Gwenno Saunders

Saunders was born in Cardiff.{{cite web |url=http://sweepingthenation.blogspot.com/2006/07/friendly-chat-with-gwenno.html |title=Sweeping The Nation: A Friendly Chat With... Gwenno |website=Sweepingthenation.blogspot.com |date=7 July 2006 |access-date=13 August 2015 |archive-date=6 August 2021 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210806075448/http://sweepingthenation.blogspot.com/2006/07/friendly-chat-with-gwenno.html |url-status=live }} She is the daughter of Cornish poet and linguist Tim Saunders{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music/sites/gwenno/ |title=Gwenno |work=BBC Wales |access-date=6 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071221090456/http://www.bbc.co.uk/wales/music/sites/gwenno/ |archive-date=21 December 2007}} and Lyn Mererid, who is an activist and member of the choir Côr Cochion Caerdydd and works as a translator.{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/sep/08/gwenno-welsh-languag-protest-album|title=Gwenno: the ex-Pipette is leading the Welsh-speaking music revival|first=Laura|last=Snapes|date=8 September 2015|newspaper=The Guardian|access-date=6 April 2018|archive-date=6 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210806075447/https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/sep/08/gwenno-welsh-languag-protest-album|url-status=live}} When she grew up, her father spoke Cornish; her mother spoke Welsh.{{cite news|last1=Williams|first1=Holly|title=The rebirth of Britain's lost languages|url=http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180412-the-rebirth-of-britains-lost-languages|access-date=12 April 2018|publisher=BBC|date=12 April 2018|archive-date=27 April 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200427214210/http://www.bbc.com/culture/story/20180412-the-rebirth-of-britains-lost-languages|url-status=live}}

From the age of five she attended the Seán Éireann-McMahon Academy of Irish Dance[http://hjem.get2net.dk/theplace/bio3.html] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030819093618/http://hjem.get2net.dk/theplace/bio3.html|date=19 August 2003}} and was a cast member of Michael Flatley's productions of Lord of the Dance{{cite news |url=http://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/music/dotty-about-the-pipettes-1035773 |title=Dotty about the Pipettes |newspaper=Manchester Evening News |date=15 February 2007 |access-date=29 August 2015 |archive-date=3 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503125928/https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/music/dotty-about-the-pipettes-1035773 |url-status=live }} and Feet of Flames by the age of 17, playing a lead role in a Las Vegas production of the former. In 2001 she had a role in the Welsh language soap opera Pobol y Cwm on S4C, for whom she would later host her own programme Ydy Gwenno'n Gallu...? She is fluent in Welsh and Cornish.{{cite web |url=http://www.celticcafe.com/archive/Music/Gwenno/ |title=Gwenno at the Celtic Cafe |first=Bernadette |last=Price |website=Celtic Cafe |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090611032553/http://www.celticcafe.com/archive/Music/Gwenno/ |archive-date=11 June 2009 |access-date=18 June 2016}}{{cite web|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/connected/stories/gwennointuneincornish.shtml |title=Gwenno - in tune, in Cornish! |website=BBC Cornwall |date=September 2003 |access-date=6 October 2008 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110219055907/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cornwall/connected/stories/gwennointuneincornish.shtml |archive-date=19 February 2011}}{{cite web |url=http://womad.org/artists/gwenno/ |title=Gwenno » Artists |publisher=WOMAD |access-date=13 August 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120723205654/http://womad.org/artists/gwenno/ |archive-date=23 July 2012}} On 18 April 2019 she presented "Songs from the Edgelands", a programme about songs in minority languages on BBC Radio 4.Radio Times; 13–19 April 2019

In the years before she joined the Pipettes, she had been a solo electropop singer, mostly in the Welsh and Cornish languages, releasing two solo EPs, Môr Hud{{cite web |url=http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=156221711&s=143444 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120713115548/http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=156221711&s=143444 |url-status=dead |archive-date=13 July 2012 |title=iTunes - Music - Môr Hud - EP by Gwenno |publisher=Phobos.apple.com |date=1 January 2002 |access-date=13 August 2015 }} (2002) and Vodya{{cite web |url=http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=159162875&s=143444 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120730010909/http://phobos.apple.com/WebObjects/MZStore.woa/wa/viewAlbum?id=159162875&s=143444 |url-status=dead |archive-date=30 July 2012 |title=iTunes - Music - Vodya - EP by Gwenno |publisher=Phobos.apple.com |date=1 January 2003 |access-date=13 August 2015 }} (2004).{{cite web |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/cymru/eisteddfod2003/maes/sgwrs_gwenno.shtml |title=Steddfod yn Stuffy |website=BBC Cymru Wales |year=2003 |access-date=13 August 2015 |language=cy |archive-date=24 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150924204945/http://www.bbc.co.uk/cymru/eisteddfod2003/maes/sgwrs_gwenno.shtml |url-status=live }} Saunders represented Cornwall in the Liet International song contest, 2003, and won the People's Choice Award for her performance of "Vodya". In December 2004 Gwenno filmed the song "Ysolt y'nn Gweinten" by Celtic Legend for Classic FM TV. It is claimed to be the first video produced in the Cornish language, the text having been written by her father Tim Saunders with music by Cornish composer and ex Gary Numan keyboard player Chris John Payne.File:The Pipettes - Gwennoi.jpg in 2006]]

