It’s a Red-Letter Day for multi-award-winning singer-songwriter Elles Bailey, whose latest album ‘Shining In The Half Light’ has just secured a place in the UK Top-20 album midweek charts, reaching #11: a remarkable achievement for a blues/rock grassroots Americana artist. In order to record and release this album, Elles has drawn on tenacity as well as talent. Not only was this album born out of a pandemic, but Elles recorded it while heavily pregnant. In her third trimester she developed a liver condition — Obstetric Cholestasis — she ended up in hospital yet continued to co-produce the album from her hospital bed. While in labour, she was still listening to mixes! Then, just two months after giving birth, Elles was back on the road and turning down a record deal, choosing instead to independently release the record. Never one to rest on her laurels and understanding the vinyl shortages, Elles had the foresight to submit her vinyl order for delivery in January 2022, despite the album not being finished. Yes, all from her hospital bed! “I am so proud of this grassroots journey I have been on and the story of this album,” says Elles.“It seemed mad to turn down the record deal I was offered, especially being a new mum with the schedule I had in front of me. But this record was my rain after a long drought; my oasis in the desert, made in lockdown whilst I was pregnant with my first child. I put every part of me into it and I just wasn’t ready to let it go. “I am so grateful to my incredible fan base for getting behind this album and believing in it. This mid-week chart listing is all because of them.”
To celebrate the launch of ‘Shining in the Half Light’, Elles will be performing at OMEARA (London) on Tuesday 8th March. This will be her only full band show this side of festival season.
