Lucy Spraggan returns to Cottingham Folk Festival for a record third headline appearance on Saturday August 25th, with support from Kerri Watt and Beth McCarthy.
For Lucy Spraggan, 2017 was a year to remember. The singer-songwriter netted her fourth top 40 album and followed that success with a huge tour across the UK and Europe.
I Hope You Don’t Mind Me Writing charted at number 12 in the Official Top 40 Album Chart on release in January 2017. The album, the second under her own label – CTRL Records – was described as ‘a triumph’ by The Sun.
More than 12,000 tickets sold for Spraggan’s Dear You tour and the summer season continued with shows confirmed at some of the UK’s biggest festivals. Recognised as one of the leading lights in the LGBT community, Spraggan has managed to build her fanbase to a new high.
Lucy appeared on the X Factor in 2012, since then her audition video has been viewed more than 40 million times. She achieved the unprecedented success of securing a top 20 single (Last Night) and top 40 album (Top Room at the Zoo) while still competing on the TV show. She went on to be the officially most Googled musician of 2012.
Lucy immediately signed to Columbia and her debut album Join the Club was a top-ten success. Her next record We Are was released on her own label, after Spraggan opted to take the independent route. The album just missed out on a top twenty position.
Lucy’s music-writing career began with Don Maclean and Kirsty McColl as her major influences, embellished with the folk riffs of Peter, Paul and Mary, and taking on the punchy riffs of traditional R and B.
Her name is now synonymous a melodic middle ground where pop and acoustic folk meet. The toe-tapping interpretations of classic sounds and the harmony-heavy ballads that she pulls from modern rhythm and blues are hard to forget. Spraggan’s trademark sound is the rattle of rap dropped into sing-along folk-style numbers.
After releasing four albums in five years Lucy is probably due a rest, but the writing process is already underway for album number 5. Her live calendar is looking busier than ever too with another tour planned for the Autumn. Watch this space!
Published on 13 January 2018 by Ben Robinson