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Amy Macdonald (born 25 August 1987 in Bishopbriggs, Scotland) is a Scottish singer and songwriter. Her debut album, This Is the Life, was released on 30 July 2007 and has sold more than 2.5 million copies. Her first single, "Poison Prince", was released on 7 May 2007. Macdonald started playing on stage acoustic gigs at 15.She has played at music festivals such as Glastonbury, Hyde Park Calling, T in the Park and the V Festival. Macdonald attended Bishopbriggs High School. She is a self-taught musician, playing her father's guitar after being inspired by Travis at the T in the Park Festival in 2000, where she heard Travis' song "Turn" and wanted to play it herself. She started playing in pubs and coffee houses around Glasgow at 15, including the Brunswick Cellars on Sauchiehall Street. Macdonald sent a demo CD in response to an advertisement placed in the NME by a new production company set up by songwriters Pete Wilkinson and Sarah Erasmus called Melodramatic Records. In an interview with HitQuarters, Wilkinson said he was "literally aghast" at her songwriting abilities when first he heard Macdonald play the songs 'This is the Life' and 'Mr Rock n Roll'. “ "I said, “Amy, who wrote those songs?” And she said, “I did.” I said, “No, you didn't,” giggling, hoping she really did. She said, “I bloody well did!” I told her she was extraordinarily talented, and the moment she sang those songs I remembered her voice and the hooks, which out of 500 [demos submitted] was a very good sign." ” — Pete Wilkinson Wilkinson then spent around eight or nine months recording demos with Amy at his home studio with a view to securing a record deal for his new client. In 2007, Macdonald signed a contract with Vertigo. Macdonald received her first major press coverage when she questioned whether the 2007 winner of The X Factor, Leon Jackson, was suffering from tonsillitis, referring to it as "lazyitis". Macdonald had tonsillitis at the same time but still performed at Glasgow and at the BBC's Hogmanay Live show the same night. In 2007, Macdonald released her debut album, titled This Is the Life. The album became the UK's #1 album for 1 week and sold 3 million copies. The album debuted at #2 in the UK in its first week but then fell to 4 and then to 6 in its third week. The first single from the album, "Poison Prince", was only a limited release. The second single, "Mr. Rock and Roll", became Macdonald's first top 40 song charting at #12 in the United Kingdom. However the third single, "L.A.", missed the top 40 at #48, but managed #5 in the Scottish singles chart. The fourth and most successful single, "This Is the Life", charted at #28 in the UK, but was #1 in five other European countries. The single was awarded Platinum in Germany and Belgium and Gold in Spain and Switzerland. The fifth single, "Run", gave Macdonald her second lowest chart position in the UK at #75. However, "Run" charted at #36 in Germany. The sixth and final single was the re-release of "Poison Prince", but charted at #148 in the UK, Macdonald's lowest chart position. The album's track "Youth of Today" was chosen as the the first single featured on Bebo/iTunes' "Free Single of the Week" program. She appeared as a musical performing guest on British and foreign shows including The Album Chart Show, Loose Women, Friday Night Project, Taratata (France), and This Morning. She won the best newcomer award at the Silver Clef awards. Macdonald started working on her second album in 2009. According to her Twitter she was writing for the album and she had recorded some bedroom demos. She said "Some of the sounds are just amazing and we've managed to persuade one of my favourite artists to whack some stuff down on them, but you'll have to wait and see." The second album, titled A Curious Thing, was released on 8 March 2010. It was preceded by the release of the first single, "Don't Tell Me That It's Over", a week earlier on 1 March 2010. The single was released to UK radio on 11 January. Amy performed the new single on the Simon Mayo Show on BBC radio 2 on the same day. "Don't Tell Me That It's Over" has been released to radio in countries like UK, Switzerland, Germany and France. Reviewers have described Macdonald as softly spoken but with a booming singing voice. Despite her Scottish origins, her singing voice is described as partly Irish and similar to Dolores O'Riordan of The Cranberries. Her vocal range is contralto. Macdonald cites Travis as her biggest influence. Other influences include The Killers and Pete Doherty. She won Best Newcomer at the 2008 Tartan Clef Awards and Best Newcomer at the 2008 Silver Clef Awards Macdonald performed, along with U2, at the German 2009 Echo Awards, where she won an award in the category "Best International Female". She also won Best International Album and Best International Song at the 2009 Swiss Music Awards. In December 2008 Macdonald was voted "Scottish person of the year" by The Daily Record

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