Laura Marling
Laura Beatrice Marling is an English folk singer-songwriter. She won the Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artist at the 2011 Brit Awards and was nominated for the same award at the 2012, 2014, 2016, and 2018 Brit Awards.
Marling joined her older sisters in London at age 16 to pursue a career in music. She played with a number of groups and released her debut album, Alas, I Cannot Swim, in 2008. Her first album, her second album I Speak Because I Can, her fourth album Once I Was an Eagle, and her seventh album Song for Our Daughter were nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2008, 2010, 2013, and 2020, respectively. Her sixth record, Semper Femina, was also nominated for a Grammy Award in the Best Folk Album category, as was Song for Our Daughter. In 2024, Marling released her eighth solo record, Patterns in Repeat.
Her songwriting is associated with sex and relationships, psychoanalysis, loss, the modern concept of womanhood, and trauma. Marling's eight studio solo albums have all been met with critical acclaim and she is widely considered to be one of the most accomplished songwriters of the nu folk music scene in Britain.
Early life
Marling is the youngest of three daughters. Her mother is a music teacher. Marling's father, Sir Charles William Somerset Marling, 5th baronet ran a recording studio, introduced her to folk music, and shaped her musical taste, an experience that Marling later described as, "a bit of a blessing and a bit of a curse.... I couldn't slot myself into the age-appropriate genre". She was taught guitar when she was five years old by her father.Her mother was abandoned after World War II, put into foster care, and later adopted. Marling later reflected on her matriarchal bloodline through songs written for her eighth studio album, Patterns in Repeat, which was released in October 2024. Marling was born when her mother was 44 years old.
She was raised on a farm in Eversley, a small village in Hampshire, England. Black Sabbath recorded at her father's studio when she was six months old.
Marling was privately educated at Waverly Primary School in Finchampstead, Berkshire and Leighton Park School, a Quaker school in Reading, Berkshire, where she had won a scholarship to attend. She later described her teenage years as "solitary" but did not find it hard to make friends. During her secondary school years, she felt uneasy around other people and was afraid of death.
She wrote her first song, "Failure" at aged 14 and the song later appeared on her debut album, Alas, I Cannot Swim, released in 2008.
Music career
After completing her GCSEs at age 16, Marling joined her older sisters and settled in the outskirts of London. She soon joined a cluster of intertwined bands that were drawn to acoustic instruments and tradition-tinged melodies—the group formed a musical movement that was labelled "nu-folk" by the British press. Marling joined the original line-up of indie folk band Noah and the Whale and appears as a background vocalist on their debut album, Peaceful, the World Lays Me Down; however, she left the group before the album's 2008 release due to a dissolved relationship with the band's lead singer, Charlie Fink. Marling appeared on The Rakes track "Suspicious Eyes" from the band's 2007 album, Ten New Messages, credited as 'Laura Marlin'. Marling later collaborated with Mystery Jets and contributed guest vocals to their 2008 single "Young Love". Early in her career, Marling performed with members of the band Mumford & Sons: Ted Dwane, Marcus Mumford, and Winston Marshall.2008–2011: First three albums
Marling was invited to tour with Jamie T after he attended her second solo gig. She has toured with a number of other musicians including Adam Green from the anti-folk band The Moldy Peaches. She performed at the 2007 O2 Wireless Festival and at the first Underage Festival in August 2007 at Victoria Park, East London, before releasing her debut EP London Town on WayOutWest Records.Her debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim was released on 4 February 2008, and was nominated for the 2008 Mercury Prize. The album, as well as subsequent singles, were released on Virgin Records. The third and final single from that album, "Night Terror" was released on 27 October 2008, coinciding with a six-date Night Terror Tour.
Marling's television appearances include The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson and Later With Jools Holland, performing "Ghosts" and "New Romantic", respectively. In 2008, she appeared on Russell Brand's Radio 2 show alongside her sister. She once chose to perform on the street after being denied entry to one of her own performances for being underage.
