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Leah McFall

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Leah McFall
Born (1989-07-01) 1 July 1989 (age 35)
Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland[1]
Genres
OccupationSinger-songwriter
Instruments
  • Vocals
  • piano
Years active2010–present
LabelsCapitol[2]

Leah McFall (born 1 July 1989) is a British singer-songwriter from Newtownabbey, Northern Ireland.[3] She finished as the runner-up on the second series of the BBC One talent series The Voice.

Early life

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McFall began her singing career at her local church, Glenabbey, at the age of six.[4] She was a pupil at Antrim Grammar School.[4] During her childhood she listened to Motown, jazz, gospel, folk and pop music which was played around the family home, and influences both her vocal and song writing style.[5] After years of gigging around Northern Ireland, Leah moved to London to attend college.[6] After six months there, she began playing at the Ronnie Scott's Jazz Club.[6]

Career

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2013: The Voice UK

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In 2013, McFall auditioned for the second series of The Voice, where she chose to join Will's team.[7] In the battle round, she sang against CJ Edwards. The pair duetted on the Michael Jackson song "The Way You Make Me Feel", and McFall was chosen to proceed. In the Knockout round, will.i.am gave his Fast Pass to McFall and she performed Minnie Riperton's "Lovin' You".[8] In the first live show, McFall sang "I Will Survive" by Gloria Gaynor. The studio version of her performance charted at number 16 on the UK Singles Chart, selling 19,213 copies within a week.[9][10][11] A week later, it rose to number 8. McFall then performed the Fugees' version of "Killing Me Softly" in the semi-final on 15 June 2013.[12] The result was revealed that McFall had received the most public votes, and would therefore represent Team Will in the final.[13]

Performances

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Performed Song Original Artist Result
Blind Audition "R.I.P" Rita Ora Joined Team Will
Battle Rounds "The Way You Make Me Feel" (against CJ Edwards) Michael Jackson Winner
Knockout rounds "Lovin' You" Minnie Riperton Fast pass
Quarter-final "I Will Survive" Gloria Gaynor Fast pass
Semi-final "Rapture" (as part of Team Will) Blondie Safe
"Killing Me Softly" Roberta Flack
"I Will Wait" (as part of The Voice UK Semi-finalists) Mumford & Sons
Final "I Will Always Love You" Dolly Parton Safe
"Bang Bang" (mentor duet with will.i.am) will.i.am
"Lovin' You" (as favourite performance) Minnie Riperton Runner-up

2013–present: Weird to Wonderful and independent releases

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In July 2013, Will.i.am revealed that he would release a new version of his single "Bang Bang" featuring McFall.[14] On 14 July 2013, McFall made her debut performance at the Wireless Festival alongside her mentor will.i.am.[15] During the tour, McFall revealed she would release three music videos before her first official single and album are released. The first of these videos, "No Ordinary Love", was released on 1 February 2014.[16] On 6 June, McFall announced the title of her first official single, "Home" featuring will.i.am.[17] The single was released on 27 July 2014.[18] On 21 July 2014, McFall announced her debut album, titled Weird to Wonderful, was due to be released in October 2014,[19] but was cancelled, and she was dropped from her record label. McFall returned in September 2016 with "Wolf Den", released independently. This was followed by the release of single "Happy Human", and the release of her EP, INK. The release of the EP was preceded by the "INK Tour", which saw McFall perform at dates around the UK and Ireland. Since INK, McFall has released three singles; "Somber", "White X" and "Marriage".[citation needed]

Discography

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Studio albums

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Album title Album details Peak chart positions
UK
Weird to Wonderful N/A

Extended plays

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Title Details
Frills and Fur
Ink

Singles

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As lead artist

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Title Year Peak chart positions Album
UK
[22] 		SCO
[23]
"Home"
(featuring will.i.am)[17] 		2014 56 47 Non-album single
"Wolf Den" 2016 — — Ink
"Happy Human" 2017 — —
"Somber" 2018 — — TBA
"White X" — —
"Marriage" 2019 — —
"—" denotes items which were not released in that country or failed to chart.

Promotional singles

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Title Year Peak chart positions Album
UK
[22] 		IRE
[24] 		SCO
[23]
"I Will Survive" 2013 8 39 13 Non-album singles
"Killing Me Softly" 36 — 53
"I Will Always Love You" 43 — 48
"—" denotes items which were not released in that country or failed to chart.

