Julia Fordham (born 10 August 1962) is a British singer-songwriter. Her professional career started in the early 1980s, under the name "Jules Fordham", as a backing singer for Mari Wilson and Kim Wilde, before signing a recording contract of her own later that decade. Fordham is now based in California.

In 1988, Fordham released her first album on Circa Records, simply titled Julia Fordham. After a round of publicity including an appearance on the BBC1 Wogan chat show in April 1988, it reached No. 20 in the UK Albums Chart and eventually earned a gold disc. The album contains the top 40 single "Happy Ever After" (which peaked at No. 27 in August 1988). The album also charted in the US, reaching No. 118 on the Billboard 200 chart.

Fordham released her second album, Porcelain, in 1989. The album charted at No. 13 and was certified silver by the British Phonographic Industry. It was Fordham's only album to chart on the US top 100, reaching No. 74.

In late 1991, Fordham released her third album, Swept. The album reached No. 33 in the UK and contained the top 40 hit "(Love Moves In) Mysterious Ways", which peaked at No. 19 in early 1992 and was also featured in the 1991 film The Butcher's Wife.

Fordham's fourth album, Falling Forward, was released in 1994. The album peaked at No. 21 in the UK. A single, "Different Time, Different Place", narrowly missed the UK top 40 (No. 41). In 1997, Fordham released her fifth album, East West. 1998's The Julia Fordham Collection recapped the best-known songs from these five albums and included new versions of recordings, including "Where Does The Time Go" which featured the vocals of Curtis Stigers.

Signed in 1999 to Division One/Atlantic Records, Fordham recorded Concrete Love. The album was produced by Larry Klein who has worked with many artists including Joni Mitchell (his former wife) and with Fordham previously on Falling Forward. The release was cancelled when a corporate reshuffle caused her record label to be closed and her contract ended. The album eventually emerged on Vanguard Records and various other labels internationally, including Sanctuary Records in the UK. It now featured a re-recording of its title track as a duet with India Arie, as well as different cover artwork. Remixes of the single "Wake Up with You" were also released. Fordham embarked on an acoustic club tour in the US, the UK and Japan.

2000s

Fordham's seventh album, That's Life, was released on her 42nd birthday in 2004. She performed more live shows which included a successful run of shows in Japan at the Blue Note venues. That's Live, a live album and DVD (filmed in Los Angeles with guest appearances by the Grammy Award-winning singer-songwriter India Arie, the trumpeter Mark Isham and Judith Owen), was released in January 2005. Fordham then came to the end of her recording contract with Vanguard. Also in 2005, her sister, Claire Fordham, had a book published, Plus One: A Year in the Life of a Hollywood Nobody, based on her experiences of being Fordham's sister and living in Los Angeles. ...

Source: Article "Julia Fordham" from Wikipedia in English, licensed under CC-BY-SA 3.0.