Caroline Trettine spent the early years of her life in Nigeria. She began composing songs seriously while still at school. Moving to Bristol to study English, she joined a folk-rock band and was discovered by Gerard Langley, who invited her to join the 'Blue Aeroplanes'. She sang and played guitar with Gerard, Nick Jacobs, John Langley (Strangelove), Angelo Bruschini (Massive Attack) and Dave Chapman, in a series of poetry-art-rock performances. She then left the Aeroplanes to pursue a solo career in London. Securing a contract with Billy Bragg and Pete Jenner's Utility label, she recorded the 'Be A Devil' album in 1990 at the Cathouse studios of Grant Showbiz (producer of Billy Bragg, The Smiths and The Fall). Successful tours with Bragg and Christy Moore, and appearances on regional and national BBC radio were met with critical acclaim. 'Like [Sandy] Denny, Trettine hovers over great melancholy with an almost detached air that only cuts closer to the quick. To be worthy of such a comparison this early on is no mean feat.' **** (Martin Aston, Q Magazine, 1990). In the intervening years Caroline continued to record material, experimenting with different styles and working with a range of collaborators. Though an acoustic artist, she worked closely with hip hop in the early 1990s. She cites her major influences as Portishead, Laurie Anderson, Nina Simone, Mark Knopfler, Chrissie Hynde, Leonard Cohen, Bert Jansch, Joni Mitchell and Paul Simon. In 2001, she released her second album, 'Ten Light Years'. It was recorded and produced by Richard Bell (Blue Aeroplanes) at Evensong's studio. A number of musicians worked on the album, including multi-instrumentalist Ian Kearey (Oyster Band, and Blue Aeroplanes); bass player Dave Chapman and guitarist Nick Jacobs (both ex Blue Aeroplanes); her father Laurence Halcrow on concertina; and her brother Ian Halcrow on vocals; plus featured producer - Gerard Langley (Blue Aeroplanes). In 2005, Caroline released her third album, 'Trail in the sky' on Oporto Records. It was well received - e.g. 4 stars **** in 'Uncut' (January 2006). Caroline was then invited by Spencer Roberts to join 'The Winnebago Orchestra' with whom she made two CDs - 'Fifteen' and 'Born in the sun' - on the German label, Tuition Records, in 2006 and 2008. At the same time, Caroline started up her own band 'Mirabeau' with Richard Price (a novelist and poet) and Ian Kearey to put poetry to music. They played two introductory gigs at the Edinburgh Festival and The Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow, before releasing their first album 'Golden Key' in May 2011 - http://www.mirabeauproject.com/. They are currently working on a follow-up album to develop their guitar-poetry sound. Since 2004 Caroline has written a number of solo chamber musicals, two of which - 'The Silver machine, 'Learning to walk' - she performed at the London fringe theatre, 'The Rosemary Branch', in 2007 and 2009. Caroline has also begun writing classical pieces: a string quartet - 'My mother's war' - in 2010 and a guitar quartet - 'The Love bridge'. Both can be viewed on the youtube site - www.youtube.com/trettine. Later this year, there will be the launch of her new album - 'Tears' - and new song and theatre performances are planned. Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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