Laura Beatrice Marling is a British folk singer-songwriter and musician from Eversley, Hampshire. She was born on February 1st, 1990 and she learned guitar in a few years. Her father operated a recording studio which kept her around musicians and music since she began to walk.
After completing her pre-college education, she settled in the outskirts of London. She soon joined a cluster of intertwined bands that were drawn to acoustic instruments and tradition-tinged melodies–the group formed a musical movement that was labelled “nu-folk” by the British press.
Marling was 16 years old when she emerged on the British indie scene in 2007 thanks to a handful of infectious singles made available on her MySpace profile.
Marling’s debut album Alas, I Cannot Swim (which also came as part of a multimedia Songbox package), her second album I Speak Because I Can, and her fourth album Once I Was an Eagle were each nominated for the Mercury Music Prize in 2008, 2010, and 2013, respectively. She won the Brit Award for Best British Female Solo Artist at the 2011 Brit Awards, and was nominated for the same award at the 2012, 2014 and 2016 Brit Awards.
You can never tell specifics about what relationships contribute to a singer’s songwriting. The young Marling dated Noah and the Whale singer/guitarist Charlie Fink briefly in 2008 and dated Marcus Mumford of Mumford and Sons until late 2010. In 2013 Marling moved to Silver Lake in Los Angeles before relocating back to London in December 2014.
Interviewed by the London newspaper The Telegraph, in September 2013, Marling explained: “I am a solitary person but I love people, I’m not a misanthrope. I like the idea of speaking only when it’s strictly necessary. The closest I ever feel to people is in shared experience. I’m still exploring that, I don’t know where it’s going to lead me.”
Semper Femina, her sixth LP, was co-produced by Blake Mills and released in early 2017 on Marling’s own More Alarming label. The album featured a darker, smokier vibe than her previous efforts.
Discography:
Alas, I Cannot Swim (2008)
I Speak Because I Can (2010)
A Creature I Don’t Know (2011)
Once I Was an Eagle (2013)
Short Movie (2015)
Semper Femina (2017)
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