Tuesday, April 30, 2019

The Beauty of Song, Part Six: Florence Welch

It takes a lot of originality for a rock and roller to stand out in the hip-hop era (an era that, sadly, shows no signs of ending), but with her commanding voice, British rocker Florence Welch certainly passes that test . . . and sets the bar high.


Ms. Welch is the lead singer of Florence + the Machine, one of those traditionalist indie bands struggling to keep the rock and roll light aflame in the twenty-first century.  And they've done it very well, ever since their recording debut in 2009 with the first LP, Lungs.  Subsequent albums such as Ceremonials and How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful as well as singles such as "You've Got the Light," "Never Let Me Go," and what has become the band's signature song, "Ship To Wreck," have followed.  Ms. Welch has also been one of the group's principal songwriters, collaborating a good deal with the Machine's keyboardist, Isabella Summers.


Ms. Welch struggled with dyslexia as a child, but she had encouragement from her paternal grandmother to pursue singing when it became obvious that she had the talent. Many of the songs on the Lungs album were inspired by both of her grandmothers.

Florence + the Machine's fourth album, High as Hope, was released in June 2018.  It was the band's first release on the Virgin label.

That's it for my sixth series of beautiful women in music.  A new A-Z round starts in the coming merry of May. :-)

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