Biography
Julie Fowlis is a multi-award winning singer who is deeply influenced by her early upbringing in the Outer Hebridean island of North Uist. Primarily singing in Scottish Gaelic, and with a career spanning five studio albums and numerous high profile collaborations, her 'crystalline' and 'intoxicating' vocals have enchanted audiences around the world.
Nominated as 'Folk Singer of the Year' at the 2018 BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards, and 'Best Artist' at the Songlines World Music Awards, Julie is a warm and engaging live performer who has graced stages around the world, from village halls in the Highlands to stages in New York, The Philharmonie de Paris and Shakespeare's Globe in London. Recent invitations to perform have included a return to world-class Festival of Voice in Cardiff, the World Festival of Sacred Music in Fez, Morocco, to collaborate with the BBC Concert Orchestra in the Royal Albert Hall for the Proms and to support Scottish icons 'Runrig' to an audience of 50,000 during their farewell concert weekend in August 2018.
She sang live at the closing ceremony of the Ryder Cup in Chicago in 2012 to a TV audience of 500 million, an event that was only eclipsed by singing live at the opening ceremony of the Glasgow XX Commonwealth Games in 2014, to a TV audience of over 1 billion people.
Since of the release of her otherworldly album 'alterum' in 2017, she has been in demand - touring with the world-class Transatlantic Sessions, sell-out shows in London and throughout the UK, and she continues to work on the development of a major 14-18NOW commission with Highland musician Duncan Chisholm, which commemorated 100 years since the 'Iolaire' tragedy, after World War 1.
She will forever be recognised for singing the theme songs to 'Brave', Disney Pixar's Oscar, Golden Globe and BAFTA winning animated film, set in the ancient highlands of Scotland. The track was recorded when Julie was eight months pregnant with her second child, and has since been a worldwide smash hit, and the song 'Touch the Sky' was indeed long listed for an Oscar nomination in 2013.
Julie has been nominated and won several BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards and Scottish Traditional Music Awards. She also made history as the first Gaelic solo artist to win a Scottish Music Award in December 2014.
An artist with a genuine curiosity to explore other traditions and natural ability to cross genres, Julie has collaborated, recorded and performed with artists such as violin virtuoso Nicola Benedetti, and acclaimed singers Aled Jones, Grammy-Award winning James Taylor and Mary Chapin Carpenter. Her passion for folk culture, song and music is exemplified in her exciting collaborations with musicians from around the world, most recently including Grammy Award winners Rodrigo y Gabriela.
Over the last ten years, Julie has also become a sought-after and successful presenter on radio and television, on BBC ALBA, BBC Radio 2, and 4, BBC Radio Scotland, BBC Scotland TV, SKY ARTS HD and TG4 in Ireland.
A quiet torchbearer for her native tradition, Julie still finds time to deepen her knowledge of Highland and Gaelic culture, tradition and history through continued research and academic projects. In addition to her two degrees (a BA Honours in Applied Music and an MA in Material Culture & The Environment), she was also awarded an Honorary Doctorate of Music by Robert Gordon University in Aberdeen.
TV and Radio biography Over the last ten years Julie has become a sought after presenter for television and radio, equally at home speaking Gaelic or English. She presents the BBC Radio 2 Folk Awards with friend and acclaimed broadcaster Mark Radcliffe, which were held again in the Royal Albert Hall, London in April 2017, plus she fronts the award-wining music series 'Port', now in it's fourth series, which is broadcast throughout the UK and Ireland on BBC ALBA and TG4 with co-presenter Muireann Nic Amhlaoibh. She also curated, performs and presents 'Julie Fowlis: Ceòl aig Baile', a unique music series, recorded during the COVID19 lockdown.
She has presented TV coverage from international festivals such as Celtic Connections, Festival Interceltique de Lorient and Piping Live, and her voice has been heard presenting radio shows on BBC Radio 2, 4 and BBC Radio Scotland discussing varying subjects such as the Plygian singing tradition in Wales, the music of Bob Dylan or archival recordings of Gaelic music in Scotland.
Julie has also been invited to narrate programmes on diverse and sometimes difficult subjects such as the documentary 'Tèarman/Home from Home' (2016) which explores the work of the CHAS (Children's Hospice Association of Scotland); or the documentary 'Ceòl Chaluim' (2015) which followed a family's journey to create a book of music composed by piper Calum Campbell, the eldest of an Hebridean family who lost their lives in an island tragedy.
With a natural interest in sport, the outdoors and highland life in particular, she voiced the Gaelic version of the innovative nature series 'Hebrides on the Edge', which was narrated in English by Ewan MacGregor.
