Jake Bugg

Jake Bugg (born Jake Edwin Charles Kennedy; 28 February 1994) is an English musician, singer, and songwriter. His self-titled debut album, some of which was co-written with songwriter Iain Archer, was released in October 2012 and reached number one on the UK Albums Chart. His second album, Shangri La, was released in November 2013 and his third, largely self-produced album On My One in June 2016.
His 2012 single "Trouble Town" is the theme for the BBC TV series Happy Valley broadcast in 2014 and 2016.

Early life

Jake Bugg was born in Nottingham to musical parents, who separated when he was young. His father, whose last name was Bugg, was a nurse, and his mother worked in sales, both having previously made recordings. He grew up in the Clifton council estate of Nottingham and started playing guitar at the age of 12 after being introduced to the instrument by his uncle Mark. He attended Farnborough school technology college in Clifton. He also states that his formative musical moment was hearing Don McLean's "Vincent (Starry, Starry Night)" on an episode of The Simpsons. His main influences are Don McLean, Oasis, Donovan, The Beatles, Jimi Hendrix, Johnny Cash, and the Everly Brothers. In an interview with Absolute Radio in 2014 he also mentioned that the American heavy metal band Metallica was a huge influence to him when he first picked up the guitar as a 12-year-old. He was enrolled in a music technology course, but by the age of 16 he had dropped out and was writing and performing his own songs.

Career

2011: Beginnings

Bugg was selected to perform on the "BBC Introducing" stage at the 2011 Glastonbury Festival at age 17 after submitting material to their website, and subsequently signed to Mercury Records. His songs were then placed on various BBC Radio playlists, with "Country Song" being used in a national TV beer commercial for Greene King IPA.

2012: Jake Bugg

Bugg's self-titled debut album was released on 15 October 2012. Talking about Bugg and his debut, Clash hailed the "precocious talent fusing retro folk with blistering contemporary rock riffs". On 21 October 2012 the song "Two Fingers" charted at 28 in the UK while the album reached number one in the UK charts. The album has sold 604,100 copies in the United Kingdom and is the 57th best selling album of the 2010 decade. Bugg's touring band drummer Jack Atherton and bassist Tom 'Robbo' Robertson performed on five songs on the album.

On 22 May 2012, Bugg appeared on the BBC music programme Later... with Jools Holland. In August 2012 Bugg was a supporting act for Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds at Belsonic Music Festival, Belfast. On 1 October 2012, he performed live on the BBC Radio 6 Music programme Live at Maida Vale.

2013: Shangri La

Bugg had been in Malibu working with Rick Rubin and Iain Archer, and had had some interactions with Chad Smith from the Red Hot Chili Peppers, working on the drums to some of his songs, including the single "Broken". On 8 September 2013, Jake Bugg tweeted the following "2nd album done! Hope you're all well!" On 23 September 2013, Bugg announced his new album, Shangri La, along with a new single, "What Doesn't Kill You". Shangri La was released on 18 November 2013. This album is named after the studio Bugg recorded it in. Shangri La includes Elvis Costello's drummer Pete Thomas, and Chad Smith of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. The album has generally received positive reviews from the music community. Bugg was one of five nominees for the 2013 Brit Award for "British Breakthrough Act", which was voted on by BBC Radio 1 listeners. The award was won by Ben Howard.

On 28 June, Bugg performed an afternoon set on the Pyramid Stage at the 2013 Glastonbury Festival, making him the first artist that has moved from the BBC Introducing Stage to the Main Pyramid stage in successive years.

On 12 July, Bugg played the Radio 1 Stage at T in the Park. On 20 July, Bugg headlined at the Splendour festival in Nottingham. On 2 August, Bugg performed at the Osheaga Festival in the Parc Jean-Drapeau, Montreal, Quebec. On 23–25 August, Bugg performed at the Reading and Leeds Festival on the Radio 1/NME stage. On 13 October, Bugg performed at the Fonda Theatre in Hollywood, California.

The song "Me and You" was featured in the credits of the movie "Dumb and Dumber To".

2014–present: On My One

In a 2014 interview with Mr. Wavvy, Bugg announced that he had begun work on a new studio album. On whether or not it would be released in 2014, Bugg stated "That's the beauty of making records, you just never know when it's gonna be ready. I didn't think this second album's gonna be as ready as soon as it was but it just so happened." He did not specify whether or not he would be working with Rubin again, only that he is currently in the songwriting process. In July 2014, Jake Bugg revealed he had already started working on his third studio album. That same month, he was also at the River Stage at Ottawa Bluesfest and performed at Paléo Festival near the Lake Geneva in Switzerland. His music was also featured in the movie The Fault in Our Stars. On the 5 October 2014, at Cardiff, he played for the first time two new songs: "Down the Avenue" and "Hold on You". A new song, "Feel What's Good", was in the soundtrack of The Giver. Speaking with NME in early 2015, Jake said that he was working on his third album, of which "the content of the songs was much darker" than earlier work. On the 16 February 2016 he released for free a new song: "On My One". On 25 February his new single "Gimme the Love" debuted on BBC Radio 1. Bugg also talked about the forthcoming album On My One, announcing its release for June. On 26 February he announced the album would be released on 17 June. He also shared the track list and revealed the artwork. In May 2016 a number of tour dates, in London and Nottingham, for June, were announced.

His 2012 single "Trouble Town" was used as the theme for the BBC TV series Happy Valley broadcast in 2014 and 2016.

Discography

Studio albums

• Jake Bugg (2012)
• Shangri La (2013)
• On My One (2016)

Television appearances

Awards and nominations