Gabrielle Aplin | |
Number of songs: 4 | Total weeks on charts: 106
Appearing in a total number of: 17 charts | Total period running: 796 days
Appearing in a total number of: 17 charts | Total period running: 796 days
Songs by Gabrielle Aplin
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Biography
Gabrielle Aplin (born 10 October 1992) is a British singer-songwriter. Aplin came to attention and gained a massive online following after publishing acoustic covers of songs by bands such as Paramore and You Me at Six on YouTube.
In February 2012, Aplin announced she had signed a record deal with Parlophone and was recording her debut album. She gained mainstream attention the following November when she was selected to soundtrack a John Lewis television commercial with a cover of Frankie Goes to Hollywood's "The Power of Love", which topped the UK Singles Chart in December 2012. Gabrielle's second single "Please Don't Say You Love Me" followed in 2013, it became her second top ten hit on the chart, peaking at number six.
Her debut album English Rain was released in May 2013 to positive reviews, it debuted and peaked at number two on the UK album chart and spawned further singles: "Panic Cord", The 4th single, "Home" and "Salvation".
English Rain has since been certified Gold in the UK for selling over 100,000 copies.
Aplin was brought up in the small village of Sutton Benger, near Chippenham, the first of two children. At the age of 11, her parents bought her first guitar, and she says her music is influenced by listening to their Joni Mitchell and Bruce Springsteen collections growing up.
She is also a fan of singer-songwriters Bob Dylan and Leonard Cohen, as well as rock band The National. She attended Sheldon School in Chippenham, where she described her fellow pupils as "upper-middle class and I don't think I fitted in with their lifestyles".
She went on to study music at City of Bath College, participating in the college's in-house label BA1 Records.
Aplin developed a fanbase by posting performance videos to YouTube. Her most popular videos include her original composition "Home", and covers of "The Liar and the Lighter" by You Me at Six, "Teenage Dream" by Katy Perry and "Forget You" by Cee Lo Green. She has described her music as "very family orientated, very personal".
In July 2010, Aplin performed on her local radio station BBC Wiltshire. Her first release was the 5-track Acoustic EP which was released on the iTunes Store on 13 September 2010. It reached the top 25 in the UK iTunes album chart, and features the song "Reverse" which was used on E4 TV show Made in Chelsea.
Her second EP Never Fade was released on 9 May 2011 and saw Aplin expand her sound, showcasing a more folk rock sound and playing all instruments herself.
In April 2011, Aplin was invited to perform for BBC Introducing at Maida Vale Studios, where she played 3 tracks from Never Fade and a cover of the Coldplay song "Fix You". Her cover is one of the most viewed videos on the BBC Introducing YouTube channel.
Aplin released her third EP, Home, on 9 January 2012. Her YouTube channel features her performing the EP in St Mary's Church, Bath. She described the release as "the most honest thing I've ever written and recorded." The lead track "Home" was featured on the iTunes Store as "single of the week" and was available to download for free as a part of iTunes' New Artists 2012 promotion. It was also played on BBC Radio 1 and was featured near the end of episode 4 of series 2 of BBC One's television drama series Prisoners' Wives.
On 29 February 2012, Aplin announced that she had signed to Parlophone. She began recording her debut album in March, and expected it to be out in early 2013. Her first major label single Please Don't Say You Love Me was set for release on 10 February 2013. Aplin was working with the record producer Mike Spencer.
Aplin was confirmed as the soundtrack to the John Lewis 2012 Christmas television advertisement, covering Frankie Goes to Hollywood's The Power of Love. In an interview, she said "I was worried people might hate me because they were so attached to the original single. But I've since been in touch with Holly Johnson, and he said some lovely things about my take on his song."
On 12 December 2012, Aplin announced that the title of her debut album would be English Rain. In addition, she also unveiled its artwork and release date of 29 April 2013. However, the album's release date was later confirmed as 13 May 2013.
Aplin announced live on 17 February Radio 1 Chart Show that her third single would be Panic Cord. The song originally featured on her Never Fade EP and it was released on 5 May 2013, charting at number 19.
On 12 March 2013, Aplin released previews of the songs that would appear on the standard edition of English Rain.
English Rain charted at number 2 on both the UK and Scottish album charts, while reaching number 11 in Ireland, number 10 in Australia, and number 39 in New Zealand.
In 2013, Aplin announced that her record label, Never Fade Records which was originally launched in 2010 so Aplin could release her own music, would now represent other musicians. Her first signings were Welsh folky-jazz singer Hannah Grace, who previously supported Aplin tour, and indie folk artist Saint Raymond. Never Fade record's first release since Aplin's own Home EP in January 2012 was Saint Raymond's Escapade EP, released on 22 April 2013. Saint Raymond has since been released from Never Fade records in order to allow him to sign a deal with Asylum, part of the Atlantic Records group.
In 2014, Aplin released her English Rain EP in the United States. The EP was released on the 6th of May and features 5 songs from her debut album, as well as a cover of Canadian singer Joni Mitchell's A Case of You.
In May 2015, Aplin announced her second studio album, 'Light Up The Dark'. The album announcement also featured with the release of the title track's music video. She also released her song 'Heavy Heart' from the album onto iTunes to promote the album, which is due for release on the 18th September, 2015.
As of November 2012, Aplin has completed six headline UK and Ireland tours. Her first headline tour, coinciding with the release of her Acoustic EP in September 2010, covered London, Birmingham, Manchester, Plymouth, Bath and Bristol. After the success of the first headline tour she then embarked on a further tour in November 2010 taking in additional cities including Cardiff, Glasgow and Newcastle. Her next tour took place shortly after the release of her Acoustic EP in November/December 2010 where she played at more cities including Leeds, Plymouth and Newcastle.
Her third tour coincided with the release of her Never Fade EP in May 2011, where she played abroad for the first time in Dublin. Following this Aplin appeared at her first festivals including Glastonbury Festival, Secret Garden Party, and Kendal Calling.
In November 2011, Aplin embarked on her next UK tour starting off with the Borderline in London. She played songs from Acoustic EP and Never Fade EP, alongside covers such as "Sheila" and a rendition of Fix You by Coldplay. In addition she premiered songs such as "Home" and "Keep Pushing Me" from her next release, Home.
In March 2012, Aplin toured Home across the UK. This was followed by four more dates in July.
In addition to her headline touring, Aplin has appeared as a support act for Matt Cardle, Charlie Simpson and Gotye, and has performed collaborations on stage with artists such as Hudson Taylor (musician), Orla Gartland, RJ Thompson and Hannah Grace. Aplin supported Ed Sheeran on his 2013 tour of Australia and New Zealand, and also joined him onstage for a duet of Sheeran's "Kiss Me". Aplin announced in March 2013 that she'll be returning to UK to tour a bigger headline show across the country in autumn 2013.
In 2013 Aplin headlined her "English Rain Tour" appearing in Newcastle, Manchester, Edinburgh, Birmingham, Norwich, Bristol, Leeds, Nottingham, Cardiff, Bournemouth, London, Oxford, Exeter, Glasgow and Liverpool before moving on to a select few locations in Asia.
Aplin embarked on an eight date tour of North America, beginning with a show in New York on the 6th of May and including a show in Toronto, Canada, to coincide with the release of her English Rain EP
Discography:
English Rain (2013)
Light Up the Dark (2015)
Sources: Wikipedia, Top40-Charts.com Editorial team
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