IT'S BRANDI AWARENESS

US singer aims to widen appeal

- By Casey Cooper-Fiske

BEGINNING her career in the early 2000s, Brandi Carlile is a familiar name to US music fans - having scored 11 Grammy Awards after receiving nods for 28 and achieving five top 10 albums in her home country.

But on these shores, the 44-year-old has largely maintained a cult following, having had just one charting album in the UK, 2008's The Story which reached No58, until last year everything changed.

The Washington-born singer first teamed up with her greatest inspiration, Elton John, in April 2025 to release the collaborative album Who Believes In Angels? which went straight to No1 in the UK albums chart on its release and hit No33 in Ireland.

Carlile followed the collaborative release with a solo album titled Returning To Myself, released in October, which became her highest charting solo album in the UK, reaching No30.

Now she will be performing at a range of venues including Dublin's 3Arena, London's The 02 and Glasgow's OVO Hydro as she embarks on The Human Tour, which will run from February to November.