Kyla Brox
Kyla Brox (born 3 June 1980, Stockport, Greater Manchester, England) is a blues and soul singer from a musical family.
Family and childhood
Her father is blues singer Victor Brox and her mother is Annette Brox, the 'maid by the fire' in the original Jesus Christ Superstar.
She has four siblings, Ginie (b. 1965), Anna (b. 1966), Buffy (b. 1971) and Sam (b. 1976). All are singers, but only the youngest two are professional musicians, Sam - singer with Dust Junkys - and Kyla herself who traces her interest in singing to a desire to be closer to her charismatic but distant dad. Upon Victor and Annette’s divorce, Kyla was brought up by Annette and her stepfather Laurie in Didsbury, Manchester.
Keen to encourage his daughter’s musical talents, Victor gave Kyla various instruments as a child, including the flute which still features in her live shows.
Kyla married long-time music partner Danny Blomeley in September 2008 and is the mother of Sadie (born 13 June 2009). Kyla also has a second child Sunny.
Career
Kyla first sang with Victor onstage at the Band on the Wall in Manchester in 1992, at the age of 12. She joined his regular touring group the following year. The core of the Kyla Brox Band go back to this unit, nominally the Victor Brox Blues Train, but known informally as 'the child slavery band' because of the extreme youth of the players. As well as Kyla (13), the group contained bassist Danny Blomeley (13), and drummer Phil Considine (19).
In 2000, she accompanied her father on an extensive tour of Australia. Danny Blomeley had left the Blues Train two years earlier to travel the world, and promised to find Victor some dates in Australia. Kyla, now 20, found herself singing risque blues songs to hard men in mining camps in remote parts of the Australian outback.
Back in Manchester in 2001, Kyla and Danny formed a duo, occasionally augmented by old members of ‘the child slavery band’, and the line-up finally settled into the Kyla Brox Band - Kyla Brox (vocals, flute); Marshall Gill (guitar); Tony Marshall (saxophones); Danny Blomeley (bass) and Phil Considine (drums). The Kyla Brox Band started playing in North West pubs and clubs: the circuit that had once been the stomping ground of the Victor Brox Blues Train. Their performance at the Colne Blues Festival in 2002 established Kyla's reputation on the British blues scene.
The Kyla Brox Band toured Australia in 2003, 2004 and 2007, the same year they made their US debut.
Discography
Solo
- 2003 - Window (private release)
- 2003 - Beware (private release)
- 2004 - Coming Home (as Kyla Brox Band, Pigskin CD02)
- 2006 - Live at Matt and Phred's (as Kyla Brox Band) (private release)
- 2007 - Gone (Pigskin, PIGCD01)
- 2009 - Grey Sky Blue (Pigskin, PIGCD03)
- 2014 - "LIVE....At Last (Pigskin, PIGCD04)
With Victor Brox
- 1998 - Kyla Jane & Victor With The Brox Gang
- 2000 - Darwin Night Train, as Victor Brox Blues Train
- 2001 - Belly Shiver (Bridgetown Blues), credited as Victor and Kyla Brox
- 2009 - Frog in Mah Pocket!, credited to Victor ‘Pur & Dur’ & Kyla ‘Raving Jane’ Brox
Quotes
- "Her breathing control is superb but, more than this… Kyla's vocal is natural and very clean… with a depth of feeling…" - Blues Matters[1]
- "An authentic soul diva… sensitive, sexy, and with infinite reserves of sassiness" - City Life[2]
References
- ↑ "Blues Matters! (Issue 47)". Exacteditions.com. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
- ↑ "Kyla Brox". Movinmusic.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
- ↑ "Bushy's Big Wheel Blues Festival". Bigwheelblues.com. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
- ↑ "Oldham News | News Headlines | Singing the blues in Saddleworth - Chronicle Online". Oldham-chronicle.co.uk. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
- ↑ "Dyverse music". Dyversemusic.com. Retrieved 2016-02-01.
- ↑ "Dyverse music". Dyverse music. Retrieved 2016-02-01.