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The Herald Scotland
19-07-2025
- Entertainment
- The Herald Scotland
Rianne Downey's journey from Bellshill to Glastonbury
'I want to do them justice, and be respectful of the crowd coming to watch, because these songs mean a lot to them.' They mean a lot of Rianne Downey now, too. It was a video posted to social media during the first year of the Covid lockdown which ultimately sprung the 'wee lassie from Bellshill' (words: artist's own) from her bedroom to the Pyramid stage at Glastonbury, performing to a worldwide audience of millions. Downey's is not the first story of a Bellshill girl who blew up in the music industry. Like Sheena Easton, she has also teamed up with a bona-fide pop legend. But where Easton traded girl-next-door Big Time wholesomeness to join Prince's Over 18s party, Downey has forged an alliance with a man who has written some of the biggest British hits of the last 40 years, and whose stage outfit is a cagoule. Paul Heaton has long had a female vocalist at his side as one of the most prolific and highly respected songwriters of his generation, with the likes of The Beautiful South and The Housemartins. When long term collaborator Jacquie Abbott withdrew from their future plans, opportunity knocked for a girl in Lanarkshire. 'I'd uploaded a cover of Rotterdam in October 2020 and Paul had commented on it. I remember at the time being absolutely buzzing, running downstairs to tell my mum and dad,' said Downey, of the moment that changed her life, and that of her joiner dad and cafe worker mum. 'Three years later I got a phone call when I was walking back from the pub one afternoon, asking me if I was available to come and join him.' Downey raced home to record some voice notes of the Beautiful South standards Perfect 10, Don't Marry Her and You Keep It All In. (Image: GT) 'They got back later that same day to say, 'Right let's have you on, and see how it goes from there'. But even before the first gig he asked me to stay on for the summer, then before the end of the summer he asked me to sing on his new album and whether I'd like to join him on the Pyramid Stage.' And so it was that Rianne Downey ascended the throne alongside the King of witty northern pop, following Brianna Corrigan, Alison Wheeler and Abbott, the latter having formed a chart-topping duo with her former Beautiful South bandmate until she withdrew (Heaton has since said Abbott took time out to care for her child who has autism). In a whirlwind few weeks in the summer of 2023, Downey's career experienced G-force. 'I'd been doing my solo stuff before then. I was dead chuffed with how it was going,' she said. 'I'd supported Gerry Cinnamon at the Barras, Paolo Nutini at the Cavern in Liverpool. The last gig I played before joining Paul was a solo headliner at King Tut's. It was a bit of a jump going from 300 at Tuts to 30,000 at Neighbourhood festival. 'I'll never forget the feeling before I stepped on stage at the first gig with Paul. I knew nothing was going to be the same again. My life has transformed since that gig. I'm in my happy place when I perform, and when I stepped out there with Paul it just felt like home.' How does it feel to follow in the footsteps of the other women? 'Paul's very pernickety, he liked to get things right, and does things at such a high standard that I know he wouldn't just pick anybody. So it's nice to know how much he would have believed in me to bring me on.' Downey freely admits she's had to study Heaton's back catalogue, and her co-singer's ways, which she calls 'Heatonisms - the way he pronounces things, the rhythm he sings in.' She said: 'It didn't feel like it took too much work in the rehearsal room, it all clicked. Paul was telling me to keep my eyes on him when singing, and that helps, you notice each other's mouths, each other's breathing. Each gig we have played, the chemistry has got better. You can rehearse and rehearse but the chemistry grows when you're doing gigs.' She's on tour around the UK with Heaton this summer and will headline Belladrum Tartan Heart Festival later in the summer, before launching her debut LP, The Consequence of Love, in October. The album showcases her country leanings, and a knack of getting to the heart of a song's emotional punch, much like Heaton has for 40 years. The title track is a reaction to the living grief of her grandmother's dementia. 'I went into the studio with a bottle of prosecco, a packet of fags and a fish supper,' she said. 'I don't even smoke. Then you step back and realise you've put your trauma into your guitar, onto a bit of paper and you feel better. 'I've always done my solo stuff, but my priority is Paul and that comes first.' she said. 'I'm so lucky that's what I get to call my job now. Everything else is a bonus. It's not even like I can say it's a dream come true. It's so far beyond my dreams.'
