Famous Georgian Immigrant - Katie Melua

One of the most famous Georgian immigrant is Katie Melua. Katie is one of my favourite singers. I'm sure you've all heard about her, but i want to remind you about her life :)

Biography

Katie Melua was born in Georgia and moved to Belfast when she was eight after her heart surgeon father landed a job there. When she was fifteen she entered a light-hearted TV talent competition called ‘Stars Up Their Nose’ and her version of Mariah Carey's ‘Without You’ earned her victory.

Katie later joined the Brit School for Performing Arts where she studied for a BTEC and Music A-level. Having visited the school on the lookout for new talent, Mike Batt of 'The Wombles' fame discovered Katie and immediately signed her up to his Dramatico label.

Having graduated from the Brits School with a distinction in 2003 she joined Batt in the studio to record a demo. Radio 2 DJ, Terry Wogan became her champion and his support of the single 'The Closest Thing To Crazy' led to it entering the charts at No.10 on its release.
Her debut album 'Call Off the Search' went quadruple platinum and in 2004 the young singer set off on her debut live tour. The album featured two songs written by Melua including 'Belfast (Penguins and Cats)' about her childhood experience living in the troubled capital of Northern Ireland and 'Faraway Voice' about the death of Eva Cassidy.

On 10 August 2005, Melua became a British citizen with her parents and brother. The citizenship ceremony took place in Weybridge, Surrey. On gaining British nationality, Melua was eligible for a British passport. Becoming a British citizen meant that Melua had held three citizenships before she was 21; first Soviet, then Georgian and finally British. After the ceremony, Melua stated her pride at her newest nationality. "As a family, we have been very fortunate to find a happy lifestyle in this country and we feel we belong. We still consider ourselves to be Georgian, because that is where our roots are, and I return to Georgia every year to see my uncles and grandparents, but I am proud to now be a British citizen."

Melua's follow-up album 'Piece by Piece' was released on 26 September 2005. The first single 'Nine Million Bicycles' was released the week before and reached number three in the UK charts. It also featured four more songs written by Melua and reached number one in the UK album chart on 5 October 2005.

 This album also helped the singer break Europe, as it sold more than one million copies in Germany alone. It has since sold 35 million copies worldwide.


Her third album was entitled 'Pictures' and was released in the UK on 1 October 2007. It was announced as being the last album on which Batt would be the lead writer and producer.

The record featured Melua's friend Molly McQueen, former frontwoman of The Faders, and Andrea McEwan, who wrote the lyrics for 'What I Miss About You' and 'Dirty Dice'.

In 2008, Melua embarked on a world tour, allowing her to focus on her previous three records. Her live performance at London's O2 Arena was released on DVD in May 2009.

 Melua focused on breaking the US during the first half of 2009 by undertaking an acoustic tour performing with her guitar and piano.


She then retired to the studio to write her new album on her own and with Guy Chambers, Rick Nowels and Mike Batt. On 24 May 2010, Melua's fourth studio album 'The House' was released.

The singer's scheduled European tour in 2010 was postponed due to illness, with Melua saying: "I had a bit of a breakdown so needed to take time off." In September that year she was ordered by her doctors to stop working, resulting in her hospitalisation for six months.

Her postponed tour took place in 2011 and she released her fifth album 'Secret Symphony' on 5 March 2012.

She also confirmed her engagement to World Superbike racer James Toseland in January 2012.

Thy got married in the Nash Conservatory at Royal Botanic Gardens in kew, west London, September 1 st 2012..

Katie Melua and James Toseland 

In her own words:

"I was born in Georgia in the former USSR (red wine, Stalin, Shevardnadze, Katie Melua) in 1984, living in Moscow for a while when I was three or four. Not surprisingly I don¹t remember a lot of Moscow back in the communist time, although one thing I do remember is that the place we were staying in did the most amazing pancakes I¹ve ever tasted. Leaving Moscow and the pancakes I spent most of my childhood in Georgia in the seaside town of Batumi. There¹s really nothing better than swimming in the Black Sea. When I was nine, my dad got a job as a heart surgeon in Belfast, so we moved there. When I told this to one of my teachers later on in England he described the move as: "From the frying pan into the fire". I never really viewed it as that because I had a great childhood both in Georgia and Northern Ireland. I found the people in Northern Ireland extremely warm and made great friends at St. Catherine¹s primary school and Dominican College, Fortwilliam.

 I went to catholic schools in Northern Ireland while my younger brother went to a protestant school. I didn¹t always want to be a singer or songwriter. My ambition when I was thirteen was to be a politician or a historian. I honestly thought I'd be able to bring peace to the world.... If I ruled it! We lived in Belfast for five years after which we moved to South East London. There I went to Nonsuch high school for girls. When I was fifteen I entered a TV talent competition singing Mariah Carey's "Without You". I won the competition (the prize was a bedroom makeover and an arm chair for my dad) and also gained valuable experience by performing live on ITV three times.

 Moving so much didn't really bother me, cause you get so used to it. I've been to seven different schools, the final one being the Brit School for Performing Arts where I did a BTEC, and Music A-level.

 I started writing songs two years ago and have (with my parents' help) a small studio set-up at home. My influences are Queen, Joni Mitchell, Bob Dylan, Eva Cassidy, Irish folk music and Indian music. I strongly believe that great artists are artists who are original and talented in their music and performance. Music should be performed live. It is offensive to the audience if you mime. I always get a warm feeling when I see someone holding either a guitar case or a violin case on the street, - it's like I know I'd get on well with that person and I always smile or say hi."

                                                            Katie Melua singing georgian song