Nadeah
THE SHORT STORY
“I like all kinds of music - rock, folk, hip hop, new wave, country, psychedelic, electro, classical. I don’t see why artists should limit themselves to one style. We are of the playlist-making, Spotify-wielding, shuffle-friendly generation so, as artists, we’re very fortunate to be creating in the present climate.
As for me, I’d be bored senseless if I had to play 20 versions of pretty much the same song every night. I’m a punk at heart. I have zero desire to be locked into anything be it a marriage, a country or a genre. Freedom of expression is what music is about. If you aren’t free to experiment because your label want a repeat of your last album, what’s the point? Having said that, I’m a sucker for a pop melody.”
Renowned for her genre-hopping irreverence and mesmerising stage presence, the Melbourne born, Paris bred songstress, Nadéah Miranda, has supported artists as diverse as Tame Impala, Nick Cave, Mick Jones (The Clash), Fun Lovin’ Criminals, James, The Do, Damian Rice, Yodelice and Charlie Winston and shared the bill with artists such as Franz Ferdinand, Keane, Kelis, Funkadelic, Snow Patrol and Lily Allen.
She’s also worked with various acclaimed producers including Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey, Bat for Lashes), Marc Collin (Nouvelle Vague), Tommy D (Catatonia, Right Said Fred) and Grammy nominated classical composer, Nicola Tescari, as well as Alice Ivy.
THE BACK STORY
After losing her passport (and return ticket) on a train from London to Paris, a very teenage Nadéah began busking outside cafés in order to make enough money to buy herself a new passport and ticket back to the UK where she had been living.
By chance she played in front of a small bar in St Germain, Bar du Marché, where French guitarist, Art Menuteau was sitting enjoying the autumnal afternoon rays. He tipped her a euro and invited her to record some tracks at his home studio. That week they wrote five songs together, including two, Magic Fairy Butterfly and On and On, that fans request to this day. The pair pressed up some CD demos (yes, this was a long time ago) and sent them via snail mail to the UK and having received label interest, Nadéah and Art moved to Brighton, England, to live the great rock ’n’ roll dream. They signed to a major label (Island/Universal) but, finding the hit machine mentality counter to their experimental natures, Nadéah and Art parted ways with the label and founded the alt rock independent band, The loveGods.
The live shows were electric. Word of mouth travelled quickly as The loveGods began to sell out venues throughout the UK. They were hailed Radio 1’s Best Unsigned Band and the Sunday Times’ Next Big thing. They played Glastonbury twice, supported Nick Cave, Fun Lovin’ Criminals and James and released two albums before Nadéah was banned from the UK due to immigration complications.
The songwriter returned to Paris where she met ‘French Touch’ producer Marc Collin who invited her to sing on his project, Hollywood Mon Amour. After seeing her perform live he then asked her to front Nouvelle Vague, replacing rockabilly punk queen Phoebe Killdeer (of Fade Out Line acclaim) and "chanteuse extraordinaire" Camille. Nadéah co-fronted the band with Mèlanie Pain for three years, performing again at Glastonbury Festival, as well as Henry Fonda Theatre (Los Angeles), Irving Plaza (NYC) and London’s iconic Royal Albert Hall. She appeared on four of Nouvelle Vague’s albums before going solo and releasing her own - Venus Gets Even (2011), While the Heart Beats (2016), MilkTeeth (2019) Vite in Fuga (2020), Nadeah and Beki - Dreambitches EP (2020) and the 17 track While the Heart Beats - Double Vinyl (includes the live John Peel Session recording of STAND and Lives on the Run, the theme tune which she penned for the 2020 prime time Italian Series, Vite in Fuga).
Stylistically, Nadéah is influenced by her musical partnerships and geographical whereabouts: in Brighton, UK, it was alt rock. In Paris, after a chance meeting with classical conductor Nicola Tescari, she embraced a jazz quasi classical feel, resulting in the eclecticism that is Venus Gets Even. She then moved to Los Angeles, heralding a return to her rock roots with While the Heart Beats (Rob Ellis (PJ Harvey, Bat for Lashes) and Nouvelle Vague co-founder Marc Collin) before returning to her adopted home, Paris, to complete the electro-orchestral album, Milkteeth and later, Vite in Fuga, with Nicola Tescari.
Nadéah is currently residing between multiple sonic hemispheres - minimalist Bauhaus Electro, with her electro side project, Christian Holiday Camp, a country/Mongolian folk get up with virtuoso guitarist Mathias Duplessy and a solo Misery Pop album written as a result of being held hostage by the Australian government for 18 months solid. It’s a covid thing, nothing personal.
Someday this will end but in the meantime Nadéah livestreams shows to her audience all around the planet. She played more than 200 live-stream shows in 2020 as part of the Lockdown Lounge Room Tour and hopes to have made the world a better place by doing so.