To describe London-based singer-songwriter Roxanne de Bastion as a pioneering DIY artist does little justice to the hefty list of accomplishments and accolades she’s assembled in her very busy life. Her entrepreneurial spirit has been evident since she moved from her native Berlin to London aged 19 to pursue a career in music. Over 600 shows later, after a self-released debut album (2017’s Heirlooms and Hearsay), tours with Martha Wainwright, Lambchop and Marillion and performances at Glastonbury and Cambridge Folk festival, 2021 saw the release of her second album You & Me, We Are The Same. The album was produced by the legendary Bernard Butler, who jumped at the chance to work with Roxanne after she had simply emailed him a demo. As Bernard says “some cold calls turn into beautiful projects… I think we created something emotional and special”.
The album, in which Roxanne deals with the loss of her British musician father, was distributed via Republic of Music in 2021. This independent release landed in the official UK album download charts at no.76 and was discovered by Iggy Pop, who made Roxanne the featured artist on his BBC6 Music radio show. The album also received airplay on BBC6 (Steve Lamacq and Chris Hawkins), BBC Wales (the late Janice Long), Absolute Radio (Daniel Perry), BBC Radio London (Gary Crowley) and garnered great reviews and features in The Observer, NME, Record Collector, Rolling Stone Magazine (DE), Yorkshire Post and Under The Radar. Her track Erase was remixed by The Anchoress.
Roxanne’s career has been built on a true DIY spirit. During the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Roxanne was the first artist to embark on a virtual UK tour in lockdown, performing virtually on the social media pages of promoters and venues across the country. The tour was featured on BBC News, Metro and Huffington Post. Her incredible run of over 600 gigs to date include two DIY tours of America (she procured a US agent and an 01 VISA after showcasing at Folk Alliance, which she was able to attend thanks to the PRSF International Fund). She self-published a tour diary book Tales From the Rails (2018), which was launched with a sold-out show at London’s Lexington. Roxanne was voted onto the Featured Artist Coalition (FAC) Board of Directors, where she remains a valued board member. She was also voted onto PPL’s Performer Board, and is also an advocate for Imogen Heap’s Creative Passport. Roxanne created her own music conference (FM2U) specifically from and for independent artists. Last year, she was featured on Sky News and LBC Radio talking about the difficulties artists have endured since the pandemic.
Last year, Roxanne was invited to open for Nerina Pallot and Bernard Butler, and went on her own headline tour across the UK in June of this year. Roxanne was asked to be the sole performer at UK Music’s Summer Party at the Southbank Centre in July. She’s just returned from a tour opening for Katie Melua across Germany and in October will open for Howard Jones across the UK. Roxanne also hosts a weekly show on north London station Boogaloo Radio, the Monday Morning Shake-up.
Featured in episode 10 of Discover Her Music Podcast
Song: I Remember Everything
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