Glasgow Times
13-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Glasgow Times
Singer who performs with music legend does solo show at TRNSMT
But Rianne Downey took the full spotlight at the King Tut's stage at the festival today, and rightly so, her voice is incredible and perfect for her country pop sound. While we love her co-singer stage duties for Beautiful South legend Paul Heaton, it was great to see Glasgow give a big cheer for the Bellshill-raised star. She said with a smile: 'Hello Glasgow! It's so good to be home. Here we go!' READ NEXT: Singer of huge Scottish band draws crowd for solo TRNSMT show READ NEXT: I saw Jake Bugg at TRNSMT - he should have been on the Main Stage (Image: Rianne Downey plays TRNSMT's Kings Tut's stage.) (Image: Rianne Downey plays TRNSMT's Kings Tut's stage.) (Image: Rianne Downey plays TRNSMT's Kings Tut's stage.) The 2024 single Lost in Blue quickly followed before she did an incredible cover of Scottish anthem Will Ye Go Lassie Go, a song made famous by The Corries. She then teased what to expect from her debut album The Consequence of Love as she performed The Song of Old Glencoe and Heart of Mine, she sounded magnificent. Reflecting on her career so far, she admitted: 'I used to busk just down the road from here and never once did I think I would on this stage. 'I don't live in Scotland anymore, but I'm making it my mission to come back.' Dougie Maclean's Caledonia then delighted the crowd before she finished off in style with the Beautiful South hit Rotterdam. She signed off: 'You're making a wee lassie from Bellshill's dream come true.'
Yahoo
11-07-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
The TRNSMT star who cut her teeth busking in Glasgow
When Rianne Downey headed off to America to record her debut album last year, she found herself working in a secluded studio near Seattle. "It was in the middle of a forest and I lived there the whole time I was there, so it was like I was living in a fairy tale," laughs the Lanarkshire singer. It is not the only fantastical moment in her career so far, as the 26-year-old has gone from busking on the streets of Glasgow to performing on Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage alongside ex-Beautiful South singer Paul Heaton. The former Housemartins vocalist praised Downey on social media in 2020 after she covered his band's song Rotterdam - and three years later he asked if she would be willing to sing with him on tour. More stories from Glasgow & West Scotland More stories from Scotland Since then she has toured across the country with him while also working on her own music. Her debut album is released in October, and before that she will perform at TRNSMT on Sunday afternoon. "I still don't think it has sunk in, to be honest", admits the singer, who is from Bellshill. "Sometimes I'll be walking down the shops or cooking my dinner, and it pops into my head what my job is now. It takes the breath away, it's such a dream come true. "As a musician you dream of getting to do this for a living, but you never fully believe you're going to get there." Downey started busking in her teens, was playing pubs as soon as she turned 18 and was quick to upload material to YouTube when the coronavirus pandemic struck in 2020. "My mum always says I could sing before I could speak," she recalls. "But none of my family are actually musical, other than my granny holding a tune. I don't really know where I got it from, but there was always music on around the house. "It's always been the way I express myself. I just love performing, whether it was forcing my granny to watch me sing or being up on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury - I'm happy with whatever I can get." That Glastonbury appearance came alongside Heaton, who approached her about joining him when his regular collaborator Jacqui Abbott had to step away from the band for health reasons. "I feel very lucky to have met people like Paul and Ryan Hadlock (producer of her album), who are gems in the industry," Downey said. "I'll always aim to be as kind and giving as they are, and hopefully as talented as they are too. Paul is an amazing role model and I couldn't ask for a better sort of mentor." Her country and folk-flavoured pop will be fully heard in the autumn, when she releases The Consequence of Love, the record she decamped to Bear Creek Studio in the USA to work on. Having spent most of 2024 touring with Paul Heaton and his band, both the album and this weekend's TRNSMT appearance will put her own material in the spotlight again. "It's definitely a coming of age album," she says. "It's the chance to tell where I came from and where I am now, as well as looking at friendships, relationships, my family and different things that happened on the way. "I've kind of grown up in front of people and it's the truest, most authentic version of me that's there in the songs." Downey believes that authentic nature comes from busking as a teenager - when she cut her teeth as a performer. While she stresses that most of her experiences were positive, it also taught her a lot about performing and winning over crowds. "That was me serving my apprenticeship," she said. "It's been great character building and it's given me such strength, because when you're stepping out onto the streets of Glasgow to busk there is no-one there to listen to you at first. "It helped build a thick skin but it also taught me about what crowds like and helped me hone in on my performance." Her busking years were before Glasgow City Council decided to implement a code for street performers that came into force last year. Downey is uncertain whether the changes will actually make any difference. She said: "There was always a sort of code anyway when I was doing it, so you knew to keep enough of a distance so everyone had a fair chance of being heard. "It's always a bit mad putting rules in for music though, so hopefully buskers don't have to worry about volume too much." Volume levels will be less of an issue at TRNSMT's King Tut's stage on Sunday. Downey's headline tour in the autumn will then wrap up back in Glasgow, at the Old Fruitmarket. Her profile is continuing to rise, which Downey says brings both praise and