Maria Lawson的容貌并不出众,但她却有一个被上帝吻过的嗓音。Maria Lawson 30岁才开始起步出专辑,正如她说的:“时间能将一个女人的声音变得完美。”的确,经过了时间的积淀,Maria Lawson的声音里有着一个成熟女人的魅力,饱含深情且不矫作。Maria Lawson以她成熟的声音,表达着真实的情感,于是使音乐旋律变得更加动人。Maria Lawson 现在是英国超红的女星,这也许来得有点晚,在她的新专辑的封面,Maria Lawson仰望的眼神,是在怀念那些已经逝去的年轻的岁月,还是表达着梦想终于成真时的感伤? Maria Lawson 来自一个满是女艺术家的优秀的家庭,这些女艺术家们好强、不妥协、而且正直诚实。当Maria 30岁的时候才开始起步出专辑的时候,她却对此无一点悔恨。“时间能将一个女人的声音变得完美”,Maria 说,那些被Maria 称为给她人生带来最大的影响的女艺术家们,在Maria 看来有着超越舞动的身体和涂着闪光口红的嘴唇的力量,“TinaTuner, Cher, Whitney, Gabrielle, 你能从她们的声音中感受到饱经岁月的洗礼,和很多真实感人的东西。”
by Jon O'Brien
A session singer for many years, Maria Lawson is best known for being on the receiving end of one pop reality TV's most controversial eliminations. Born in London in 1975, Lawson began singing at an early age. Influenced by the likes of Mariah Carey, Whitney Houston, and Tina Turner, she was discovered by Active Music Management who soon landed her a deal with President Records. Her first single, a cover of Shalamar's "A Night to Remember," was chosen as the music for a Gala Bingo TV advert but failed to chart. After fronting the short-lived Skye, a band managed by her husband Lawrence Garry, she signed a publishing deal with Parr Music in 2002 and performed on hit singles by Gabrielle and Lemar. In 2004, she auditioned for the first series of ITV's The X Factor, a talent search contest open to all ages, but failed to make it past the boot camp stages. However, a year later she reached the live finals and main judge Simon Cowell admitted he'd been wrong to initially reject her. Under Sharon Osboune's mentorship, she soon became the hotly tipped favorite to win the show thanks to a passionate performance of Janis Joplin's "Piece of My Heart" and a soulful interpretation of James Blunt's "You're Beautiful." However, after a poor choice of song in week five, the Rolling Stones' "Brown Sugar," she was controversially knocked out of the competition. Finding herself in the bottom two, judge Louis Walsh instead chose Irish act the Conway Sisters, personal friends of his, to progress to the next round, an act which resulted in accusations of favoritism and calls for Walsh to be sacked. In 2006, Lawson signed a deal with the Phonogenic branch of Sony BMG Records, having been pursued by four other major labels. Her first single, "Sleepwalking," became a big airplay hit on Radio 2 and reached number 20 in the charts. But her self-titled debut album, written by the likes of Diane Warren, Steve Kipner, and Andrew Frampton, failed to reach the Top 40. In 2008, she started work on her second album, Emotional Rollercoaster, with Grammy Award-winning producer Brian Rawling, and finished writing her first self-help/autobiography Life Starts Now.