Jane Taylor

Jane Taylor (born 19 July 1972) is an English singer. She won the UK and International Songwriting Competition in 2003 with her song Blowing This Candle Out. Her second album Compass was awarded the Best Album title in the Folk / Singer-Songwriter category at the 2010 Independent Music Awards.

Taylor was born in Lincolnshire in 1972, in an RAF hospital at Nocton Hall. As well as being in the RAF, her father was an artist, songwriter and guitarist. His musical talent and love of Bob Dylan, Joan Baez and Simon and Garfunkel influenced the young Jane, as did her mother's love of classical music.

She picked up her father's guitar at the age of five and composed her first song. Brought up in a village near Newark, Nottinghamshire, she attended Brownies and Sunday School at the local Church Hall. She continued to play the guitar and piano and composed throughout her childhood, winning school competitions and gaining a reputation for playing her music to the school. At the age of 19, Jane went to Keele University, Staffordshire, where her music took on a political Flavour. In particular, a song entitled "Tiananmen Square" became a much loved anthem for many of the students visiting the folk club there in the 1990s.

In 2003, Taylor decided to give up her normal job and become a full-time singer-songwriter. A month later, she recorded her first single with Massive Attack guitarist Angelo Bruschini. The track was called "Blowing This Candle Out" and went on to win Best Song in the 'International Songwriter of the Year' competition, and landed Taylor her first major gig at Ronnie Scotts. She also went on to tour in Germany and Italy, gathering more fans along the way.

Together with Bill Lovelady, Taylor and her band created her first album Montpelier. When Johnnie Walker played the song "Fall on Me" on his BBC Radio 2 show in 2006, he was inundated with emails wanting to know who this new singer-songwriter was, where they could find out about her, and most importantly would he "Please play more". Walker invited Taylor to play a live session on his show. Taylor has since appeared on the Radio 4 show Loose Ends, secured an international distribution deal with Pinnacle, had a track from the album included on The Word magazine, and landed support slots opening for Jools Holland, Bill Wyman, Paolo Nutini, Seth Lakeman, Midge Ure, Andy Fairweather-Low and Paul Buchanan of The Blue Nile.

Compass was released in 2008, with a number of special album preview shows in Scotland. The first official launch was in Bristol's converted church, Circomedia. Shortly afterwards Taylor discovered she was pregnant, so plans for a re-release of the album were made for 2010. Meanwhile, songs from the album have been played on the Bob Harris show on BBC Radio 2.

Tracks from Compass received BBC Radio 2 airplay. The album recently won an award for Best Album in the Folk / Singer-Songwriter category in the 2010 Independent Music Awards.

After taking some time out to give birth to her son, she booked a concert at St George's Hall, Bristol, which was sold out. Taylor invited musicians to join her on stage including Lizz Lipscombe on violin, Robert Bray on percussion and uke, Robin Davies on double bass and Kate Robey on cello. Other guests included marimba player Alphonse Daudet Touna, singer-songwriter Roger Tarry, The JT Brass Players (Andy Davies, Matt Davies and Chris Sanders) and the Barefoot Collective & Original Sing choirs. The concert was a success and was voted one of the top three gigs in the South West for 2010 by Bristol's Venue Magazine. A recording of the concert was released as Live Album in November 2011. In December 2011, Taylor released her new single "Oh December".

Taylor continues to create music with her band and tour under her own independent label Bicycle Records. She is supported by her fan base, who in 2010 raised over £9000 to help her promote her work and fund her tours.

In January 2011, Compass won Best Album in the Singer-Songwriter Category at the 10th Annual Independent Music Awards.