attention and abuse from internet trolls. "I still ruminate on negative comments but you realise a lot of the time it isn't personal," she says. "It just comes with the territory – in a way it's like you're doing something right. It's a horrible thing to deal with but it's about turning that into a positive." She has the same approach with her song-writing, which she says is a form of therapy for her. "Sometimes you sit down with your guitar and feel you don't have anything to write about, then within a few hours you've vocalised an emotion you didn't realise was eating away at you," she says. "Putting it out of your head and onto paper or into song can really take a load off, and it's so rewarding when people then respond to that and relate to it. "It's like knowing you're not alone – that's the beauty of music." TRNSMT 2025 - Line-up, weather and how to watch TRNSMT 2025: Full line-up and stage times for the weekend Paul Heaton buys drinks for fans attending TRNSMT
BBC News
10-07-2025
- Entertainment
- BBC News
Rianne Downey: Glasgow singer who has gone from busking to Glastonbury
When Rianne Downey headed off to America to record her debut album last year, she found herself working in a secluded studio near Seattle."It was in the middle of a forest and I lived there the whole time I was there, so it was like I was living in a fairy tale," laughs the Lanarkshire is not the only fantastical moment in her career so far, as the 26-year-old has gone from busking on the streets of Glasgow to performing on Glastonbury's Pyramid Stage alongside ex-Beautiful South singer Paul former Housemartins vocalist praised Downey on social media in 2020 after she covered his band's song Rotterdam - and three years later he asked if she would be willing to sing with him on tour. Since then she has toured across the country with him while also working on her own debut album is released in October, and before that she will perform at TRNSMT on Sunday afternoon."I still don't think it has sunk in, to be honest", admits the singer, who is from Bellshill. "Sometimes I'll be walking down the shops or cooking my dinner, and it pops into my head what my job is now. It takes the breath away, it's such a dream come true. "As a musician you dream of getting to do this for a living, but you never fully believe you're going to get there." Downey started busking in her teens, was playing pubs as soon as she turned 18 and was quick to upload material to YouTube when the coronavirus pandemic struck in 2020."My mum always says I could sing before I could speak," she recalls."But none of my family are actually musical, other than my granny holding a tune. I don't really know where I got it from, but there was always music on around the house."It's always been the way I express myself. I just love performing, whether it was forcing my granny to watch me sing or being up on the Pyramid Stage at Glastonbury - I'm happy with whatever I can get."That Glastonbury appearance came alongside Heaton, who approached her about joining him when his regular collaborator Jacqui Abbott had to step away from the band for health reasons."I feel very lucky to have met people like Paul and Ryan Hadlock (producer of her album), who are gems in the industry," Downey said."I'll always aim to be as kind and giving as they are, and hopefully as talented as they are too. Paul is an amazing role model and I couldn't ask for a better sort of mentor." Her country and folk-flavoured pop will be fully heard in the autumn, when she releases The Consequence of Love, the record she decamped to Bear Creek Studio in the USA to work spent most of 2024 touring with Paul Heaton and his band, both the album and this weekend's TRNSMT appearance will put her own material in the spotlight again."It's definitely a coming of age album," she says. "It's the chance to tell where I came from and where I am now, as well as looking at friendships, relationships, my family and different things that happened on the way. "I've kind of grown up in front of people and it's the truest, most authentic version of me that's there in the songs." Downey believes that authentic nature comes from busking as a teenager - when she cut her teeth as a she stresses that most of her experiences were positive, it also taught her a lot about performing and winning over crowds."That was me serving my apprenticeship," she said. "It's been great character building and it's given me such strength, because when you're stepping out onto the streets of Glasgow to busk there is no-one there to listen to you at first. "It helped build a thick skin but it also taught me about what crowds like and helped me hone in on my performance."Her busking years were before Glasgow City Council decided to implement a code for street performers that came into force last is uncertain whether the changes will actually make any difference. She said: "There was always a sort of code anyway when I was doing it, so you knew to keep enough of a distance so everyone had a fair chance of being heard. "It's always a bit mad putting rules in for music though, so hopefully buskers don't have to worry about volume too much." 'I ruminate on negative comments' Volume levels will be less of an issue at TRNSMT's King Tut's stage on headline tour in the autumn will then wrap up back in Glasgow, at the Old Fruitmarket. Her profile is continuing to rise, which Downey says brings both praise and attention and abuse from internet trolls."I still ruminate on negative comments but you realise a lot of the time it isn't personal," she says. "It just comes with the territory – in a way it's like you're doing something right. It's a horrible thing to deal with but it's about turning that into a positive."She has the same approach with her song-writing, which she says is a form of therapy for her."Sometimes you sit down with your guitar and feel you don't have anything to write about, then within a few hours you've vocalised an emotion you didn't realise was eating away at you," she says."Putting it out of your head and onto paper or into song can really take a load off, and it's so rewarding when people then respond to that and relate to it. "It's like knowing you're not alone – that's the beauty of music."
