Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, MBE is a British singer-songwriter and guitarist. As a three-time Grammy Award-nominee, Armatrading was nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist. She also received an Ivor Novello Award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996. In a recording career spanning 40 years, Armatrading has released 18 studio albums, as well as several live albums and compilations. Armatrading possesses the vocal range of a contralto. Her music is considered to be mostly pop with forays into rock, folk, jazz, blues, soul, and reggae.
