Eliza Carthy

Eliza Carthy Bio

Eliza Carthy (August 23, 1975) is an English folk singer who is known for her vocals and fiddle playing. Known to be the daughter of folk icons Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson, Carthy began to sing and play the fiddle at the age of 13 with aunt Lal Waterson and cousin Marry Waterson in a band called Waterdaughters. Building her own reputation, she played as a fiddle duo with Nancy Kerr releasing an album titled ‘Eliza Carthy and Nancy Kerr’. In 1994, Eliza Carthy, along with her parents and family members formed folk group Waterson-Carthy. Waterson-Carthy’s self titled debut came in 1994 followed by their 1995 released ‘Shape of Scrape’ along with Nancy Kerr. By 1996, Eliza released her solo album titled ‘Heat, Light and Sound’ which displayed her strength as a solo folk artist. Along with performing with Waterson-Carthy and another band King of Calicut, Eliza was able to still work on her solo career and released her breakthrough album, ‘Red Rice’ in 1998 and was nominated for a Mercury Music Prize. Her next third solo album, ‘Anglicana’ arrived in 2003 which also received a Mercy Prize nomination and received three Radio 3 Folk Awards for Folk Song of the Year, Best Album and Best Traditional Track for ‘Worcester City’ featured on ‘Anglicana’. Eliza has also worked with big folk names such as Blue Murder, Richard Thompson and Hal Willner among many others. Releasing more solo albums such as ‘Dreams of Breathing Underwater’ and a sequel to her 2000 album, ‘Angels and Cigarettes’, Eliza teamed up with her mother to perform as a duo for one album titled ‘Gift’. By 2016, Eliza teamed up with the Wayward Band and issued an jazz and rock infused album titled ‘Eliza Cathy and the Wayward Band: Big Machine’ in 2017. Her most recent work, ‘Restitute’ was released in 2019 and is still active in touring today. Eliza Carthy has over 20 collaborations throughout her career and was the first traditional English musician to be nominated for a BBC Radio 3 Award for Award for World Music.