Fiona Cox is a singer/songwriter with a gorgeous voice, a poetic, off-the-beaten-track songwriting style and a hairstyle of which your Grandmother would approve. Born in Berkshire, England, Fiona came of age in California in the dawning years of the 21st Century. Aged eighteen, Fiona moved to Los Angeles, alone, and took to the Hollywood music scene, playing frequent acoustic shows in Sunset Strip venues such as the Rainbow Bar and Grill and the Whiskey a Go Go. Taking full advantage of her location while studying in the area, Fiona collaborated with local musicians, songwriting and pairing up with musical friends for some of her live shows.
“I just consider myself lucky to have had these opportunities at such a young age,” Fiona says, “I didn’t follow the accepted route for girls from my school – ‘A’ Levels straight to University – I went off to California for six weeks and came back three and a half years later with photographs from Las Vegas, Arizona and New York and stories of celebrity spotting at Starbucks and rock–sliding in Sedona. I feel absolutely blessed to have lived and played so much in Los Angeles, which, as an entertainment town, is overflowing with new music. It feels like everyone is recording or touring or gigging constantly; it’s amazing to be even a small part of that. Almost all my friends there are musicians; you’re never short of a second guitar or someone to do harmonies. It was only when I came home that I realised it doesn’t sound so common or cliché or even level-headed to say “I’m a musician” as if it were actually some kind of real job or career aspiration. But I think that having been there and seen that you can make a valid career of music has shown me that it can be a wonderful, rewarding choice to make. I’m writing music, and on stage is a place where I feel happy and comfortable, so I want to be out there giving my songs and my self a venue.”
Fiona is a strong storyteller, writing songs everybody can relate to about love and break ups - about life going right, and life going very wrong.
Fiona relates her work to musicians such as Joni Mitchell and Joan Baez: “I feel as though a song is worthless if I’m not really saying anything. If you listen to songs of Mitchell’s like Carey or This Flight Tonight, there are whole stories going on. I love Joan Baez’s version of Mary Hamilton; I don’t think you can get any more story in a song than that. I listen to albums intensely,” she expands, “I’ll play the same few albums for two years so it needs to be something that throws a new meaning at me every time I listen. For a long time it was almost nothing but Liz Phair’s Exile in Guyville, Sun Kil Moon’s Ghosts of the Great Highway, and Joanna Newsom’s The Milk Eyed Mender. Newsom’s song writing is so complex – I have to research most of her lyrics! She plays a harp but not in any way you’d traditionally expect; that’s what makes her so interesting - you can listen carelessly for sheer enjoyment or carefully for the poetry of her language and her melodies, which can be both jarring and beautiful. And that’s what I think all great musicians have achieved. Should achieve. That’s my aim. Beautiful poetry of language and melody.”
Fiona is currently working towards a Doctorate in Film and Television Studies at the University of Warwick.
