Live and incognito.
| Auteur | Mawson, Emily |
| Fonction | People: profile |
[ILLUSTRATION OMITTED]
"We went to watch The Avengers last night--and nobody in the cinema recognised Amy," chuckles Sarah Erasmus of Amy Macdonald's production label, Melodramatic Records. This seems a remarkable feat in a busy auditorium in Switzerland--a country where Macdonald has sold five-times Platinum, won Best International Album Rock/Pop at the 2011 Swiss Music Awards (as well as two more awards at the same ceremony in 2009) and has three concerts scheduled this year.
However, it is altogether plausible. I smile at the discrepancy between the 'rock chick' on-stage (all smoky eyes, shimmering mini dresses and commanding voice) and the understated, doe-eyed Gaelic beauty who enters the room for our interview with a quiet knock.
All about the music
"People never believe me when I say I could walk down the street and nobody would even look twice," says the 24-year-old Scottish songstress, today clad in a fine knit sweater and skinny black jeans. "But it's always the way it's been for me and I'm very grateful for that."
In fact, this is exactly the way she likes it. Listen to any of her songs, and it quickly becomes apparent that the celebrity thing doesn't appeal to her. In the aptly titled 'An Ordinary Life' (A Curious Thing, 2010) she sings, "I don't care about the cameras, I don't care about the lights. All I wanted was an ordinary life." The song was inspired by the behaviour of a flurry of fans around actor Gerard Butler at a party.
During a 2010 interview with Sky News, Macdonald rebuffed the reporter's suggestion that she and her fiance, footballer Steve Lovell, could be the next 'Posh and Becks', saying that their lives were far from being that glamorous. Certainly, she doesn't see herself as a star. For her, it is all about music.
Crossroads
Brought up in East Dunbartonshire near Glasgow, Macdonald learned to play her Dad's guitar having been inspired by watching British act Travis perform live. She was only 12 at the time. 'I don't know where [my talent] came from. My parents aren't musical," she admits. And her sister is a doctor. "I was just into guitar music and I wanted to play along with the songs so badly." A year later, she began writing songs and, by the age of 15, she was gigging.
Her life changed when, aged 17, she responded to an advert in NME magazine, stating: 'new record company; all singers and songwriters send in your demos.' The new company was Melodramatic Records and, behind it, were Erasmus and her...
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