Gwenno joined the Pipettes in April 2005 after founding member Julia left. She is most notable for her lead vocals on the single "Pull Shapes" and the chorus of "Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me". She later posted solo material to her Myspace page and made a free download of a mini album titled U & I available in October 2007. In April 2008, Gwenno's younger sister Ani joined the Pipettes, after the departure of singers Rosay and RiotBecki. Ani now also releases music with the band The Lovely Wars and solo under the name Ani Glass.

Gwenno toured as a synth player with Pnau and Elton John in 2012.{{cite journal |url=http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/music/ymbelydredd-ep-an-interview-with-gwenno-saunders/2012/09/06/ |first=Amelia |last=Gregory |title=Ymbelydredd EP: An interview with Gwenno Saunders |journal=Amelia's Magazine |date=6 September 2012 |access-date=13 August 2015 |archive-date=19 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119000039/http://www.ameliasmagazine.com/music/ymbelydredd-ep-an-interview-with-gwenno-saunders/2012/09/06/ |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://peski.co.uk/artist/303/gwenno |title=Gwenno |website=Peski |access-date=13 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150811074519/http://www.peski.co.uk/artist/303/gwenno |archive-date=11 August 2015 |url-status=dead}}

In June 2012, Saunders released a five-song Welsh language EP, Ymbelydredd, available on hand-painted cassettes on Peski Records.{{cite web |url=http://gwenno.bigcartel.com/ |title=Gwenno – Home |publisher=Gwenno.bigcartel.com |access-date=13 August 2015 |archive-date=19 January 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160119000039/http://gwenno.bigcartel.com/ |url-status=live }}

Gwenno appears on The Boy Least Likely To's 2013 album The Great Perhaps, contributing vocals to the track "It Could've Been Me".

File:Gwenno Saunders 2014.jpg

She released her first solo full-length album, the Welsh-language Y Dydd Olaf, in October 2014 on Peski Records.{{cite web |url=http://www.peski.co.uk/release/973/peski030/y-dydd-olaf |title=Gwenno / Y Dydd Olaf |website=Peski |year=2014 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150705210948/http://www.peski.co.uk/release/973/peski030/y-dydd-olaf |archive-date=5 July 2015 |url-status=dead |access-date=18 June 2016}} In May 2015, Gwenno was signed to Heavenly Recordings. The label re-released her debut album in July.{{cite web |url=http://www.thelineofbestfit.com/new-music/discovery/welsh-singer-gwenno-signs-to-heavenly-and-releases-sci-fi-inspired-track-pa |title=Welsh singer Gwenno signs to Heavenly and releases sci-fi inspired track, "Patriachaeth" |date=11 May 2015 |first=Cerys |last=Kenneally |website=The Line of Best Fit |access-date=6 September 2015 |archive-date=3 May 2019 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190503125916/https://www.thelineofbestfit.com/new-music/discovery/welsh-singer-gwenno-signs-to-heavenly-and-releases-sci-fi-inspired-track-pa |url-status=live }}{{cite web |url=http://www.heavenlyrecordings.com/records/2015/06/hvnlp118-gwenno-y-dydd-olaf/ |title=HVNLP118 Gwenno 'Y Dydd Olaf' |website=Heavenly Recordings |date=22 June 2015 |access-date=13 August 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150726073551/http://www.heavenlyrecordings.com/records/2015/06/hvnlp118-gwenno-y-dydd-olaf/ |archive-date=26 July 2015 |url-status=dead }} The album won Best Welsh Album at the 2015 National Eisteddfod{{cite web |url=http://www.eisteddfod.org.uk/english/2015/2015-news/?request=117035 |title=2015 News |website=The National Eisteddfod of Wales |date=8 August 2015 |access-date=6 September 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150925144323/http://www.eisteddfod.org.uk/english/2015/2015-news/?request=117035 |archive-date=25 September 2015 |url-status=dead}} and in November 2015 won the 2014–2015 Welsh Music Prize.{{cite web |url=http://welshmusicprize.com/category/nominees |title=Nominees Archives |website=Welsh Music Prize |access-date=5 October 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150926231046/http://welshmusicprize.com/category/nominees |archive-date=26 September 2015 |url-status=usurped }}