Guest appearances

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Single Year Album
"Bang Bang"[25]
(will.i.am featuring Leah McFall) 		2013 Now That's What I Call Music! 86
"Spiritual Warfare"[26]
(Ghetts featuring Leah McFall & Jordy) 		2018 Ghetto Gospel: The New Testament

Music videos

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Title Year Director(s)
"No Ordinary Love" 2014 noMSG
"Home" Elisha Smith-Leverock[27]
"Happy Human" 2017

Concert tours

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Supporting act

  • Leon Jackson solo tour (2010) (supporting Leon Jackson)
  • #willpower Tour (2013) (supporting will.i.am)
  • Forestry Tour (2014) (supporting Jessie J)

Headlining act

  • INK tour. (2017)

References

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  1. ^ "Newtownabbey Girl To Sing on Bbc 1 Show The Voice". belfastdaily.co.uk. 11 April 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  2. ^ a b "Leah McFall | Capitol Records". Archived from the original on 18 July 2014. Retrieved 20 June 2014.
  3. ^ Mohan, Isabel (23 June 2013). "The Voice: Our look at the finalists". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 23 June 2013.
  4. ^ a b "Pair eager to prove they have The Voice". irishnews.com. 12 April 2013. Archived from the original on 26 August 2014. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  5. ^ "Leah McFall from BBC's The Voice joins us this Wednesday!". beauforthousechelsea.co.uk. 16 April 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  6. ^ a b "A year ago I was playing gigs to just a barman – now I'm through to The Voice live". sundayworld.com/. 31 May 2013. Archived from the original on 9 June 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  7. ^ Rigby, Sam (13 April 2013). "'The Voice' UK: Five best blind auditions week three". Digital Spy. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  8. ^ Hogan, Michael (1 June 2013). "The Voice UK: knockout rounds – part one, BBC One, review". telegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  9. ^ Darvill, Josh (11 June 2013). "Leah sold 19,213 copies of the track between Friday evening and the close of the chart week on Saturday night, placing her 16th in the charts". Telly Mix. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 11 June 2013.
  10. ^ Darvill, Josh (8 June 2013). "The Voice 2013 favourite Leah McFall makes Top 10 with 'I Will Survive' cover". tellymix.co.uk. Archived from the original on 2 October 2013. Retrieved 8 June 2013.
  11. ^ "The Voice star Leah McFall enters the charts as Blurred Lines continues to dominate". metro.co.uk. 9 June 2013. Retrieved 9 June 2013.
  12. ^ Seale, Jack (15 June 2013). "The Voice UK 2013: semi-final – review". radiotimes.com. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  13. ^ Rigby, Sam (15 June 2013). "'The Voice' UK: Matt, Andrea, Leah, Mike make 2013 final". Digital Spy. Retrieved 15 June 2013.
  14. ^ "Will.i.am teases release of Leah McFall version of Bang Bang". capitalfm.com. 1 July 2013. Retrieved 1 July 2013.
  15. ^ Ferguson, Amanda (16 July 2013). "A bigger stage for Voice star Leah McFall". belfasttelegraph.co.uk. Retrieved 16 July 2013.
  16. ^ "Leah McFall - No Ordinary Love". YouTube. Archived from the original on 1 February 2014.
  17. ^ a b "تويتر / Leahmcfallmusic: Waited so long to share this!". twitter.com. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2022.
  18. ^ "Leah McFall is coming 'Home' with her huge debut single | News | Clickmusic | Online Music News, Downloads, Videos & More". Archived from the original on 23 September 2016. Retrieved 10 June 2014.
  19. ^ Flavourmag [@Flavourmag] (21 July 2014). "Leah Mcfall speaks EXCLUSIVELY to Flavourmag about her brand new debut single 'Home', her debut Album and her ..." (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  20. ^ Leah McFall [@leahmcfallmusic] (21 November 2010). "New ep 'Frills and Fur' OUT NOW!!! Download at www.leahmcfall.bandcamp.com" (Tweet) – via Twitter.
  21. ^ "Watch: Leah McFall releases new music video for single Happy Human". 2 March 2017.
  22. ^ a b "Leah McFall > UK Charts". officialcharts.com/ Official Charts Company.
  23. ^ a b Peak positions for singles in Scotland:
  24. ^ Peak positions in Ireland:
  25. ^ "Will.i.am releases new version of Bang Bang with The Voice's Leah McFall". Telly Mix. 19 November 2013. Archived from the original on 3 December 2013. Retrieved 9 December 2013.
  26. ^ "Ghetto Gospel: The New Testament by Ghetts". iTunes (UK). Retrieved 5 September 2018.
  27. ^ Brown, Jimmy. "Leah McFall ft Will.I.Am 'Home' by Elisha Smith-Leverock". promonews.tv. Retrieved 10 July 2014.
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