Nerina Pallot - Biography

Nerina Natasha Georgina Pallot (born April 26, 1975) is a Jersey recording artist. She was born in London to a half-French father and mother from Allahabad in India. In early 2006 she became engaged to Howard Willing, the producer of her Fires album.

Career

Dear Frustrated Superstar

She released her debut album on Polydor records, Dear Frustrated Superstar, in August 2001. This spawned two commercial singles, "Patience" and "Alien", with a third single, "If I Know You" mooted, a video for which was filmed, but has never been publicly shown. Her album was withdrawn before an arena tour with Bryan Adams, and was never re-issued.

Subsequently she was dropped from the label partly as a result of a message she wrote on the Tipsheet message board relating to remixes of "Photograph", a track that was intended to be on the re-issued Dear Frustrated Superstar. This incident and many others related to the industry and her experiences with her debut album are discussed in stories on her official web site.

In 2003 she sang lead vocals on the track "Truly" on Delerium's album Chimera, which was also released as a single in the UK.

Fires

Her second album, Fires, was released in April 2005 on her own independent label, Idaho. It was published by Chrysalis Music Publishing, who have stuck with her since her Polydor days and provided her with a development deal. They initially provided her with £50,000 to make the album. When that proved insufficient for Pallot's needs, she remortgaged her house to pay for the rest of the album and for living expenses.

The album was produced and mixed by Howard Willing (OK Go, The Smashing Pumpkins, Van Hunt), with producers Eric Rosse (Tori Amos, Anna Nalick) who produced "Learning to Breathe" and "Heart Attack" (co-produced by Howard) and Wendy Melvoin (member of Prince's band The Revolution) who produced "Damascus". After the initial tracks were finished the rest of the record was apparently completed by Howard and Nerina flying files back and forth from London to Los Angeles. With the contacts and friendships that he had acquired over the years they were able to obtain the help of A-level musicians.

The album was preceded by a download-only single, "Everybody's Gone To War". A second single from the record, "Damascus" was released in June 2005, and a third, "All Good People" (a Radio 2 single of the week) was released in September 2005.

After signing with 14th Floor Records, a re-issue of the album which was more 'spangly' (Pallot's words) and featured additional strings on some tracks, was released on April 24 2006, earning Pallot a chart success by reaching #21. It was recently certified gold in the UK when sales reached 100,000

The first single from the revamped album was "Everybody's Gone To War", which was playlisted on most major British radio stations. A video can be seen on most music television stations and on her Myspace profile. The single became a 'turntable hit', becoming the third most played song on British radio the week before its release, and it reached #14 in the UK singles chart.

The second single from the album is scheduled to be "Sophia", a re-recorded version, created in LA along with producer Mitchell Froom

Tours

Pallot has toured the UK many times as support act to more established singer-songwriters such as Sheryl Crow, James Blunt, Suzanne Vega, Joseph Arthur, Ray LaMontagne and Missy Higgins. She was a crowd favourite at the 2005 Guilfest music festival and she recently headlined her own show at Bush Hall in Shepherd's Bush, London and has scheduled further headlining shows at the London ICA, the Bloomsbury Theatre and Regent's Park Open Air Theatre.

The first full headlining tour for the album took place in May 2006, details of which can be found on the 14th Floor Records website.

Videos

Pallot's most recent video "Everybody's Gone to War", which includes cabbage-throwing goths and pineapple bombs, gets across a deeper message while at the same time being light-hearted and funny.

Recent events

Pallot recently signed with major label, 14th Floor Records (a Warner label), which is the home of Damien Rice and Joseph Arthur.

She is presently enjoying a great deal of media attention with the imminent release of her first single from the revamped Fires album.

Nerina Pallot Official Website