Singer-songwriter and actress Paloma is a force of nature and her dramatic looks and powerful voice are an intoxicating mix. Her debut album stayed within the top 40 album charts for over 40 weeks and she has been touring throughout last year. 

The inexorable rise of Paloma Faith took a sudden vault forward recently with the news that her debut single “Stone Cold Sober” had been brought forward a month because UK radio had leapt on it with such fervor that they quite literally couldn’t be stopped from playing it.

You can see it at any Paloma Faith live event. The stage is immaculately dressed by Paloma to reflect her highly tuned visual sensibility. She might emerge sporting a huge feather plume, a variation on the showgirl, but one who takes her influences from a vast knowledge of film and theatrical culture. An acute sense of dynamic and drama punctuate the show, enhancing songs that draw on musical influences as diverse as Billie Holiday, Etta James, P J Harvey and Edith Piaf. Yet this is no arcane performance – this is something that could easily touch huge crowds in stadiums, so universal are the songs.

Born in Hackney, London, Paloma Faith is half Spanish and half British. As an ex magician’s assistant, trained contemporary dancer, St Martin’s alumni with an MA in theatre direction, a performer in burlesque shows, and an actress, Paloma has been mixing artistic media throughout her short adult life. A few years ago she introduced music, her primary love, into the equation, at first mimicking the blues and soul singers she so admired, but eventually finding her own voice.

In March 2010, Paloma revealed that she was working on her second album. Almost two years later, she announced that it would be called Fall to Grace and was released in May 2012. It was preceded by the single "Picking Up the Pieces".