Katie Melua

About Katie Melua

Ketevan "Katie" Melua (Georgian: ქეთევან "ქეთი" მელუა, English pronunciation of surname IPA: ['mɛlu:ə] listen (help·info); born 16 September 1984) is a Georgian-British singer, songwriter and musician. She was born in the Georgian SSR, but moved to Northern Ireland at the age of eight and then relocated to England at the age of 14. Melua is signed to the small Dramatico record label, under the management of songwriter Mike Batt, and made her musical debut in 2003. In 2006, she was the United Kingdom's biggest-selling female artist and Europe's highest selling European female artist.

In November 2003, at the age of 19, Melua released her first album, Call off the Search, which reached the top of the United Kingdom album charts and sold 1.8 million copies in its first five months of release. Her second album, Piece by Piece, was released in September 2005 and to date has gone platinum four times. Melua released her third studio album Pictures in October 2007, which has been announced to be the last of her albums in collaboration with Mike Batt. According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2008, Melua has a fortune of £18 million, making her the seventh richest British musician under thirty.

Ketevan Melua, known as Ketino (Georgian: ქეთინო) to her family,[10] was born in Georgia in 1984, then part of the Soviet Union, either in Kutaisi[11] or in Tbilisi[12], where she spent her first years with her grandparents. Later she moved with her parents and brother to the town of Batumi, Ajaria where her father worked as a heart specialist.[13] During this time Melua sometimes had to carry buckets of water up five flights of stairs to her family's flat[14][15] and according to her, "Now, when I'm staying in luxurious hotels, I think back to those days..."[12]