Lorraine Bowen

Bowen created 'Lorraine Bowen meets Barbara Moore' to provide a platform to show others how prolific Moore had been in the 1960s and 1970s.

Lorraine Bowen (born 31 October 1961 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire) is an English singer, songwriter, comedian and musician.

Bowen has released seven studio and compilation albums, and multiple singles as both a solo and contributing artist.

She studied music at the University of Surrey, and then busked around London.

Offering a mash-up of a Shakespearean game of musical bingo, classic 1970s tunes and largely fictional showbiz anecdotes.

She was a member of two bands in the 1980s: See You in Vegas and The Dinner Ladies, as well as performing regularly with Billy Bragg on stage and on record.

In 1990, Billy Bragg encouraged Bowen to start a solo career.

She started to perform solo shows under name of The Lorraine Bowen Experience; her act featured three songs, a Casio keyboard and an ironing board.

This has led to shows all over the world, including festivals in Winnipeg, Toronto, San Francisco, and in the UK, Glastonbury, Edinburgh, Glasgay, Bestival, The Big Chill, Secret Garden Party and Shambala and many shows in Italy and Spain.

Her songs are seen as "quirky", contain humour and are often with a sense of kitsch.

Themes often include food, film stars (one of her most popular songs is about Julie Christie), mobile phones, fish fingers and launderettes.

Bowen is known for her catchy choruses in songs and encouraging audience participation.

Vital Organs was the name of Bowen's first solo musical comedy tour celebrating her collection of portable Casio electronic organs, omnichord and other eccentric portable organs.

She has also made many appearances on BBC Radio 4 including John Shuttleworth's show Radio Shuttleworth and the 1999 all-female sketch show Heated Rollers, starring Lynda Bellingham, Gwyneth Strong and Joanna Monro.

She has also written for BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends.

First performed at London's Drill Hall, the show toured extensively between 2005 and 2009.

In 2011, Bowen discovered that composer Barbara Moore was alive and living in Bognor Regis while recording an episode of Lorraine Bowen's Stereo Spectacular radio programme.

Moore was active in the British music scene for over 25 years.

After starting as a member of The Ladybirds, went on to work with Elton John, Jimi Hendrix and Tom Jones amongst others, but she is not widely known today.

Supported by Arts Council of Great Britain, the show ran through the winters of 2011 and 2012, drawing upon a series of experiences provided by Charlotte Glasson, Mick Jackson and others.

Lorraine Bowen's Polyester Fiesta show celebrates polyester and has four models, a scientist and a wardrobe mistress.

Bowen acts as hostess, model and sings down the catwalk.

Bowen has been a collector of vintage polyester outfits since visiting jumble sales as a girl and the collection has been featured on BBC One's The One Show and BBC Radio 4's Woman's Hour.

Polyester Fiesta!

This show presented Moore and her work to a new audience and featured in the Brighton Fringe festival in 2014.

Lorraine Bowen Comfort Zone show was a 'durational project' of three connected concerts exploring hibernation in connection with Brighton's Pink Fringe and the Nightingale Theatre.

toured during 2015, been performed at Glasgay, The South Bank Vintage Festival, Brighton Fringe, Colchester Arts Centre and Royal Vauxhall Tavern among others.

Bowen was a contestant on Britain's Got Talent in May 2015 and was sent through to the live semi-finals by David Walliams' golden buzzer after she sang her own song "The Crumble Song."

Simon Cowell and Amanda Holden buzzed the act, which was about her love of apple crumble.

Bowen was voted off the show in the first semi-final after singing a song about space.

She came fourth in the votes, which was not enough to get into the final.

This show is a musical cabaret, which features Bowen along with Derek Daniels Boogaloo Stu and the musical accompaniment of Ronnie Hazelnut Jason Peg on piano.

Bowen started work writing music with Philipp Stollenmayer for his KAMIBOX mobile Game company during the lockdown in 2020.

The first release by the company is due in 2023.

She also wrote the theme tune to Kitty Q/Katze Q - in English and German - a game introducing 12-14 year olds to the world of Quantum Physics.

During her early career, Bowen also worked as a part-time music teacher in schools across Hackney.

Now based in Brighton, Bowen runs singing workshops at the Brighton Dome and Bexhill's De La Warr Pavilion.

Lorraine Bowen's Stereo Spectacular is Bowen's radio show consisting of binaural field recordings, interviews and eclectic tracks.

Award-winning and featured on Brighton's Radio Reverb, the shows are now available as a podcast.

Bowen provided the soundtrack for No Deposit, No Return by Dallas Campbell.