Amy MacDonald is a singer/songwriter, born in Glasgow on the 25th of August, 1987. She studied social sciences with an emphasis on geography at university and, like many teenagers, her days were spent dreaming of pilgrimages to music festivals such as T in the Park, where she would listen to other people's music. But at just 12 years old, listening to the songwriting skills of Francis Healy, she was inspired to pick up a guitar that had been left lying around the house from her father's pop group days, and taught herself to play by following "how to play guitar" advice on the Internet rather than taking structured lessons. With a desire to write songs as good as Travis had recorded at their peak, she began a journey that led to gigging around the local area, after having been spotted as standing out at school and performing with a community music group, Impact Arts, who visited the school to work with kids interested in music. The gigs featured simply MacDonald with her acoustic guitar on-stage and a set of cover versions, including "Everybody Hurts" and a slow version of "Mad World." This led to appearances in Starbucks coffeehouse locations in Glasgow and Edinburgh and on to bigger and better gigs, eventually including a mini-tour of Scotland performing with Travis (whom she had been a fan of since childhood) and fellow Scot Paolo Nutini, followed by appearances at the Glastonbury, T in the Park, and V music festivals. She secured a recording deal with Vertigo Records, part of Universal Music Group and home to the Killers and Razorlight, and issued two singles, "Poison Prince," a song about the tortured life of Pete Doherty offered as a limited online-only release, and "Mr. Rock & Roll," which finally broke her into the Top 20. MacDonald has also released a live version of the Killers' "Mr. Brightside," recorded at the King Tut in Glasgow. Her debut album, This Is the Life, was released at the end of July 2007, hitting number two on its first week in the charts. ~ Sharon Mawer, All Music GuideMore