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Amy Wadge
Amy Wadge.jpg
Wadge at The Celtic Festival of Wales in 2010
Background information
Birth name Amy Victoria Wadge
Born 1975/1976 (age 48–49)
Origin Backwell, England
Genres
Occupation(s)
  • Singer
  • songwriter
Years active 1992–present
Associated acts

Amy Victoria Wadge (born 1975/1976) is an English singer and songwriter. She has co-written tracks with Ed Sheeran, including "Thinking Out Loud" for which she won the 2016 Grammy Award for Song of the Year.

Early life

Wadge was born and brought up in Backwell, a small village just outside Bristol, England. Her father's passion for music influenced her enormously, and on the subject of her paternal influences she has said that she "grew up listening to early Elton John, Joni Mitchell and James Taylor. That was the stuff I cut my teeth on and now I listen to everything you can possibly imagine from hip hop to country".

She began to write her own songs at the age of 9 on the family piano. When she was 11, her parents bought her her first guitar from a junk shop. It was when Wadge taught herself to play along to Tracy Chapman's debut album that she discovered her affinity for the guitar.

While still at school, Wadge regularly gigged around Bristol. At the age of 14, she signed her first record deal, along with her band Two uv a Mind. She released her first single at the age of 16.

Career

Songwriting

Apart from writing songs for herself, Wadge has been active in collaborating with new performers in Britain, most notably Ed Sheeran. The two collaborated on a number of songs, and Sheeran titled his self-released 2010 EP Songs I Wrote with Amy. One track was included with the deluxe edition of Sheeran's album +. Wadge continued her collaborative relationship with Sheeran in 2014. The single "Thinking Out Loud", written on a guitar given to Sheeran, features on the album x.

Wadge has also written with Lewis Watson, with tracks "Halo" and "Sink or Swim" appearing on the album The Morning (All of the Songs). She has collaborated with Shannon Saunders, Anna Pancaldi and other notable artists. She wrote and performed the songs for the soundtrack of the BBC Wales series Keeping Faith in 2018, and for the second series, shown in 2019. Wadge also co-wrote "Consequences", the third single from Camila Cabello's debut album Camila.

Also in 2019, Amy wrote three tracks ("Older", "Bad for Loving You" and "To the Moon and Back") for the Bonnie Tyler album Between the Earth and the Stars.

In 2021, she co-wrote the song "All of My Friends" from the Delta Goodrem album Bridge Over Troubled Dreams.

In 2022, she co-wrote the UK's entry to the Eurovision Song Contest, "Space Man" by Sam Ryder.

Solo performer

Having moved to Wales and graduated from the Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama, Wadge started performing at open mic sessions in Cardiff's Toucan Club and soon started developing a fanbase and gaining critical recognition. She was quickly spotted and received encouragement from some of the big players in the city, among them Manics/Catatonia/Super Furry Animals producer Greg Haver, who recorded her debut mini-album, The Famous Hour. This album "brought her more attention and acclaim". She played alongside Stereophonics, Embrace and Lenny Kravitz at the launch party for BBC 6 Music.

In 2002, Wadge won "Best Female Solo Act" at the annual Welsh Music Awards, ahead of Charlotte Church. In 2003, she toured Australia with the Welsh Rugby Team during the Rugby World Cup with the song "Adre Nôl". Later that year, she retained her "Best Female Solo Act" at the Welsh Music Awards.

2004 saw her release her first full album, WOJ (a play on her surname, which is often mispronounced), to critical acclaim. In June 2004, she performed at London's Royal Albert Hall on a bill that included Jeff Beck and Jan Hammer, charted by Billboard magazine as one of the world's top-grossing concerts of the summer.

2006 saw the release of Wadge's second album, No Sudden Moves. The album includes a cover of the Manic Street Preachers single A Design for Life. 2008 saw the release of her third album, Bump, which (according to her own sleeve notes) was recorded over two days when she was 8 months pregnant. It includes a cover of "Don't Leave Me This Way" (originally recorded by Harold Melvin & the Blue Notes, and later covered by The Communards).

On Monday 2 November 2009, Wadge released her new single "Hold Me" with new record label, Choice Music. She also released a Welsh version of the track ("Dal Fi") which was a fundraiser for her daughter's Ysgol Feithrin (Welsh nursery school), with 20p from the sale of every Welsh language download being donated to Mudiad Meithrin, a Welsh language nursery organisation.

