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PJ Harvey > Y

Polly Jean Harvey (born 9 October 1969) is an English musician, singer-songwriter, composer and occasional artist. Primarily known as a vocalist and guitarist, she is also proficient with a wide range of instruments including piano, organ, bass, saxophone, harmonica, and most recently, the autoharp. Harvey began her career in 1988 when she joined local band Automatic Dlamini as a vocalist and saxophone player. The band's frontman, John Parish, wo ... uld become her long-term collaborator. In 1991, she formed an eponymous trio and subsequently began her professional career. The trio released two studio albums, Dry (1992) and Rid of Me (1993) before disbanding, after which Harvey continued as a solo artist. Since 1995, she has released a further six studio albums with collaborations from various musicians including John Parish, former bandmate Rob Ellis, Mick Harvey, and Eric Drew Feldman and has also worked extensively with record producer Flood. Among the accolades she has received are the 2001 and 2011 Mercury Prize for Stories from the City, Stories from the Sea (2000) and Let England Shake (2011) respectively the only artist to have been awarded the prize twice eight BRIT Award nominations, six Grammy Award nominations and two further Mercury Prize nominations. Rolling Stone awarded her 1992's Best New Artist and Best Singer Songwriter and 1995's Artist of the Year, and listed Rid of Me and To Bring You My Love (1995) on its 500 Greatest Albums of All Time list. In 2011, she was awarded for Outstanding Contribution To Music at the NME Awards. Harvey was born in Bridport, Dorset, on 9 October 1969 as the second child to Ray and Eva Harvey, a stonemason and sculptor respectively, and grew up on the family's farm in Corscombe. During her childhood, she attended school in nearby Beaminster and her parents introduced her to music that would later influence her work, including blues music, Captain Beefheart and Bob Dylan. As a teenager, Harvey began learning saxophone and joined an eight-piece instrumental group Boulogne, based in Somerset. She was also a guitarist with folk trio The Polekats, with whom she wrote some of her earliest material, and played as a rhythm guitarist in The Three Stoned Weaklings, a three-piece band formed by Paddy Ashdown, Gus Mackinlay and Graeme White. After finishing school, Harvey attended Yeovil College and studied a visual arts foundation course. See more [+]