KT Tunstall

  • Fife, Scotland
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  • 2000
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About KT Tunstall

Official Site: http://kttunstall.com/ | @kttunstall | facebook.com/kttunstall


Born in 1975, Scottish singer/songwriter KT Tunstall -- not short for anything, the KT is just an alternate spelling of Katie -- comes from the quaint university town of St. Andrews. Due in part by being adopted at birth, her imagination and creative side flourished from early on as she thought about how her life could have gone in any given direction. As she was growing up, her physicist father would take Tunstall and her brothers into the St. Andrews observatory to look at the sky, thus fueling her youthful love for space and sci-fi. It wasn't until discovering hair metal through a brother that music really did start to become important to her, and when it did, her affection for spacy things was reflected in her favorite album, David Bowie's Hunky Dory.

Tunstall picked up playing piano and flute at a young age, learned to sing by listening to Ella Fitzgerald, and began writing her own songs in her mid-teens. At 16, she taught herself the guitar and continued to hone her writing skills with sentimental love songs. A scholarship to the Kent School, a private prep school in Connecticut, brought her experiences outside of St. Andrews and Scotland. She formed her first band there, the Happy Campers, and enjoyed seeing shows by 10,000 Maniacs and the Grateful Dead. Next came a music course at London's Royal Holloway College, before heading back home and immersing herself in the local grassroots scene that birthed bands like the Fence Collective and the Beta Band. Around this time, KT was also listening to a lot of Billie Holiday, Lou Reed, and James Brown, among others, and soon formed a group with the Fence Collective's Pip Dylan.

Fast forward a few years. KT returned to London and began writing more songs, many of which would appear on her subsequent album. She entered a backwoods Wiltshire studio with minimal instruments in tow and Steve Osborne (U2, New Order) at the controls. The end result was her glossy debut, Eye to the Telescope, released in the U.K. in January 2005 on Relentless. Highlighting her soulful voice, sassy attitude, and earthy songwriting approach, comparisons to Dido, Fiona Apple, and Kate Melua soon sparked. Following the record's release, Tunstall hit all over Europe, including shows supporting Joss Stone and singing with Oi Va Voi. Feeling an acoustic guitar was sometimes too limiting, her live show incorporated the use of an Akai Headrush foot pedal that allowed her to spot-record multiple times (loop each section continuously), thus turning Tunstall into her own one-woman backup band.

Early 2006 continued to be bright for Tunstall as Telescope was released in the United States that February, and she won Best British Female Solo Artist at the Brits. Meanwhile, her first single, "Black Horse & the Cherry Tree," continued to do very well on American adult alternative radio. KT Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza was issued that fall; it included acoustic tracks (both new and old) recorded the previous Christmas along with a bonus making-of DVD. In 2007 Tunstall returned to the scene with her poppier Drastic Fantastic. Three years later, Tunstall recorded her third album, Tiger Suit, at Berlin's Hansa studio, the same place where David Bowie recorded Heroes. The album appeared in the fall of 2010. ~ Corey Apar, Rovi

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Music

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  • Feel It All
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    Video
    Feel It All
  • Black Horse & The Cherry Tree (Pop Up Video)
    kt-tunstall
    Video
    Black Horse & The Cherry Tree (Pop Up Video)
  • Suddenly I See (Live)
    kt-tunstall
    Video
    Suddenly I See (Live)
  • Suddenly I See (Live)
    kt-tunstall
    Video
    Suddenly I See (Live)
  • Suddenly I See (V-FEST Concert 2007)
    kt-tunstall
    Video
    Suddenly I See (V-FEST Concert 2007)
  • If Only (Domestic)
    kt-tunstall
    Video
    If Only (Domestic)
  • Hold On
    kt-tunstall
    Video
    Hold On
  • Other Side of the World
    kt-tunstall
    Video
    Other Side of the World
  • Suddenly I See
    kt-tunstall
    Video
    Suddenly I See
  • Black Horse and the Cherry Tree
    kt-tunstall
    Video
    Black Horse and the Cherry Tree

Interviews & Exclusives

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  • Take 2: K.T. Tunstall "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"
    kt-tunstall
    video
    Take 2: K.T. Tunstall "Black Horse and the Cherry Tree"