Gwenno also co-produced and co-hosted a Welsh radio show on Cardiff Radio titled "Cam O'r Tywyllwch" ("A Step Away from the Darkness") with her Peski Records colleagues.{{cite web |url=https://soundcloud.com/cam-or-tywyllwch |title=Cam o'r Tywyllwch |website=SoundCloud |access-date=13 August 2015 |archive-date=8 July 2015 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150708085025/https://soundcloud.com/cam-or-tywyllwch |url-status=live }} The team was also behind the CAM '15 music festival in Cardiff, which took place in April 2015 and featured the first live performance in over 20 years by Welsh music post-punk pioneers Datblygu.{{cite web|url=http://camfestival.wales/ |title=CAM'15 |website=Camfestival.Wales |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304065644/http://camfestival.wales/ |archive-date=4 March 2016 |access-date=13 August 2015 |url-status=unfit }}

She released her second solo album Le Kov in 2018, which was an all-Cornish language album. It centred on themes of "the struggle of Kernewek [the Cornish language] and the concerns of Cornish cultural visibility as the perceptions of a timeless and haunted landscape often clash with the reality of intense poverty and an economy devastated by the demands of tourism." The album saw Gwenno touring and headlining in Europe and Australia, and supporting acts such as Suede and the Manic Street Preachers, with whom she re-recorded a verse of the song "Spectators of Suicide" in Welsh, as well as singing on an English version of the song with the band.{{Cite web |last=Trendell |first=Andrew |date=17 December 2020 |title=Manic Street Preachers release official new version of 'Spectators Of Suicide' with Gwenno |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/manic-street-preachers-release-official-new-version-of-spectators-of-suicide-with-gwenno-2841241 |url-status=live |website=NME |access-date=22 June 2022 |archive-date=22 June 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220622230639/https://www.nme.com/news/music/manic-street-preachers-release-official-new-version-of-spectators-of-suicide-with-gwenno-2841241 }} A successful performance of "Tir Ha Mor" on Later... with Jools Holland prompted wider conversations on the state of the Cornish language with Michael Portillo, Jon Snow, and Nina Nannar.{{Cite web |title=Tresor by Gwenno |url=https://gwenno.bandcamp.com/album/tresor |website=Bandcamp |access-date=22 June 2022 |archive-date=1 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220701192332/https://gwenno.bandcamp.com/album/tresor |url-status=live }} Le Kov was named one of the best albums of 2018 by The Guardian, Uncut and Mojo.{{Cite web |title=Gwenno - Le Kov |url=https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/95218-gwenno-le-kov.php |access-date=2022-12-02 |website=Album of The Year |language=en-US}}

Her third solo album Tresor, also a Cornish language album, releases on 1 July 2022 on Heavenly Recordings.{{Cite web |title=Gwenno - Tresor {{!}} Heavenly Recordings |url=https://heavenlyrecordings.com/release/tresor/}} It is inspired by powerful woman writers and artists such as Ithell Colquhoun, the Cornish language poet Phoebe Proctor, Maya Deren and Monica Sjöö, Tresor is an intimate view of the feminine interior experience, of domesticity and desire, a rare glimmer of life lived in and expressed through Cornish. On 26 July, Tresor became Gwenno's first album to be nominated for the Mercury Prize,{{Cite web |last=Singh |first=Surej |date=2022-07-26 |title=Mercury Prize 2022 shortlist revealed |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/mercury-prize-2022-shortlist-nominations-3277014 |access-date=2022-12-02 |website=NME |language=en-GB}} and it was named one of the albums of the year by BBC Radio 6 Music.{{Cite web |title=Gwenno - Tresor |url=https://www.albumoftheyear.org/album/475376-gwenno-tresor.php |access-date=2022-12-02 |website=Album of The Year |language=en-US}}

On 7 April 2025, Gwenno announced her fourth solo album, Utopia, set for release on 11 July by Heavenly.{{Cite news |last=Dunworth |first=Liberty |date=April 7, 2025 |title=Gwenno announces new album Utopia with nostalgic single "Dancing on Volcanoes" |url=https://www.nme.com/news/music/gwenno-announces-new-album-utopia-with-nostalgic-single-dancing-on-volcanoes-3852427 |access-date=April 7, 2025 |work=NME}} The lead single, "Dancing on Volcanoes", was released with the announcement. The album is her first primarily in the English language.

