Katie Melua

Katie Melua was born in Georgia (in the former USSR) in 1984. The family moved to Belfast, where her heart surgeon father was offered a post, when she was eight. The family lived in Belfast for five years before moving to London. Her singing career took off after she graduated from the Brit School for Performing Arts and teamed up with composer and producer Mike Batt. Her first hit single, in 2003, was ‘The Closest Thing To Crazy’. Her two albums, ‘Call Off the Search’ and ‘Piece by Piece’ have sold a total of more than 5 million albums worldwide and she has won numerous music awards.

"I’ve got a ticket to the fast city, where the bells don’t really ring, getting off the plane the cold air rushes like bullets through my brain. And I’m divided between penguins and cats, but it’s not about what animal you’ve got, it’s about being able to fly it’s about dying nine times. Walked on Broadway, going up to Falls, where the old man I used to know, the paintings on the walls of release are colourful but they are no Matisse. And I’m divided between penguins and cats, but it’s not about what animal you’ve got, it’s about being able to fly it’s about dying nine times."

“Belfast (Penguins and Cats)” 2003

I moved to Belfast when I was eight and my first school was St Catherine’s Primary School on the Falls Road. It was my first Western school after moving from Georgia in the USSR. When I was 11, I went to the Dominican College in FortWilliam, where I stayed for three years and completed my Key Stage Three. I made great friends at both schools.

We lived in a tower block on the Broadway Road, near the Royal Victoria Hospital. I love the people of Belfast, they are so warm and kind. It is a great place and it inspired me to write one of my first songs, called ‘Penguins And Cats’. I recently went back there to see some friends of mine and we went to Café Vaudeville, which is a really funky, cool place to chill with friends.