Biography

Mae Olivia Bradbury is a 20-year-old unsigned singer/songwriter from the village of Eckington in Worcester. Her main genre is folk but she does include other genres in her repertoire. One of her biggest achievements so far was receiving an invitation to attend the Young Folk Awards Weekend in Kendal, Cumbria after placing in the top 10 of the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards.

Mae has been singing and performing all her life but has only recently started writing her own individual work after picking up the guitar just two years ago. She now gigs regularly across the Worcestershire area gaining more fans each time and becoming even more confident and knowledgeable about the music industry.

Music runs in her family and she has been very lucky to have such supportive parents. She began by posting covers of songs on her YouTube channel and she has been uploading songs for nearly two years. Mae’s YouTube channel can be seen as very successful due to it reaching 23,000 video views and 151 subscribers worldwide.

Her first song ‘Little Birds’ became very popular within her, at the time, small fan base and since then, she has been writing new material whenever she gets the chance. A lot of her songs feature scenes of the beach and the countryside with lyrics matching these scenes by being idyllic and calming. Although a lot of her work is about heartbreak, close friends and family commented that she is bursting with energy, is well loved and always smiling. Mae hopes to bring out some new material, which mirrors her bubbly personality when releasing a new EP in the future.

In September 2011, Mae attended Birmingham City University and started an art foundation course. She was unsure of what she wanted to pursue career-wise, and if she could make music her career. She spent the year working hard and making a lot of new friends but missed the enjoyment her music gave her. Therefore, after finishing her foundation course with a well-deserved high grade, she took a year out to work on her music and figure out what to do with her future.

She spent the year working full-time in tearooms and pubs across Worcestershire whilst gigging in local venues. It was also in this year out that she achieved a place in the top 10 for the 2013 BBC Radio 2 Young Folk Awards. Thousands of young musicians between the ages of 16 and 20 apply for the chance to win the grand prize, which includes gigs at some of the top UK festivals, a BBC radio recording session and more. The nominees are chosen by a panel of between 100 to 150 music industry representatives, including broadcasters, journalists, festival organisers, record company directors, agents and promoters. Out of the thousands that applied, Mae secured a place in the top 10 and attended a weekend full of master classes and sessions by famous tutors John Spiers and Jackie Oates. Although Mae did not progress to the top 4, she commented that: “It was an honour just to have got to the top 10 and the experience was a prize in itself.”

After a year out soul searching, she finally decided on applying for a university course at Bath Spa, Commercial Music. She chose this course because she knew that she could spend her time doing something she loved and still get a degree out of it. Mae is looking forward to starting in September 2013 and making new memories.