Laura Marling Biography

Laura Marling is a British folk singer-songwriter and musician who initially found success online and attracted big label attention.

Early Life

Laura Beatrice Marling was born in Berkshire, England on 1 February 1990, the youngest of three girls. Her father was in charge of a recording studio and helped Laura shape and create her as a music artist.

Career Beginnings

At only 16 she started putting her songs on her MySpace page. Accompanied by a husky voice and a guitar she soon found an audience in England. Marling began touring and performing in high profile gigs. An independent release, her first EP My Manic and I was released in 2007. Later on, she was signed to Virgin Records and released her debut LP Alas I Cannot Swim. I Speak Because I Can her, her second album, debuted at number 3 on the U.K. albums.

Success

Laura was nominated for the prestigious Mercury Music Prize and headed for an American holiday tour in 2012. Once I Was an Eagle her third project was nominated for a Mercury Prize yet again. Marling moved permanently to the US in Los Angeles as her continuous touring was beginning to overwhelm her. In 2014, she returned to London and started recording her fifth record, Short Movie issued in 2015. Marling was slowly starting to shift her musical direction from folk to a darker folk rock and the addition of an electric guitar. Such was the case with the Semper Femina production. The album arrived in 2017, under her own label More Alarming.

Photo credit: The Music