Anna Calvi

Anna Margaret Michelle Calvi (born 24 September 1980) is an English singer-songwriter and guitarist. Her accolades include three Mercury Prize nominations, one Brit Award nomination, and a European Border Breakers Award. She has been noted by some critics as a virtuoso guitarist, as well as for her powerful, wide-ranging operatic contralto voice and sometimes androgynous stage appearance. Born to therapist parents in London, Calvi graduated from the University of Southampton with a degree in music, having studied violin. She subsequently worked as a private guitar instructor before embarking on a music career. She released her eponymous debut album in 2011 through Domino Records to critical acclaim, earning a Mercury Prize nomination for Album of the Year, a British Breakthrough Act nomination at the 2012 Brit Awards and a European Border Breakers Award. Her second album, One Breath, was released in 2013, earning her a second Mercury Prize nomination. She followed this in 2014 with the EP Strange Weather and subsequently wrote the music for a stage production of the opera The Sandman, directed by Robert Wilson. Calvi released her third full-length album, Hunter, in August 2018, earning her a third Mercury Prize nomination.