Becki Biggins is a Grammy nominated singer and songwriter and has won the 2009 American Billboard 'Best Smooth Jazz Artist' Award with Paul Hardcastle, and the 'Best Newcomer' Award at the 2008 Marlborough International Jazz Festival.
She is currently working on a number of projects, including writing new material for her fifth commercial album, performing across Europe and successfully working with corporations to provide music to their businesses. How exciting! Read on...
Her many fans include:
Sir Michael Parkinson, CBE: 'Becki Biggins. Great lass. Great singer.'
Lawrence Dallaglio, OBE: 'Becki is a star. I know that, and pretty soon everyone else will too.'
Laurie Holloway (MD Parkinson/Strictly Come Dancing): 'Becki is a rare talent these days. She sings only quality material… She is also very beautiful.'
Fru Hazlitt (ITV - Managing Director of Commercial and Online): 'Becki Biggins is a unique and wonderful new talent. She is both a singer and a songwriter with the ability to create and deliver music from jazz through to pop with beauty, grace and style. She has a rare and magical quality and I have no doubt that she will be a huge star.'
Becki began performing at an early age; singing The Shoop Shoop Song, she and her brother Dan (on backing vocals) won second prize in a talent show whilst on holiday in Devon. They were obviously robbed! Still, this sparked an interest in singing and, during the next few years, Becki won the Daily Telegraph's Young Jazz Competition and consequently appeared on TV shows including The Big Breakfast, Gimme 5 and Blue Peter. She was also touring extensively throughout the UK, Europe and the United States.
More recently, Becki has had three number one albums in the U.S. Smooth Jazz Chart, with writer and producer Paul Hardcastle (19, The Wizard). Hardcastle V, released in 2008, remained at the top of the charts for an incredible 59 weeks, and peaked at number one for a total of 8 weeks. Not content with being the sole vocalist on the album, her thorough musical grounding (including a BA in Jazz Studies) ensured she was well equipped to co-write four of the tracks. The pair's second album, Jazzmasters VI, earned them further number one spots in the US Smooth Jazz, iTunes and Amazon jazz charts, as well as holding a place in the Billboard Jazz Top 20 for many weeks. They were also nominated for two further Smooth Jazz Awards in 2010.
The duo have just had their third consecutive no. 1 with Hardcastle VI, which remained at the top of the Smooth Jazz Chart for five weeks.
After a successful debut solo album, Becki's second independent jazz album, The +Ve, was recorded in November 2009. It features the talents of both the legendary Musical Director Laurie Holloway and undoubtedly the best young pianist and arranger in the UK today, Malcolm Edmonstone. The album, a collection of original arrangements of jazz standards and pop classics, was officially released on April 30th 2010 at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho and is available now on iTunes.
Performances in the past 18 months include sold-out gigs at Pizza Express Jazz Club, Soho, private events such as 8Rocks, the launch of the Dallaglio Foundation, debuts at London's 606 and Pheasantry clubs, and festivals including the Marlborough International Jazz Festival.
Perhaps most excitingly, Becki recently had one of her childhood dreams come true, when she was introduced onstage by Sir Michael Parkinson. Cries of "He said my name!" could be heard for miles...
November 2011