Lucy Spraggan
Lucy Spraggan | |
|---|---|
| File:Spraggan L&U Press Wall.jpg | |
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Lucy Spraggan |
| Born | 21 July 1991 |
| Origin | Sheffield, England |
| Genres | Folk, acoustic, hip hop |
| Occupation | Singer-songwriter |
| Instrument(s) | Vocals, guitar |
| Years active | 2008–present |
| Labels | Unsigned |
| Website | lucyspraggan |
Lucy Spraggan born 21 July 1991 in kent,is an English musician who describes her music as 'A-FLOP', a mixture of acoustic, folk and hip-hop.[1] In July 2011 she was announced as the runner up of the Urban, Pop & Acoustic category of Live and Unsigned at the age of 20.[2] In June 2012 she performed alongside Razorlight at Osfest at Oswestry Showground in Shropshire.[3] She independently released her album Top Room At The Zoo in November 2011,[4] with associated music videos released on YouTube. She auditioned for The X Factor in 2012, performing her own composition, "Last Night". [5] On the 3 November 2012 it was announced she would be quitting her run on The X Factor due to illness, so she subsequently finished in ninth place, and second in her category.
Music career
2011-2012: Live and Unsigned, Open Mic UK and Top Room at the Zoo
In July 2011, Spraggan was announced as the runner up of the Urban, Pop & Acoustic Category of Live and Unsigned, placing third place overall in the competition.[2] Spraggan's prizes awarded by Live and Unsigned for her progress in the competition consisted of a festival slot at Osfest,[6] and a slot at Australia's 'Go Connect' Festival.[2] When the festival was later canceled, Live and Unsigned provided Spraggan with a series of replacement prizes, including: a string of guest act spots at Live and Unsigned and Open Mic UK shows across the country,[7] [8] a new website,[9] and a music video shoot for her single Last Night, which received over 455,000 views.[10] [9] On her time at the Live and Unsigned Grand Final, Spraggan said "It was a great day",[7] and in an interview with the BBC stated they continue to enjoy a good working relationship.[11] she then went on to perform across the country at local pubs.[citation needed]
On October 20, 2011 she independently released her album Top Room at the Zoo.[4] In an interview Spraggan said a short-lived romance, when she visited America at the age of 18 with an older woman of 27 inspired the majority of her album's lyrics.[12]
Spraggan performed as a guest act at a large volume of Live and Unsigned and Open Mic UK shows across the country during this time,[7] [8] on Open Mic UK, Spraggan said in an interview: "Open Mic UK is a great way to build your fan base to thousands of new fans whether you are a guest act or a competitor in the show.".[7] As a result of performing at these shows, Spraggan was scouted by several festival organisers to perform at their festivals,[7] amongst which included London Summer Jam,[13] Osfest,[3] Strawberry Fields Festival,[14] Cockermouth Rock Festival.[15][16]
2012: The X Factor
On 13 July 2012, she released the single "Tea and Toast". Spraggan auditioned for the ninth series of The X Factor, which was shown on 25 August 2012, singing her own song "Last Night" from her self-released album Top Room at the Zoo. She won herself a place at bootcamp after performing the track, which left the audience at the Manchester auditions chanting for more. Her second song, which was a rendition of "Halo" by Beyoncé Knowles, was shown on The Xtra Factor. Shortly after the audition was screened, the song climbed to Number 70 in the Official UK Singles Chart,[17] and reached Number 2 on iTunes. However, it was soon removed from iTunes by request of The X Factor producers.[18] On August 29, 2012 Greg James announced that "Last Night" was at number 5 on the Official Chart Update despite the song being removed from iTunes, her album Top Room at the Zoo was at number 7 on the Official Chart Update as well.[19][20] On September 2, 2012 "Last Night" entered the UK Singles Chart at number 11 and her album Top Room at the Zoo entered the UK Albums Chart at number 22.[21] She sang "Moves like Jagger" by Maroon 5 at bootcamp but the performance was described as "awkward" and "messy". She returned to the stage with a mix-up of songs that she really liked and meant a lot to her. Tulisa Contostavlos then said that she wanted to hear one of her tracks so Spraggan decided to sing "Tea and Toast", stating that the song was about a real couple. After she performed the song she burst into tears when she received a standing ovation from the audience and the judging panel.[22][23] She made it through to the live shows as one of the three female singers selected by mentor Contostavlos. In week 4, Spraggan was ill so she automatically got through to week 5. On 3 November, Spraggan decided to leave the competition because she felt that it wouldn't be fair to get another free pass to the next round, as she was still too ill to compete [24][25][26]
Performances on The X Factor
| Episode | Theme | Song | Result |
|---|---|---|---|
| Audition | Free choice | "Last Night" (original song) | Advanced |
| Bootcamp 1 | Group performance | "Moves like Jagger" | Advanced |
| Bootcamp 2 | Solo performance | "Tea and Toast" (original song) | Advanced |
| Judges' houses | No theme | "I Will Always Love You" | Advanced |
| Week 1 | Heroes night | "Mountains" (original song) | Safe |
| Week 2 | Love and heartbreak | "Gold Digger" | Safe |
| Week 3 | Club classics | "Titanium" (version with original lyrics) | Safe |
| Week 4 | Halloween special | None | Given bye as too ill to perform |
Personal life
Spraggan's mother, Anstey, is a freelance journalist. She has written in The Guardian about Spraggan's decision to come out as a lesbian, aged 14,[27] as well as about their family life as a stepfamily.[28] Outside music Spraggan went to college to train to be a fire fighter, and has had a variety of jobs - a plumber's apprentice, a cave tour guide, and a magician.[29] She also worked in demolition and broke her leg when a cherry picker she was working on fell to the floor.[30]
Discography
Albums
| Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [31] |
UK Indie [32] |
IRE [33] | ||
| Top Room at the Zoo |
|
22 | 2 | 72 |
Singles
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [31] |
UK Indie [34] | |||
| 2012 | "Tea and Toast" | 135 | 11 | TBA |
Other charted songs
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [31] |
UK Indie [34] |
IRE [33] | |||
| 2012 | "Last Night" | 11 | 2 | 16 | Top Room at the Zoo |
| "Someone" | 137 | 16 | — | Local Talent | |
Music videos
| Year | Title | Director[35] | Funded by[9] |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2011 | "Dreamer" (Feat J-Mac) | Ollie Green & Daniel Entwistle | Live and Unsigned |
| 2012 | "Last Night" | Damien Reeves (Melmo Films) | Live and Unsigned |
References
- ^ "Manchester Pride Meets: Lucy Spraggan". Manchester Pride. November 1, 2011. Retrieved August 6, 2012.
