Biography

Katie Melua was born in Georgia in 1984 under the communist regime in the capital, Tbilisi. In 1993, Katie’s family moved to Belfast, Northern Ireland and lived there for five years before moving to Southeast London.

Although musically gifted, Katie’s teenage dream was to become a politician or historian given her early upbringing in the politically unstable Georgia.

However, after passing her GSCE, she joined the Brit School of Performing Arts where she undertook a BTEC and Music A-level where she began to write music. It was in school where she met music English songwriter and producer Mike Batt who signed her to his small record label Dramatico.

Despite her remarkable talent, Katie’s music career took a difficult route to success. Initially unable to secure a contract with a major record label, Katie and Mike decided to put her first album ‘Call Off the Search’ out on his own small record company. This career move, which could be called a small beginning, took her career to new heights when a BBC Radio 2 producer heard her song and played it in a BBC radio program. In 2004, the album became a hit and reached up to the top of the UK album charts. In the UK alone, the album sold 1.2 million copies making it four times platinum. With this success, Katie became UK’s biggest selling female artist in the next two years paving the way for her second hit album. To date, Katie has sold 9 million album copies making her Europe’s biggest selling female solo artist.

With a booming music career, Katie also maximized her talent to helping people not only in the UK but also in Africa and Asia. She performed in a benefit concert for the Nelson Mandela’s HIV charity and went to Sri Lanka as a goodwill ambassador for Save the Children after a civil war and a tsunami hit the country. The proceeds of her hit duet with the late Eva Cassidy, ‘What a Wonderful World’ went to the Red Cross.

In 2007, then 23-year old Katie picked up various prestigious awards within Europe, including a World Music Award, a Golden Camera Award, and two German Echo Awards. Year 2007 also saw the release of ‘Pictures’ her third and internationally successful album much to the delight of her legions of fans around the globe, confirming Katie’s status a unique and remarkable musical artist and ensuring her career’s further success and longevity in the music business.

Now 25, Katie is due to release her fourth album in 2010 once again promising another beautiful, hallmark musical treat to her fans around the world.