So I've said that I'll post biographies. So here's the first one about a English singer I really like but who is not very known: Bo Bruce!
All you need to know about Bo Bruce :
I knew her thanks to The Voice UK. Indeed, she participated of the first season of the Voice UK in 2012.
At the beginning, I didn’t really notice her. She is very reserved and insecure. For her audition, not the four coaches turned around, only Danny O’Donoghue and Will.i.am and it was pretty short. But, even with her discreet personality she was picked to go through the live shows on team Danny.
I really began to be interested in her at her first performance on the live show where she sang “Running Up That Hill” by Kate Bush. That performance was absolutely fantastic and moving. After that, she quickly became one of the public favorite. Always being voted to the next round; always receiving standing ovation and many compliments from the coaches. However, she didn’t win but was a runner-up to Leanne Mitchell.
Then, I learned about her mother. During the filming of The Voice, Bo’s mother was very ill with a pancreatic cancer. Bo was spending her time during rehearsals and her mother’s bedside at the hospital. I found that the way she managed to never looked defeated and kept on fighting while her mother was dying very courageous of her. I don’t know if I would have had this strength. Bo’s mother died on July 4th 2012. At least, she lived long enough to see her daughter accomplished her dreams. The song “Running up That Hill” was dedicated to her.
As you can guess, “Bo” is not her real name. Indeed, her real name is Lady Catherine Anna Brudenell-Bruce. And she is she is the youngest child of the Earl of Cardigan. But, as she said in various interviews, Bo doesn’t want to be judge because of her title or her aristocratic background. As we can see, she never uses it and always tries to tell people that she wasn’t born with a silver spoon in her mouth and has to struggle to pay her bills like anybody else. She wants to be noticed by her voice, not her name, that why she make herself called Bo Bruce. And that is how I noticed her in the first place.
After The Voice, Bo began working on her album “Before I Sleep” which came out in April 2013. Her singles “Save Me” and “Alive” are two meaningful song beautifully written as well as the other ones on her album such as “Holding The Lights” and “The Hands I Hold”, at least, I think so. “Before I Sleep” made it to the top 10 on the UK Album Chart. Further to it, she run several gigs and a tour around UK. Bo also teams up with various artists like Snow Patrol and collaborated with Gareth Emery in 2014 in the singles “U” and “Still With Me” for which she has been named “Number 1 Tune of The Year 2014”.
At a personal level, Bo is estranged from her father, David Brudenell-Bruce, since the separation of her parents about ten years ago. During her time on The Voice, her father threatened her by telling nasty stories about her to the papers. In exchange, she was granted a restraining order against him.
Regarding her relationship with her coach, Danny O’Donoghue, Bo told in several interviews that they were really close and he supported her while her mother was dying. But whatever they had or could have has been destroyed by the pressure of the press on them. Moreover, Danny would have apparently told the media that she was enjoying the attention because he wanted her single to go well. Bo, having to deal with number of things after the show, did not appreciate it at all while he was supposed to support her. That pressure prevented them to go together to a Coldplay concert. Fortunately, that night, she met Coldplay’s agent and he expressed an interest in working with her. This lucky encounter with him and then the member of Snow Patrol allowed her to start writing her album and be signed to their publishing company. They also became friends and people who helped her getting through her mother’s death.
In addition to her beautiful voice and amazing songs, I admire Bo because of her incomparable strength. She has been through so much, dealing with drugs and alcohols while she was still in school and the loss of someone dear. After the show, between the making of her album and all the interviews, she had to go to treatment center in Arizona for exhaustion. And even with all of that, she is still standing there with an album who made to the top ten of the UK chart and a life which is beginning to get better as she has been made the godmother of her best friend’s baby.
So, if you didn’t know her before, I suggest you to go check out her songs. For me, Bo is a incredibly strong woman who saw the perversity of life but keeps her head high and puts her heart in her songs.
