran, Johnny McDaid, Anthony Clemons, Jr., Michael Pollack, Scott Carter, Kim Lang Smith | |
| "Lifeline" | Wild Dreams | Westlife | Mark Feehily, Shane Filan | |
| "Rewind" | Feehily, Filan, Jessica Agombar, Nicholas James Gale | |||
| "Space Man" | 2022 | There's Nothing but Space, Man! | Sam Ryder | Sam Ryder and Max Wolfgang |
| "When I Get There" | 2023 | Trustfall | P!nk | David Hodges |
Discography
editAlbums
edit| Title | Artist | Year | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| The Famous Hour | Amy Wadge | 2002 | Written & Performed |
| Open | 2003 | Written & Performed | |
| Woj | 2004 | Written & Performed | |
| No Sudden Moves | 2006 | Written & Performed | |
| Tougher Than Love | 2007 | Co-written & Performed | |
| Bump | 2008 | Written, Performed & Produced | |
| Acoustig | 2009 | Written, Performed & Produced | |
| Rivers Apart | Amy Wadge & Pete Riley | 2011 | Co-written & Performed |
| Afterglow | 2012 | Co-written & Performed | |
| Amy Wadge | Amy Wadge | 2016 | Co-written & Performed |
EPs and singles
edit| Artist | Title | Year | Credits |
|---|---|---|---|
| Amy Wadge | "Saddest Eyes" | 2000 | Written & performed |
| "Just in Time" | 2003 | Written & performed | |
| "USA? Oes Angen Mwy..." | 2005 | Co-written & performed | |
| "USA? We'll Wait and See..." | 2005 | Co-written & performed | |
| "A Design for Life" (cover) | 2006 | Performed | |
| "SXSW" | 2009 | Written, performed & produced | |
| "Hold Me" | 2009 | Written & performed | |
| Recovery (EP) | 2014 | Written, performed & produced | |
| "No Use Crying Over Spilt Milk" | 2015 | Written, performed & produced | |
| "Keeping Faith" | 2018 | Written, performed | |
| "Keeping Faith" - Series 2 | 2019 | Written, performed | |
| "Keeping Faith" - Series 3 | 2021 | Written, performed |
Other charted songs
edit| Year | Title | Peak position |
|---|---|---|
| UK [17] | ||
| 2019 | "Faith's Song" | 74 |
Awards
edit| Year | Awarding Body | Award |
|---|---|---|
| 2002 | Best Female Solo Artist | Welsh Music Awards |
| 2003 | ||
| 2015 | The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama | Fellowship |
| 2016 | The Recording Academy, Grammy Award | Song of the Year |
| 2016 | University of South Wales | Honorary Doctorate of Music |
| 2016 | ASCAP | Songwriter of the Year |
References
edit- ^ a b Savage, Mark (15 May 2022). "Eurovision 2022: How Sam Ryder turned things around for the UK". BBC News.
- ^ Wadge, Amy (18 March 2014). ""A Real Muso's Gig!" – Amy Wadge Interview". Archived from the original on 14 August 2014. Retrieved 13 August 2014.
- ^ Amy Wadge, Maverick-country.com
- ^ Wadge, Amy (17 February 2012). "Wales Music: Amy Wadge: My role in Ed Sheeran's success". BBC. Retrieved 8 March 2012.
- ^ Wadge, Amy (30 June 2014). "How I wrote Ed Sheeran's song...On Harry Styles' guitar". WalesOnline. Retrieved 30 July 2014.
- ^ "Bafta Cymru: Keeping Faith songwriter's show delight". VVC News. 14 October 2018. Retrieved 14 October 2018.
- ^ "EarMusic - Bonnie Tyler". Ear-music.shop.
- ^ "Delta Goodrem Releases New Song "All of My Friends"". Pmstudio.com.
- ^ "INTERVIEW: Delta Goodrem releases new album and book 'Bridge over Troubled Dreams'". Womeninpop.com. 14 May 2021.
- ^ "Eurovision: Songwriter's high hopes for Space Man". Bbc.com.
- ^ "BBC Wales - Music - Amy Wadge - Biography". Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
- ^ Billboard. Vol. 116. Neilsen Business Media, Inc. 24 July 2004. p. 19. ISSN 0006-2510.
- ^ "Wadge to release Single in Welsh". Wales Online. 25 September 2009.
- ^ Amy Wadge and Pete Riley Archived 21 January 2012 at the Wayback Machine, Moneypenny Agency
- ^ Pontypridd-based singer mum Amy Wadge gets back on the road to avoid stage fright, Wales Online
- ^ Wightwick, Abbie (11 June 2017). "Amy Wadge won't duet with Ed Sheeran in Wales and this is why". Walesonline.co.uk. Retrieved 12 July 2020.
- ^ "AMY WADGE | full Official Charts History". Official Charts Company. Retrieved 29 August 2019.
External links
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