With a family of country music fanatics it was almost inevitable that country music would be in her blood. At the age of just fourteen Carolynne joined and fronted Sundown, a five-piece Country band, going on to tour the country circuit in the UK. At eighteen she left her family home in Leeds, heading for London to pursue her career as a singer-songwriter. In 2000 she signed her first publishing contract with BMG and took the first step in her professional songwriting career.
During the next couple of years she spent time in Sweden, writing and perfecting her country rock/pop sound. As well as collaborating with some great songwriters she continued performing and touring with various artists such as Tony Christie and The Charlatans. This allowed Carolynne to develop her own style of performance, which would eventually catch the eyes and ears of Gary Barlow when she later appeared on X Factor live finals. Gary described Carolynne as “supremely talented” with a voice that “just oozes Country”.
After the X Factor, Carolynne knew she wanted to fulfil her dream as a songwriter and head to the heart and soul of country music; Nashville, Tennessee. During her five months spent in Arizona, Nashville and LA, she not only gigged her way around but had the opportunity to spend time in a Nashville studio with Grammy award-winning songwriter Jeff Silbar (Dolly Parton, Kenny Rodgers, Willie Nelson, Fleetwood Mac), who as well as penning songs for the country elite in Music City also wrote the award-winning hit ‘Wind Beneath My Wings’ .
Carolynne’s debut single I Love You But Shut Up was released in May 2015. The single attracted strong support from the mainstream and country media – with playlists and live sessions on BBC Radio 2, significant regional radio support, a TV appearance on C5’s The Wright Stuff – and publicity across national press and magazines, with the song peaking at #7 in the chart. Since then, Carolynne has been working on new material and playing live, including, to much acclaim, an appearance at London’s Country to Country (C2C) Festival at the O2 arena for the third consecutive year.
Take the Keys will be released via iTunes & Spotify on 19th August 2016. Carolynne will be performing at Live at Zedel on September 27th & 28th 2016.