Photos

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  • KT Tunstall performs during the 2008 Virgin Mobile Festival at Pimlico Race Course on August 9, 2008 in Baltimore.
    KT Tunstall
    KT Tunstall performs during the 2008 Virgin Mobile Festival at Pimlico Race Course on August 9, 2008 in Baltimore.
    C Flanigan/Getty Images
  • KT Tunstall performs during the 2008 Virgin Mobile Festival at Pimlico Race Course on August 9, 2008 in Baltimore.
    KT Tunstall
    KT Tunstall performs during the 2008 Virgin Mobile Festival at Pimlico Race Course on August 9, 2008 in Baltimore.
    C Flanigan/Getty Images
  • KT Tunstall arrives at the Brit Awards 2008 at Earls Court on February 20, 2008 in London, England.
    KT Tunstall
    KT Tunstall arrives at the Brit Awards 2008 at Earls Court on February 20, 2008 in London, England.
    Getty Images
  • KT Tunstall arrives at the Brit Awards 2008 at Earls Court on February 20, 2008 in London, England.
    KT Tunstall
    KT Tunstall arrives at the Brit Awards 2008 at Earls Court on February 20, 2008 in London, England.
    Getty Images
  • KT Tunstall performs during the Nobel Peace Prize Concert at Oslo Spektrum on December 11, 2007 in Oslo, Norway. The concert is designed to salute the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize laureates for their acheivements and promote awareness of environmental issues an
    KT Tunstall
    KT Tunstall performs during the Nobel Peace Prize Concert at Oslo Spektrum on December 11, 2007 in Oslo, Norway. The concert is designed to salute the 2007 Nobel Peace Prize laureates for their acheivements and promote awareness of environmental issues an
    Chris Jackson/Getty Images
  • Musician KT Tunstall performs onstage during Live Earth New York at Giants Stadium on July 7, 2007 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
    KT Tunstall
    Musician KT Tunstall performs onstage during Live Earth New York at Giants Stadium on July 7, 2007 in East Rutherford, New Jersey.
    Mat Szwajkos/Getty Images
  • K.T. Tunstall performs at Barnes & Noble March 2, 2006 in New York City.
    KT Tunstall
    K.T. Tunstall performs at Barnes & Noble March 2, 2006 in New York City.
    Scott Gries/Getty Images
  • Musician KT Tunstall arrives at the EMI/Capitol Records Grammy party held at Boulevard3 on February 11, 2007 in Hollywood, California.
    KT Tunstall
    Musician KT Tunstall arrives at the EMI/Capitol Records Grammy party held at Boulevard3 on February 11, 2007 in Hollywood, California.
    Marsaili McGrath/Getty Images
  • Singer KT Tunstall
    KT Tunstall
    Singer KT Tunstall
    Frazer Harrison/Getty Images
  • KT Tunstall
    Courtesy of Virgin Records

News

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  • KT Tunstall
    KT Tunstall Shows Off Claws on 'Tiger Suit' - Billboard Underground | Billboard.com
    www.billboard.com
    At a recent media showcase in London, KT Tunstall offered an unusual description of the songs from her forthcoming third album: "Like Eddie Cochran wo...
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Tour Dates

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  • Jun 17 Monday
    Leeds, UK Varieties Music Hall
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  • Jun 19 Wednesday
    Glasgow, UK Òran Mór
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  • Jun 20 Thursday
    London, UK Islington Assembly Hall
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  • Jun 21 Friday
    Dublin, Ireland Pepper Canister Church
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  • Jun 26 Wednesday
    Shepton Mallet, UK Worthy Farm
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  • Jun 27 Thursday
    Leamington Spa, UK The Assembly
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  • Jul 17 Wednesday
    Salisbury, UK Larmer Tree Gardens
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  • Jul 19 Friday
    Macclesfield, UK Gawsworth Hall
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  • Jul 20 Saturday
    Nottingham, UK Wollaton Park
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  • Aug 30 Friday
    Oxfordshire, UK Unknown venue
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Discography

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  • Have Yourself a Very KT Christmas (2010)
    KT Tunstall
    Have Yourself a Very KT Christmas (2010)
    EMM
  • Tiger Suit (2010)
    KT Tunstall
    Tiger Suit (2010)
    Virgin
  • Drastic Fantastic (2007)
    KT Tunstall
    Drastic Fantastic (2007)
    Toshiba EMI
  • KT Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza (2006)
    KT Tunstall
    KT Tunstall's Acoustic Extravaganza (2006)
    Virgin
  • Eye to the Telescope (2006)
    KT Tunstall
    Eye to the Telescope (2006)
    Virgin/Relentless/EMI
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