In 2010 and 2011, Wadge and Pete Riley released a CD (Rivers Apart), as well as two live DVDs, and toured extensively together. Her single "USA? We'll Wait and See" was released in both English and Welsh.

She occasionally presents shows on BBC Radio Wales. She presented Suck It and See, a programme about the harmonica on BBC Radio 4.

Personal life

Wadge is married to actor Alun ap Brinley. They live near Pontypridd, in Wales.

Songwriting credits

Title Year Album Artist Written with
"She" 2011 Songs I Wrote with Amy Ed Sheeran Ed Sheeran
"Where We Land"
"Fire Alarms"
"Fall"
"Cold Coffee"
"The A Team" +
"Gold Rush"
"Once Before" 2012 Another Four Sad Songs Lewis Watson Lewis Watson
"Sink or Swim"
"Scars" Non-album single Shannon Saunders Shannon Saunders
"Comfortably Alone" 2014
"Bodies and Beats" Shannon Saunders, Eg White
"Sink or Swim" The Morning Lewis Watson Lewis Watson
"Halo"
"Even My Dad Does Sometimes" X Ed Sheeran Ed Sheeran
"Thinking Out Loud"
"Make It Back to Me" 2015 Ben Haenow Ben Haenow Ben Haenow
"Slamming Doors"
"Let Myself Try" Adore Jasmine Thompson Jasmine Thompson
"Don't Let Me Let You Go" Jamie Lawson Jamie Lawson Jamie Lawson
"Start Again" 2016 Beautiful Life Birdy Birdy
"Numb" Max Jury Max Jury Max Jury
"Stand in the Rain" Non-album single Jessarae Jessarae
"When Christmas Comes Around" Matt Terry Ed Sheeran
"Craving You" 2017 The Waiting Game Una Healy Una Healy
"All You Ever Need is Love"
"Stay My Love"
"2005" The Afterlove James Blunt James Blunt, Steve Mac
"Paradise" James Blunt
"Barcelona" ÷ Ed Sheeran Ed Sheeran, Johnny McDaid, Foy Vance, Benjamin Levin
"Nancy Mulligan" Ed Sheeran, Johnny McDaid, Foy Vance, Benjamin Levin, Murray Cummings
"Save Myself" Ed Sheeran
"Galway Girl" Ed Sheeran, Johnny McDaid, Foy Vance, Damien McKee, Sean Grahan, Liam Bradley, Eamon Murray, Niamh Dunne
"I Don't Know" Non-album single Molly Kate Kestner Molly Kate Kestner
"Little By Little" 2018 Clare Bowen Clare Bowen Clare Bowen, Brandon Young
"Hollow Hallelujah" Southern Gothic Tyminski Dan Tyminski, Jesse Frasure, Sarah Buxton,
"Consequences" Camila Camila Cabello Camila Cabello, Emily Weisband, Nicolle Galyon
"Parallel Line" Graffiti You Keith Urban Keith Urban, Ed Sheeran, Johnny McDaid, Julia Michaels, Benjamin Levin
"Sincerely Yours" Golden Kylie Minogue Kylie Minogue, Jesse Frasure
"Rollin'" Kylie Minogue, Sky Adams
"Radio On" Kylie Minogue, John Green
"Every Little Part of Me" Kylie Minogue, Sky Adams
"Wonder Woman" Golden Hour Kacey Musgraves Kacey Musgraves, Jesse Frasure, Hillary Lindsey
"Run in the Rain" Lighting Matches Tom Grennan Tom Grennan, Adj Buffone
"Because" Thank You & Goodnight Boyzone Ronan Keating, Ed Sheeran
"Ain't That Funny" A Northern Soul Sheridan Smith Sheridan Smith, Jimmy Hogarth
"Are You Just Sleeping"
"Handle With Care"
"Remedy in the Melody"
"Rock Bottom"
"Ladies in the 90's" Non-album single Lauren Alaina Lauren Alaina, Jesse Frasure
"If You" Story of Me Megan McKenna Megan McKenna
"How Many Times"
"Story of Me"
"Everything but You"
"Paperboy" Jon Maguire, Catherine McGrath
"By Christmas Eve" A Legendary Christmas John Legend John Legend, Dan Lafrombe Evans
"Faith's Song" Keeping Faith – EP Amy Wadge
"We Fall Down"
"Here I Go Again"
"Pain"
"Evan's Song"
"Let The Light Back In"
"How Long"
"No Prayer"
"Not Enough"
"Steve's Song"
"End Of It All"
"The Haunting of Me" 2019 The Years In Between Jamie Lawson Jamie Lawson
"Not Like Us" Fire & Brimstone Brantley Gilbert Brantley Gilbert, Brock Berryhill, Rhett Akins
"Almost" Thomas Rhett, Ashley Gorley, Jesse Frasure
"VHS" Thomas Rhett, Ashley Gorley, Jesse Frasure
"Center Point Road" Center Point Road Thomas Rhett Thomas Rhett, Cleve Wilson, Jesse Frasure
"Let It Be Love" Ocean Lady A Hillary Scott, Jordan Reynolds
"This" Non-album single Megan McKenna Megan McKenna, Alex Stacey
"Monsters" Once Upon a Mind James Blunt James Blunt, Jimmy Hogarth
"FUNoah" Non-album single Noah Cyrus Noah Cyrus, Varren Wade, London Holmes
"This" Megan McKenna Megan McKenna
"Blue" My Name Is Michael Holbrook Mika Mika
"Platform Ballerinas" Mika
"Dear Jealousy" George Moore, Mika
"Woman" The Good & The Bad Anthony Ramos Anthony Ramos, Jackson Morgan, Johan Carlsson, Ross Golan
"Used to This" Romance Camila Cabello Camila Cabello, Finneas O'Connell
"First Man" Camila Cabello, Jordan Reynolds
"Under Dog" 2020 Alicia Alicia Keys Alicia Keys, Ed Sheeran, Foy Vance, Johnny McDaid, Jonny Coffer
"Stop" Non-album single Anthony Ramos Anthony Ramos, Sean Douglas, Jesse Shatkin, Joel Castillo
"Airpods" Leave It Beautiful Astrid S Astrid S, Jakob Hazell, Svante Halldin
"Bad Things" no one else, not even you Mae Muller Mae Muller, Westen Weiss
"All of My Friends" 2021 Bridge over Troubled Dreams Delta Goodrem Delta Goodrem
"Visiting Hours" = Ed Sheeran Ed Sheeran, Johnny McDaid, Anthony Clemons, Jr., Michael Pollack, Scott Carter, Kim Lang Smith
"Lifeline" Wild Dreams Westlife Mark Feehily, Shane Filan
"Rewind" Feehily, Filan, Jessica Agombar, Nicholas James Gale
"Space Man" 2022 There's Nothing but Space, Man! Sam Ryder Sam Ryder and Max Wolfgang
"When I Get There" 2023 Trustfall P!nk David Hodges

