If there’s one thing the UK music industry does not lack, it’s female vocalists. From Adele to Duffy, Pixie to Ellie, you can take your pick. if you asked me to pick a top 3 I would reply “only 3, because I can make a top 10″. My favourite female singers in the UK are Adele, Amy Winehouse, and Eliza Doolittle too name just a few. The reason I could name a top 10 so easily is due to the fact that there are so many female singers in the business. All tick different boxes and have all shared critical and commercial success between them.
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Amy Winehouse is one of my favourite, if not my favourite female singer from the UK. Her musical style can be described as jazz, soul and r&b, which was displayed on her two albums to date, 2003′s ‘Frank’ and ‘Back to Black‘ which was released in 08. The later was a big commercial and critical success not only here in the UK, but internationally. In the UK alone 2,985,303 copies of the album were sold. Over in the US the figures were also very impressive as the singer went on to sell 2 million copies state side. In Europe the album has shipped 7 million copies so far. Critically the album has done just as well with Amy receiving a host of nominations and awards, with the most relevant being the 2008 Grammy awards. Up for 6 awards including ‘Album of The Year’ and ‘Record of The Year’, the beehive singer walked away with 5 out of the 6 nominations. This was no surprise as the women clearly has an amazing voice and she writes her own material. I decided to pick out a live performance that always lingers in my mind. The song is ‘Stronger Than Me‘ which was on Amy’s first album ‘Frank‘.
Amy herself hasn’t been in the charts for a few years now, but is working on her next album which is due in 2011. Until then we still have Ellie Goulding, Jessie J, Alexandra Burke, Cheryl Cole, and Pixie Lott who are currently charting, while we await for Amy, Duffy, Adele, Leona and other’s who are expected to return in 2011. There are many more names that can be added to the list, but due to the amount I can’t list all.
It would be a challenge for me to pick out a male singer that stood out in 2010 and took the charts and fans by storm. This is because there really was a lack of male solo acts. The usual suspects such as Paolo Nutini, James Morrison, Will Young and James Blunt were nowhere to be seen. However James Blunt did just release an album in November, so expect to see a lot of him next year as he promotes his 2011 tour. I want to know where Lemar and Craig David are. Two of the best vocalists to come out of the UK in my opinion.
With all the lack of male singers releasing music this year I would have to shower all my praise on the most active male in the UK…Peter Andre. Ok, so maybe that’s taking it too far, excuse my poor attempt at cracking a joke. It really is that tough to think of a singer who had a great year. One name mentioned to me was Taio Cruz, who didn’t even cross my mind at first thought. The young Londoner was coming of the back of a great year in 09 where his single ‘Break Your Heart’ went to the number 1 spot in the UK as well as America, where it has gone on to sell 3,137,000+ copies alone. This year he released ‘Dynamite‘ which reached the number 2 spot in America, but he did hit the top spot in the UK with the same single. Hitting the number 2 spot in the US was a great achievement, and even more considering the single has so far shifted 3,087,000+. Add to that a collaboration with US star Ke$ha and a recently released song with Australian beauty Kylie Minogue, Taio has had a very good year, however his album sales are not so promising. In the US ‘Rockstarr’ has so far shifted just over 100,000+ copies and in the UK these figures are even lower.
So agin where are these males singers I ask of ? Should we be looking to Olly Murs who has had a great year, proving again that you don’t need to be the overall winner of the X-Factor to achieve commercial success. You only have to look at what JLS have done since losing out to Alexandra Burke two years ago, for inspiration and hope. Since losing out at the final hurdle to eventual show winner Joe McElderry, Olly has gone from strength to strength. His self titled album was released on Novemeber 29th and has already shifted more than 300,000 copies in the few weeks it’s been out. Two singles have been released thus far with debut single ‘Please Don’t Let Me Go‘ reaching the number 1 spot and ‘Thinking of Me’ peaking at number 4. It’s too early on in the Essex boy’s career to tell whether he will be as successful on a second album and tours, so I’ll judge him next year.
We do have a new X-Factor champion in ‘Matt Cardle‘ and he does currently hold the number 1 spot, and looks a shoe in for a second week at the top of the charts come Sunday. However Matt can have no other say on 2010 as he released his first solo single in the last month of the year. It will be interesting to see where Matt is this time next year though. I just hope he doesn’t have the same bad luck that previous male winners such as Steve, Leon and Joe have recently had.
Oh, but wait, how could I forget a certain man knows as Plan B, who I first mentioned in this post. The singer song-writer had a great year. He released the critically acclaimed ‘The Defamation of Strickland Banks’ which has so far been certified 2x platinum here in the UK as well as 5 singles off the record. ‘Stay Too Long’ and ‘She Said‘ both charted in the top 10 respectively. I can’t stress to you how much I rate this man and this album, be sure to read my previous post that mentioned him and go out and buy the album. You won’t be disappointed.
All in all 2010 was not a great year in the UK for male solo singers, but I do hold great hope for the year ahead of us as there are a wealth of male talents that I’m sure we will be hearing and seeing a lot more of. Next year look out for Daley, Labrinth, Loick Essien, Jamie George, L and Bluey Robinson too name just a few.
L is an artist I will hopefully be interviewing in the coming weeks. He’s teamed up with one of the BBC’s ‘One To Watch 2011′ stars, Wretch 32 in the song Traktor. Check it out below and make sure to look out for the remixes of the track currently doing the rounds.
Check out this video of Bluey performing in the London underground. Has to be one of my favourite videos from an artist, always makes me laugh as well as realising this boy has huge potential. His mix tape just dropped today and I would recommend it. Download here.