Amy Macdonald

**Amy Elizabeth Macdonald** (born 25 August 1987) is a Scottish singer-songwriter, guitarist, and musician. She has sold over 12 million records worldwide. Macdonald released her debut album *This Is The Life* in 2007. The singles "Mr. Rock & Roll" and "This Is The Life" from it were chart hits. The latter charted at number one in six countries, while reaching the top 10 in another 11 countries. The album reached number one in four European countries: the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland, and sold three million copies worldwide. Moderate success in the American music market followed in 2008. She was a guest on shows such as *The Ellen DeGeneres Show* and *The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson*, where she performed two singles from the album, and *This Is The Life* reached number 92 on the *Billboard* 200.

Macdonald's second album, *A Curious Thing*, was released on 8 March 2010. Its lead single "Don't Tell Me That It's Over" was released in March 2010; it peaked at number 45 on the UK Singles Chart, and also went on to perform well in other European countries. Five singles have since been released from *A Curious Thing*. Macdonald is one of the artists who appeared with Ray Davies on his 2010 album *See My Friends*; she sang with him on a cover of The Kinks' 60s hit "Dead End Street". Her third album, *Life in a Beautiful Light*, was released on 11 June 2012. It supplied three singles: "Slow It Down", which became a number 45 hit on the UK Singles Chart; "Pride", and "4th of July".

On 17 February 2017, Macdonald released her fourth studio album *Under Stars*, which entered at number two on the UK Album Chart and peaked within the top 10 of the album charts in Germany and New Zealand.

## Early life

Amy Elizabeth Macdonald attended Bishopbriggs High School in East Dunbartonshire, Scotland. After being inspired by Travis at the T in the Park festival in 2000, she heard Travis' song "Turn" and wanted to play it herself. She bought a Travis chord book, and started playing on her father's guitar, teaching herself how to play at only 12 years old. She started playing in pubs and coffee houses around Glasgow at the age of 15, including the Brunswick Cellars on Sauchiehall Street.

## Career

### Breakthrough

Macdonald sent a demo CD in response to an advertisement placed in the *NME* Wilkinson said he was "literally aghast" at her songwriting abilities when first he heard Macdonald play the songs "This Is The Life" and "Mr Rock n Roll". He then spent around eight or nine months recording demos with Macdonald at his home studio with a view to securing a record deal for his new client. In 2007 she signed a contract with Vertigo.

### 2007–09: *This Is The Life*

In 2007, Macdonald released her debut album, titled *This Is The Life*. The album sold 3 million copies, and reached No. 1 in the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Denmark. *This Is the Life* reached No. 92 on the US *Billboard* 200. The single, "This Is The Life" reached No. 25 on the US *Billboard* Triple-A radio airplay charts.

The first single from the album, "Poison Prince", was only a limited release. The second single, "Mr. Rock and Roll", became Macdonald's first top 40 song, charting at No. 12 in the United Kingdom. However the third single, "L.A.", missed the top 40 at No. 48.

The fourth and most successful single, "This Is The Life", charted at No. 28 in the UK, and was No. 1 in five other European countries. The single was awarded Platinum in Germany and Belgium and Gold in Spain and Switzerland. It was also chosen as the theme song for the Polish legal drama series "Prawo Agaty" (Agatha's Law). The fifth single, "Run", gave Macdonald her second lowest chart position in the UK at No. 75. However, "Run" charted at No. 36 in Germany. The sixth and final single was the re-release of "Poison Prince"; it charted at No. 148 in the UK, Macdonald's lowest chart position.

The album's track "Youth of Today" was chosen as the first single featured on Bebo/iTunes' "Free Single of the Week" program.

She appeared as a musical performing guest on British and foreign shows including *The Album Chart Show*, *Loose Women*, *Friday Night Project*, *Taratata* (France), and *This Morning*. She won the best newcomer award at the Silver Clef Awards.

