Laura Douglas, known professionally as Laura Mvula, was born on 23 April 1986 and raised in the Birmingham suburbs, studying composition at Birmingham City University's Royal Birmingham Conservatoire, a classical grounding that would distinguish her music from most of her contemporaries.
In 2008 Mvula formed the jazz and neo-soul group Judyshouse as lead vocalist and songwriter while still a student, and after graduating, her demo sketches caught the attention of composer Steve Brown and his manager Kwame Kwaten, who became her manager.
Signed by Colin Barlow in 2012 after several showcases, Mvula released her acclaimed debut album Sing to the Moon in 2013, blending soul, R&B, jazz and classical orchestral arrangements into a sound entirely her own, winning Best Female Act and Best R&B or Soul Artist at the 2013 MOBO Awards.
Mvula's compositional skill extended into theatre, writing the music for the Royal Shakespeare Company's 2017 production of Antony and Cleopatra, and in July 2015 she performed with fifty musicians of the Metropole Orkest, further showcasing her classical orchestral sensibilities.
In 2018 Mvula received an honorary doctorate of music from her alma mater, and she has continued recording and performing, including at the Glastonbury Festival in 2024, maintaining her reputation as one of Britain's most musically distinctive and classically trained contemporary singers.
- Won Best Female Act and Best R&B or Soul Artist at the 2013 MOBO Awards
- Wrote the music for the Royal Shakespeare Company's Antony and Cleopatra, 2017
- Performed with fifty musicians of the Metropole Orkest, 2015
- Received an honorary doctorate of music, 2018
- Classically trained composer blending soul, jazz and orchestral arrangement
- Formal training can produce an entirely original popular sound. Mvula's classical conservatoire background gave her soul and R&B music an orchestral depth rarely heard in the genre.
- Collaboration across disciplines can expand an artist's range. Her work composing for the Royal Shakespeare Company demonstrated a compositional versatility beyond her recording career.