- ^ a b c "Live and Unsigned winners, scores and results". Live and Unsigned. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
- ^ a b "Osfest 2012 Review". LoveMusicNews. LoveMusicNews. Retrieved September 4, 2012. Cite error: The named reference "spraggan osfest 2012" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
- ^ a b "An Interview with Lucy Spraggan". LoveMusicNews. Retrieved August 3, 2012.
- ^ "X-clusive! Lucy Spraggan - the first interview!". Maximum Pop!. August 27, 2012. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
- ^ "Osfest Find Live and Unsigned Beauties". Osfest. May 13, 2011. Retrieved August 27, 2012.
- ^ a b c d e "Lucy Spraggan Open Mic UK Guest Act Provides Unsigned Music Advice". Open Mic UK. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
- ^ a b "Lucy Spraggan's Twitter". Lucy Spraggan. Retrieved 2012-09-04.
- ^ a b c "Advertising Standards Authority ASA Investigation of Live and Unsigned". Live and Unsigned. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
- ^ Lucy Spraggan Last Night (Beer Fear) Official Music Video HD. Melmo Films. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
- ^ "Live and Unsigned investigated over prizes claims". BBC. March 23, 2012. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
- ^ "X Factor finalist Lucy Spraggan: Most of my songs are about the older woman I fell for in America". Now Magazine. Retrieved 5 October 2012.
- ^ "Free studio time free amps and festival slots for Live and Unsigned acts that competed in Camden London Results". Live and Unsigned. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
- ^ "The Summer Festival Season Has Been Taken By Storm By Live and Unsigned Alumni". Live and Unsigned. Live and Unsigned. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
- ^ "Cockermouth - Bar Stage". Cockermouth Rock Festival. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
- ^ "Live and Unsigned Alumni Play Summer Festivals". Music Radar. Retrieved September 4, 2012.
- ^ "X Factor star Lucy Spraggan scores second biggest selling track this week so far". The Official Charts Company (OCC). 28 August 2012. Retrieved 2012-08-28.
{{cite news}}: Italic or bold markup not allowed in:|publisher=(help) - ^ Published Wednesday, Aug 29 2012, 08:41 BST (August 29, 2012). "'X Factor' Lucy Spraggan's song taken off iTunes due to 'rule change' - X Factor News - Reality TV". Digital Spy. Retrieved September 6, 2012.
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link) CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link) - ^ Little Mix, Rita Ora lead midweek chart. Digital Spy
- ^ Little Mix’s Wings soaring towards Number 1. Official Charts Company
- ^ X Factor’s Lucy Spraggan bags Top 20 hit despite track being pulled. Official Charts Company. officialcharts.com/
- ^ 'X Factor': Tulisa requests Lucy Spraggan original song at Boot Camp - X Factor News - Reality TV - Digital Spy. digitalspy.co.uk/
- ^ Lucy's Bootcamp performance - Tea and Toast - The X Factor UK 2012. YouTube
- ^ http://www.entertainmentwise.com/news/93175/Lucy-Spraggan-Withdraws-From-The-X-Factor-I-Am-Gutted
- ^ http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/showbiz/tv/x_factor/4625359/Lucy-Spraggan-quits-X-Factor.html
- ^ http://www.digitalspy.co.uk/tv/s103/the-x-factor/news/a435432/lucy-spraggan-leaves-the-x-factor.html
- ^ Anstey Spraggan (April 9, 2011). "Proud to have a Gay daughter". The Guardian. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
- ^ Anstey Spraggan (May 22, 2010). "How to survive a stepfamily". The Guardian. Retrieved September 21, 2012.
- ^ "X Factor hopeful Lucy Spraggan too 'niche' for Tulisa at Judges Houses?". X-Factor UK. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
- ^ "The X Factor's Lucy Spraggan opens up about near-death experience". The Metro. Retrieved 30 September 2012.
- ^ a b c Peak positions in the United Kingdom:
- For all except where noted: "ChartArchive - Lucy Spraggan". ChartArchive. chartarchive.org/.
- For "Tea and Toast": "New Chart Entries > September 8, 2012". Zobbel.de. 2012-09-08.
- For "Someone": "New Chart Entries > October 6, 2012". Zobbel.de. 2012-10-06.
- ^ Peak positions for albums on the UK Indie Chart:
- For Top Room at the Zoo: "Chart Archive > 8 September 2012". Official Charts Company.
- ^ a b "Lucy Spraggan - Irish Charts". irish-charts.com/ Hung Medien.
- ^ a b Peak positions for singles on the UK Indie Chart:
- For "Last Night" & "Tea and Toast": "Chart Archive > 8 September 2012". Official Charts Company.
- For "Someone": "Chart Archive > 6 October 2012". Official Charts Company.
- ^ "Lucy Spraggan Last Night Music Video 2012". Melmo Films. Retrieved September 4, 2012.