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Beth Hart UK Tour Dates Announced

Following her outstanding performance at London’s BluesFest at the Royal Albert Hall in October 2014, Grammy nominated singer-songwriter, Beth Hart will embark on a 7-date UK tour in May 2015. Sultry blues, jazzy influences, rocking tunes and touching ballads; Beth Hart does it all!

Tickets went on sale on Friday 12th December via the 24 hour ticket box office: 0844 871 8819, and can be booked from www.alt-tickets.co.uk/beth-hart-tickets.

Dates include Bristol Colston Hall (Friday 1 May), Liverpool Philharmonic Hall (Sunday 3 May), Glasgow o2 ABC (Wednesday 6 May), London Barbican (Friday 8 May), Leeds O2 Academy (Saturday 9 May), Cambridge Corn Exchange (Monday 11 May), and Nottingham Rock City (Wednesday 13 November)

If Hart’s back catalogue is eclectic, her formative tastes were even more so, taking in jazz, rock, blues, gospel and grunge. “Billie Holiday and Ella Fitzgerald: I’m fascinated by them,” she says, “But then when I heard Robert Plant and Chris Cornell, I couldn’t get over their power. But then, Rickie Lee Jones and James Taylor, their voices were so lovely and soft…”

Beth paid her dues with an acoustic guitar around LA. Her big break came in 1993, when a $50 bet with a friend led her onto a TV talent show.“ And I won,” she grins. “I won a lot of money, over $100,000. Instead of being happy the night I won, I went into total depression, I was so afraid of the pressure. But boy, I took that money. I lived in a basement, and my piano was full of roaches, so I got new furniture, moved into a great apartment. I was on cloud nine. I did a lot of drugs. I spent that money in less than six months.”

Signed to Atlantic Records, Beth worked with top producers on 1996’s "Immortal," and scored international hits with cuts like "Am I The One," but today, she contends it was on 1999’s "Screamin’ For My Supper" – home to the smash-hit "LA Song (Out Of This Town)" – that she found her voice. “If I could have my way,” she says, “I’d love it if people bought my new album and 'Screamin’ For My Supper' simultaneously, because I think that record is where I became a real writer.”

But again, pressure clipped her wings. A heady cocktail of drugs and Beth’s unmedicated bipolar disorder ensured that her Atlantic deal went sour. “I went into five different hospitals that year, not including rehabs,” she says. “It was so bad that I remember talking to my psychologist and he said, ‘I don’t think you can handle being in this business…’”

Around the turn of the millennium, Beth ditched her “drug of choice” (Klonopin), drove to Vegas, got married and never looked back. Though her feet stayed on the ground, the musical highs returned. In 2003, she shot back with third album, "Leave The Light On," In 2005, her popularity on the continent was thrillingly bottled by the "Live At Paradiso," release from Amsterdam. In 2007, "37 Days," gave Beth the European hit "Good As It Gets", and in 2010, ‘"My California," found her singing with new sensitivity about deeply personal themes, in particular the loss of her beloved sister, Sharon, on "Sister Heroine,"

While the buzz grew, that voice had caught some famous ears, and to date, Beth counts some of rock’s most iconic guitarists among her collaborators. Her earliest A-list hook-up was alongside British veteran Jeff Beck (“I didn’t know a guitar could sound that way”), while she enjoyed fizzing chemistry with ex-Guns N’ Roses legend Slash, who guested on "Sister Heroine," and co-wrote "Mother Maria," for the "Download To Donate For Haiti," charity album.

It was a chance meeting with blues star Joe Bonamassa in a hotel lobby that changed her trajectory, resulting in an invitation to sing on the Kevin Shirley-produced soul-rock covers album that became 2011’s "hit Don’t Explain,".

With cuts like "‘I’ll Take Care Of You," hijacking BBC Radio 2’s playlists in the UK, "Don’t Explain," proved to be Hart’s tipping-point and the perfect springboard for solo album, "Bang Bang Boom Boom"’.

"Seesaw," reunited Beth and Joe for a second album of choice covers from various musical eras. As with their first outing, "Don’t Explain," the project was in collaboration with producer Kevin Shirley (Led Zeppelin, Aerosmith, Black Crowes). Each of the three principals suggested and selected tracks for the 11-song set list, which mines soulful classics previously made famous by Aretha Franklin, Etta James, Billie Holiday, Donnie Hathaway, Lucinda Williams, Buddy Miles, Tina Turner, Slackwax, Melody Gardot, and Nina Simone.

For the album "Seesaw,", Beth Hart and Joe Bonamassa received a Grammy nomination in the category: Best Blues Album. Beth Hart was also nominated for a Blues Music Award in the category: Best Contemporary Female Blues Artist.

Beth Hart is currently working on a new solo album which is set to be released early 2015, followed by her world tour.
Words SIMON REDLEY