Katie Melua
A night with Europe's current biggest selling female solo artist - two hit albums, 9 million
bicycles and one great voice - for one night only, Katie Melua is in Shrewsbury!
Katie was born in Georgia in 1984, growing up in the capital, Tbilisi. The family left Georgia
when Katie was eight and moved to Belfast where her father got a job as a heart surgeon. Katie
didn't always want to be a singer or songwriter. Her ambition when she 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!" The family lived in Belfast for five years before moving to South East London. After
her GCSEs, Katie joined the Brit School for Performing Arts where she undertook a BTEC and Music
A-level.
Composer/producer Mike Batt paid a visit to the school. Katie signed to Batt's record label
Dramatico, but stayed at the Brit School to complete her studies where she graduated with
distinction in July 2003.
Unable to secure a contract with a Major record company, Katie and Mike decided to put her
album "Call Off The Search" (containing the song "The Closest Thing To Crazy") out on Batt's
own, small record label. After an initial struggle, followed by an appearance on The Royal
Variety Show, 19 year old Katie shot to the top of the UK album charts and became the biggest
selling female artist for the next two years. Her two albums, (the second of which contained
the hit "Nine Million Bicycles") have sold nearly 8 million copies to date.