### 2010–11: *A Curious Thing*

Macdonald began working on her second album in 2009. She said "Some of the sounds are just amazing and we've managed to persuade one of my favourite artists to whack some stuff down on them, but you'll have to wait and see." Titled *A Curious Thing*, it was released on 8 March 2010.

The album was preceded by the release of the first single from it, "Don't Tell Me That It's Over", a week earlier on 1 March 2010. The single was released to UK radio on 11 January, and Amy performed it that same day on the Simon Mayo Show on BBC Radio 2. The album's second single "Spark" was released on 10 May 2010 on digital download format. Macdonald also confirmed that she would tour the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe in 2010.

The album's third single "This Pretty Face" was released on 19 July 2010 after Macdonald confirmed she would embark on a tour entitled *The Love Love Tour*. Also that year, she was one of a number of artists who recorded with Ray Davies on his 2010 album *See My Friends*, in which she sang with him on "Dead End Street".

### 2011–15: *Life in a Beautiful Light*

Macdonald's third album, *Life in a Beautiful Light*, was released on 11 June 2012. Three songs from the album were released as singles: "Slow It Down", "Pride" and "4th of July". She told BBC News that Pride was written to describe her feelings about performing Flower of Scotland at Hampden Park prior to Scotland international football matches.

Macdonald wrote the last track on the album, *In The End*, at the end of her previous tour and *Life in a Beautiful Light* was then recorded in Surrey. It was produced by Pete Wilkinson and mixed by Bob Clearmountain, who previously worked on her debut album. On 2 June 2012 she sang her song "Slow It Down" with the finalist of the second season of the Polish version of *The X Factor*, a girl group The Chance.

### 2016–2018: *Under Stars*

In November 2016 Macdonald announced her new album *Under Stars* would be released on 17 February 2017. A video of an acoustic version of new album track Down By The Water was also released. She performed live on BBC Scotland's Hogmanay 2017 show where she debuted her upcoming single "Dream On".

### Mediterraneanvision Song Contest

Macdonald was chosen to represent Gibraltar on its debut at the Mediterraneanvision Song Contest 2 in Athens, Greece with her song "This Is The Life". She placed 2nd with 192 points, 38 points behind winning country Spain.

She was later chosen to be the Gibraltarian spokesperson at the third and fifth editions.

### 2018–present: *Woman Of The World (The Best Of 2007-2018)*

In September 2018 Macdonald announced her first greatest hits album, entitled *Woman of the World (The Best of 2007-2018)*, which will include all of her greatest hits, plus a previously unreleased song, "Woman of the World". The compilation album will be released on 23 November 2018. She also has announced a European tour during March and April 2019.

## Musical style

Reviewers have described Amy as softly spoken but with a booming singing voice.

Macdonald cites Travis as her biggest influence.

## Personal life

Macdonald announced in January 2016 that she was engaged to former Aberdeen, Rangers and current St Johnstone footballer Richard Foster. She married him in 2018.

## Discography

* *This Is The Life* (2007)
* *A Curious Thing* (2010)
* *Life in a Beautiful Light* (2012)
* *Under Stars* (2017)

## Accolades

### Awards overview

Macdonald won Best Newcomer at the 2008 Tartan Clef Awards In December 2008 she was voted "Scottish person of the year" by *The Daily Record*.

Macdonald performed, along with U2, at the German 2009 Echo Awards, where she won an award in the category "Best International Newcomer".

In 2010, Macdonald won "best album" for *A Curious Thing*, at the annual Tartan Clef awards on 20 November in Glasgow. Also, Macdonald won "best international album Rock/Pop" with *A Curious Thing* at the Swiss music awards in March 2011.

On 23 August 2013, Macdonald performed at the 46th Sopot International Song Festival in Poland with her songs "This Is The Life" and "Slow It Down". She was awarded there a special prize by the Radio RMF FM.

In 2013, Macdonald was shortlisted for the Scottish Fashion Awards "Scottish Fashion Icon 2013".