Lydia Baylis
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The radiant beauty of Lydia Baylis has been admired by Lauren Bacall and compared to everyone from Daryl Hannah to Rosamund Pyke and Christie Brinkley. But nothing has delighted Lydia more than the likening of her singing to Dido, Carly Simon, and 'a young Marianne Faithful' "I was so happy to hear this" she says.
That's because, despite having acted in an off-Broadway play and being an obvious candidate for modelling, it's a career as a solo singer/songwriter which is destined for this multi-talented but modest 22-year old English rose.
To that end, Lydia is currently collaborating with the likes of lyricist Ian Pickering (Sneaker Pimps, Natalie Imbruglia), writer/producer Paul Statham (Dido, Kylie Minogue, Simple Minds, Peter Murphy) and engineer/mixer Richard Wilkinson (Adele, Amy Winehouse, Arctic Monkeys) and New York based label and production team Crispin Thump, comprised of writer / producer / engineer Augustus Skinner (EMF, Neneh Cherry, Sneaker Pimps) and TV and film composer Ronan Coleman (Last Days On Earth, Faraway Up Close, Global Nomad), as well as her beloved brother Casimir on guitar.
"Cas and I have no idea where our musical abilities come from because there's no history of it in our family." says Lydia. "To our knowledge, there have been no other musicians, actors or anything like that among our relatives...just mainly lawyers and soldiers."
But Lydia's not talking ordinary soldiers. Both her grandfathers were Welsh Guards who took part in the liberation of Brussels during World War 2. Lydia's father Peter and uncle Hilarion were aboard the Royal Navy landing ship Sir Galahad when it was destroyed in June 1982 during the Falklands War. 32 of the 48 fatalities were fellow Welsh Guards, Hilarion was very badly burnt and would subsequently die in a car crash. So it is with great sincerity that Lydia has chosen the Welsh Guards Afghan Appeal as her nominated charity. Lydia performed for the WGAA fund-raising event at Glanusk Park, Wales, in July 2010, and voluntary donations made from her new download release 'Starman' will be going to the Appeal.
"The politics of why the British are fighting in Afghanistan is not my concern, but on-going support of our forces and their families certainly is" she explains. "These brave people put my existence in perspective in that, while I can entertain through my music, my work isn't a matter of life and death like theirs is. I'd dearly love to entertain the troops in due course, even though Katherine Jenkins has beaten me to it!"
Born in army town Aldershot, the only daughter among four siblings, Lydia endearingly admits she was "a huge show-off" as a child. "I definitely wasn't shy. I spent hours dancing and singing in front of a mirror at home. I was full of it! I guess there was an element of believing anything the boys could do I could do better!"
Courtesy of her father's post-military career in telecommunications, the family moved to Russia in 1992 and Lydia attended an international school in the basement of the American Consulate in St.Petersburg. "I loved having the biggest parts in the school productions and minded terribly if I didn't get them!" Lydia laughs. "Sadly video still exists of me aged six as The Queen Of The East Wind in a show entitled The Four Winds and, while the other children are having fun, I'm concentrating madly on my dance steps and taking it far too seriously!"
Despite being disadvantaged by dyslexia, Lydia not only held her own academically she started penning poetry at the age of nine, and wrote a children's book - about a pampered cat with a canine boyfriend - at 10.
Returning to the UK the following year, Lydia was packed off to the prestigious boarding- school St.Mary's in Shaftesbury whose alumni include actress Anna Chancellor and film director Martha Fiennes. There her husky voice came in handy for the roles of a bearded Prince in the musical 'Into The Woods' and Bill Sykes' accomplice in Oliver!, though regrettably she only made a ferret in 'The Wind In The Willows'. But teenage Lydia felt more comfortable belting out cover versions in the school band Lights Out. "My big number was Jolene and, while I was no Dolly Parton, I knew then that I wanted to be a singer and songwriter."
Early musical influences were her father's repeated playing of Van Morrison, Velvet Underground, The Band and David Bowie (her debut single 'Starman' is an homage). The soundtrack to her schooldays included 'Save Me' by Aimee Mann, 'Cornflake Girl' by Tori Amos, and Regina Spektor's 'Samson'. And numbered among inspiring gigs are Red Hot Chilli Peppers in Hyde Park, The Voodoo Dolls at Shepherd's Bush Empire, and Greenday at Brixton Academy where Lydia's crowd-surfing earned her a bollocking from a bouncer.
Realising the usefulness of a degree to fall back upon, she aspired to the "dreaming spires".
"Because of my dyslexia I was advised by some not to apply for Oxford University; in fact, I
was told I'd be wasting my time" she recalls. So off Lydia went to New York City, where she
stayed for several months and landed a speaking part in the off-Broadway play 'Pieces Of
Paradise' by Tennessee Williams.
At a screening of 'Notes On A Scandal', an elegant octogenarian gently pulled back Lydia's bountiful blonde locks and said "You've got beautiful hair!", "I thanked her, she walked off, and I had no idea who she was" remembers Lydia. "Then my friend who was with me explained she was movie legend Lauren Bacall..."
Lydia returned from NYC to study at Christ Church, Oxford. She graduated in Summer 2010 with a BA Honours in History, gaining valuable experience gigging in and around Oxford, and soon afterwards began working with White Tiger Management.
Now mainly living in London, Lydia writes about what she sees, feels, and hears - even on her frequent strolls along the North End Road. "Life, love, relationships...everything inspires my songs. I'm not trying to make any big political statements. For example, with 'Starman', I wanted to write about feeling lonely and wanting to be saved. It has an element of The Little Prince, a touch of the fairytale of a knight in shining armour in the form of a Starman from outside our 'world' to take you away."
Hotly tipped for a stratospheric career, this girl with everything is evidently not going to let anything stand in the way of her destiny and, irrespective of any complimentary comparisons, she is very much going to do it in her own inimitable style.