Discography

Albums

Title Artist Year Credits
The Famous Hour Amy Wadge 2002 Written & Performed
Open 2003 Written & Performed
Woj 2004 Written & Performed
No Sudden Moves 2006 Written & Performed
Tougher Than Love 2007 Co-written & Performed
Bump 2008 Written, Performed & Produced
Acoustig 2009 Written, Performed & Produced
Rivers Apart Amy Wadge & Pete Riley 2011 Co-written & Performed
Afterglow 2012 Co-written & Performed
Amy Wadge Amy Wadge 2016 Co-written & Performed

EPs and singles

Artist Title Year Credits
Amy Wadge "Saddest Eyes" 2000 Written & performed
"Just in Time" 2003 Written & performed
"USA? Oes Angen Mwy..." 2005 Co-written & performed
"USA? We'll Wait and See..." 2005 Co-written & performed
"A Design for Life" (cover) 2006 Performed
"SXSW" 2009 Written, performed & produced
"Hold Me" 2009 Written & performed
Recovery (EP) 2014 Written, performed & produced
"No Use Crying Over Spilt Milk" 2015 Written, performed & produced
"Keeping Faith" 2018 Written, performed
"Keeping Faith" - Series 2 2019 Written, performed
"Keeping Faith" - Series 3 2021 Written, performed

Other charted songs

Year Title Peak position
UK
2019 "Faith's Song" 74

Awards

Year Awarding Body Award
2002 Best Female Solo Artist Welsh Music Awards
2003
2015 The Royal Welsh College of Music and Drama Fellowship
2016 The Recording Academy, Grammy Award Song of the Year
2016 University of South Wales Honorary Doctorate of Music
2016 ASCAP Songwriter of the Year
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