In December 2015, a giant mural of Saunders was erected on the wall of Clwb Ifor Bach on Womanby Street in Cardiff's city centre.{{Cite news |date=3 December 2015 |title=Cardiff singer Gwenno inspires giant street mural |language=en-GB |work=BBC News |url=https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-34996628 |access-date=26 July 2022 |archive-date=26 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726112322/https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-south-east-wales-34996628 |url-status=live }}

In October 2018, the Cornish Language Board claimed that Saunders's album Le Kov had contributed to a 15% increase in the number of people taking Cornish language exams during 2018.{{cite news|url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-45917661|work=BBC News|title=Gwenno 'sparks record numbers' in Cornish exams|date=20 October 2018|access-date=21 October 2018|archive-date=21 July 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210721131858/https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-cornwall-45917661|url-status=live}}

Wales Arts Review included two of Gwenno's albums on their 2021 list of the greatest Welsh albums of all-time: Le Kov at 18{{Cite web |last=Review |first=Wales Arts |date=3 December 2021 |title=20-11 {{!}} The Greatest Welsh Albums of All Time |url=https://www.walesartsreview.org/20-11-the-greatest-welsh-albums-of-all-time/ |access-date=26 July 2022 |website=Wales Arts Review |language=en-US |archive-date=23 August 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220823002054/https://www.walesartsreview.org/20-11-the-greatest-welsh-albums-of-all-time/ |url-status=live }} and Y Dydd Olaf at 64.{{Cite web |last=Review |first=Wales Arts |date=29 October 2021 |title=70-61 {{!}} The Greatest Welsh Albums of All Time |url=https://www.walesartsreview.org/70-61-the-greatest-welsh-albums-of-all-time/ |access-date=26 July 2022 |website=Wales Arts Review |language=en-US |archive-date=26 July 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220726112323/https://www.walesartsreview.org/70-61-the-greatest-welsh-albums-of-all-time/ |url-status=live }}

Saunders is married to musician and producer Rhys Edwards, who is behind the project Jakokoyak,{{Cite web|url=http://www.electricity-club.co.uk/introducing-gwenno/|title=Introducing GWENNO {{!}} The Electricity Club|website=electricity-club.co.uk|access-date=8 August 2016|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160820013601/http://www.electricity-club.co.uk/introducing-gwenno/|archive-date=20 August 2016}} and they have two children.{{Cite web|url=http://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/welsh-music-prize-winner-named-10507907|title=Welsh Music Prize Winner named as Gwenno Saunders for sci-fi inspired album|last=Owens|first=David|date=26 November 2015|access-date=8 August 2016|archive-date=29 August 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210829090743/https://www.walesonline.co.uk/whats-on/music-nightlife-news/welsh-music-prize-winner-named-10507907|url-status=live}}{{cite web|url=https://whynow.co.uk/read/gwenno-interview|title=Gwenno: 'The greatest thing when you're an artist is to be an outsider'|date=18 November 2022|author=Coward, Teddy | website=WhyNow}}

Saunders is a supporter of Welsh independence. She has said: "What if there are other ways of co-existing? What if we can organise ourselves differently? There is an innate anarchy to art and an absolute potential in utilising it for the good whilst imagining better futures. We want to continue a conversation about an inclusive self-determination by drawing on our past, embracing our neighbours across the UK and the world with open arms, whilst also making sure that we're singing along to the best possible tune".{{Cite web|title=Gwenno|url=https://www.yesismore.cymru/artists/gwenno/|access-date=22 April 2021|website=yes is more|language=en-GB|archive-date=28 April 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210428074109/https://www.yesismore.cymru/artists/gwenno/|url-status=live}} She was made a Bard of the Cornish Gorsedh in 2019 for "services to the Cornish language through music and the media".{{cite web |title=12.8.19 Gorsedh Kernow names 12 new Bards for 2019 |url=http://gorsedhkernow.org.uk/wp/?p=785 |website=Gorsedh Kernow |access-date=18 May 2020 |date=12 August 2019 |archive-date=9 May 2020 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200509214211/http://gorsedhkernow.org.uk/wp/?p=785 |url-status=live }}

{{Portal|Wales|Cornwall}}

• Julie Fowlis, sings in Scottish Gaelic
• Ruth Keggin, sings in Manx
• Mary Black, sings in Irish

{{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

{{Commons category|Gwenno Saunders}}

• {{Discogs artist|Gwenno|Gwenno}}
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150907021347/http://www.heavenlyrecordings.com/author/kat Gwenno] at Heavenly Recordings
• [https://web.archive.org/web/20150906221959/http://peski.co.uk/artist/831/cam-or-tywyllwch Gwenno] radio show page, Cam O'r Tywyllwch

{{The Pipettes}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Saunders, Gwenno}}

Category:1981 births

Category:Living people

Category:Cornish language activists

Category:Cornish-language singers

Category:Welsh-language singers

Category:Cornish-speaking people

Category:Singers from Cardiff

Category:British people of Cornish descent

Category:Welsh keyboardists

Category:21st-century Welsh women singers

Category:Welsh-speaking musicians

Category:Welsh pop singers

Category:Musicians from Brighton and Hove

Category:Welsh women in electronic music

Category:The Pipettes members

Category:Heavenly Recordings artists

Category:Welsh electronic musicians

Category:Bards of Gorsedh Kernow

Category:Welsh language activists