The follow-up to Alas, I Cannot Swim, titled I Speak Because I Can, was released on 22 March 2010. Produced by Ethan Johns, the album has a more mature sound and lyricism, dealing with "responsibility, particularly the responsibility of womanhood". The album is preceded by her singles "Goodbye England ", released on iTunes in December 2009, and "Devil's Spoke", released on 15 March 2010. On 28 March 2010, I Speak Because I Can entered the UK Albums Chart at Number 4. It was nominated for the 2010 Mercury Music Prize. In 2013, NME listed the album at 263 in their list of the 500 greatest albums of all time.
Marling's third album, A Creature I Don't Know, was released on 12 September 2011. The album received positive reviews and reached number four on the UK album charts.
2012–2013: ''Once I Was an Eagle''
During October 2012, Marling completed the Working Holiday Tour of the US as a solo performer. At the time, she announced that the fourth album, later named Once I Was an Eagle, was finished and was scheduled for a February 2013 release; this was later delayed until May 2013. On 8 March 2013, Marling confirmed that the album would be released on 27 May 2013 and would be released in the US one day later.Marling's fourth album's first single, "Master Hunter", was released on 17 April 2013, while Once I Was an Eagle entered the UK charts at number 3.
Following the release of the album, Marling revealed that she only listened to "music made between 1969 and 1972" during the songwriting process for the album and described it as an era when "guitar was becoming a kind of masculine extension". Marling explained during the post-release promotional period that she sought a minimalist approach for the fourth album and, in contrast to the previous two albums, recorded all of the songs without a band.
Once I Was an Eagle is Marling's third album to be nominated for the Mercury Prize. The 2013 award was eventually won by James Blake.
Marling revealed in a September 2013 interview that she had enough songs for a fifth album at the time, and she will "maybe make this record and then have a big, long, hard think about what I've done". During a February 2014 performance for NPR's eTown series, Marling played one of the new songs, titled "Born to Love".
During a European tour for her fourth album, Marling expressed doubts about her long-term commitment to the music industry in an interview:
When I play, I am very much in the space where I was when I wrote the music. You could slay me quite easily, I'm at my most vulnerable. I am very private, in all aspects of my life, to everybody, so why is it that I get up on stage every night and open myself in front of strangers? I'm not sure if I've got the bottle for it, any more.
Marling added that she is sometimes surprised by her profession in relation to the music industry as a whole and often thinks, "oh, I exist in this industry" when listening to the radio, saying that she is unsure if she wants to remain in such a position.
2014–2017: ''Short Movie'' and ''Semper Femina''
On 16 December 2014, Marling announced that her fifth studio album would be titled Short Movie. The album's title track, released on the same date, is the lead single and was made available for digital download. The album features 13 songs composed by Marling and was released in the UK on 23 March 2015 and one day later in the US.Marling began recording songs for the album shortly after completing the solo tour for Once I Was an Eagle. The songs were written in the US, reflecting Marling's experience of living in Los Angeles. However, after recording a new album, she felt unsatisfied with the result, and made the decision to scrap most of the songs written in that period. During this time, she became involved in activities unrelated to music. When production later resumed, she completed the album with her band at Urchin Studios in London. Marling produced the album alongside Dan Cox and Matt Ingram.
The second single from the record, "False Hope", premiered on 20 January. The track was available for digital download the next day. Both "False Hope" and "Short Movie" were received with critical acclaim, many reviewers noting the larger sound and the confidence in Marling's vocals.
In October 2015, Marling announced a short Tour de Ville through the US, where she would be previewing material from her forthcoming sixth studio album.
In a tweet, Blake Mills confirmed that Marling's sixth studio album was completed. In November 2016, Marling announced the release of Semper Femina in March 2017, with "Soothing" being the first single from the record. The album was released to critical acclaim. Marling received her first Grammy nomination for Best Folk Album for Semper Femina, but did not win the award. Semper Femina was also nominated for IMPALA's European Album of the Year Award.
Marling covered "Red Right Hand" by Nick Cave and the Bad Seeds and "A Hard Rain's a-Gonna Fall" by Bob Dylan for the Season 4 finale of Peaky Blinders which aired on 20 December 2017.