Sunday World
23-04-2025
- Entertainment
- Sunday World
Music icon Brianna Corrigan returns after a decade away from the limelight
Former Beautiful South singer Briana Corrigan reveals why the time is right for her comeback Briana Corrigan stepped out of the limelight for more than a decade It was her voice that washed over us on the Beautiful South's worldwide hit A Little Time, every bit as fresh as the day it was released in 1990. She spent four years with the band at a time when they were on the crest of a wave. In partnership with Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway, formerly of the Housemartins, they became one of the fastest selling bands on the circuit. 'It was a rollercoaster, that's for sure,' she said. Briana Corrigan stepped out of the limelight for more than a decade 'The Beautiful South happened so quickly, they had just come from the Housemartins and the cross over to the Beautiful South worked instantly and in a big way. 'I was so young — only 23. I now have son of 23 and he seems so young. It was magical in so many ways and very difficult in other ways. An amazing time.' Briana was speaking to the Sunday World ahead of two special shows later this month, one at the Seamus Heaney HomePlace in Bellaghy, Co. Derry, and then Fitzroy Presbyterian Church in Belfast. They mark a welcome return to the stage for Briana, who quit Beautiful South in 1992 to forge a successful solo career before taking a 10-year hiatus away from the public eye. 'It's great to be back. There is nothing like performing live. I've really enjoyed being back on stage playing all those songs and also some of my new work. 'Now that my kids have left [home], space opened up in my life and it was the natural thing to do.' Proud of her roots Not that she was idle during her decade way. She raised a family, wrote poetry, wrote for the theatre and established a company in the creative arts. Now she is reintroducing the voice once described as capable of 'melting icebergs at 50 paces'' to new audiences and a smattering of the old. 'I love the idea of playing in unusual venues. The Heaney Centre is a wonderful space and it means so much for me to perform there — his poetry is so important to me. 'And when the opportunity came up to play Fitzroy Church, I couldn't turn it down. We played in St Augustine's in Derry last year and it was brilliant. Churches have such amazing acoustics. 'If you sing, you'll know singing in church and sound it creates.' These unique shows come at the end of a hugely successful UK and Ireland tour across 2024 and into 2025 and she is planning a number of soon to be announced additional Irish gigs. With a new single — Apollo Junction — out now and new album of fresh material on the way, it has been a busy return. Born in Belfast but brought up on the north coast in Portstewart, she has been living in Dublin for some years but really only calls one place home. 'I don't get to the North as much as I'd like. I have a brother living in Derry so I make it up there quite a lot. I was born in Belfast but we moved to Portstewart when I was 10. 'I really miss Portstewart, but with my parents dead and the family home sold we don't have a reason to be there so much.' It's fitting that one of her shows is at Seamus Heaney HomePlace. 'Even to this day, every time we drive over the border I say to myself, 'ah now I'm home!' It never leaves you, that sense of home. 'And I do honestly believe Northern Ireland is one of the most beautiful places in the world. I see the countryside all around us and the north Antrim coast is unrivalled anywhere in the world.' She'll be accompanied on her homecoming by a guitarist and a cellist. Briana on stage with Paul Heaton (right) 'We'll be playing a lot of those great Beautiful South songs which have adapted really well to the cello. There'll be some quirky cover versions and a few old Celtic ballads.' Delighted that the songs have stood the test of time, particularly A Little Time, she said audiences have been a mix of old fans and new devotees. 'That has been a great for us because we love playing them and it shows just what great songs they are.' With her Beautiful South years and two best-selling solo albums under her belt, fans know what to expect — a rare opportunity to enjoy Beautiful South classics in the company of her own storytelling songs and her take on traditional Celtic music.
