ABOUT
Biography
"A GENTLE TORRENT OF TALENT"
"INNOCENT ANARCHY"
Ra (a.k.a. Laura Currie) is a singer, songwriter and multi-instrumentalist from Dumfries, Scotland.
She plays the ukulele, guitar, keys and bass, and her voice (at once powerful and reserved) is the distinctive feature across her varied portfolio.
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Ra has an MA(Hons) in English Literature from the University of Edinburgh, and the lyrical content of her original songs reflects her playful relationship with language. She strives for sincerity, without taking herself too seriously.
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Her musical inspirations include The Smiths, Talking Heads, Billie Eilish, Arctic Monkeys, David Bowie
and St Vincent.
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Since the launch of her solo career in early 2019, Ra has established a reputation as a convincing and compelling performer. Her debut EP 'Strange Love' - released the same year - was written, performed, produced, recorded, mixed and designed by Ra herself.
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She has since performed at gigs, functions and festivals across the region, and beyond.
Although most of her live gigs feature acoustic instruments (sometimes with added bass or lead guitar), Ra is not afraid to cross genres. Since making her gigging debut fronting alt-rock band What About Wolves at the age of sixteen, Ra has been known to revisit her rock roots for special one-off events. She formed an all-female rock band - 'Ra & The Shallows' - for Dumfries Music Conference's 'Female Takeover' event in 2019.
Ra is also known for collaborating with Billboard-charting electronic synthwave artist ALEX on a number of successful singles. Their first release ‘Broadway’ has surpassed 1.5 million streams on Spotify and was featured in season two of Netflix's 'Locke & Key'. Other collaborations between ALEX & Ra include 'Dream Machine', 'Outlaw' and 'BURN DOWN THE DISCO'.
In addition, Ra is a member of the internationally-acclaimed Ukulele Orchestra of Great Britain. She has performed with the Orchestra on several international tours, including China, France, Germany, Switzerland and the USA. She performed with them live on BBC Radio 3, produced and edited their 'Ukulele Lockdown' video series for Youtube and DVD, and starred in their 'Ukulele World Service' online pay-per-view concerts.
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Over the years, Ra has garnered an active online following in her own right, with her eclectic mix of elaborately self-produced multi-track YouTube covers. A selection of these covers - ranging from The Cure to Eminem - were released as the digital album 'Happy In The Haze of a Drunken Hour' in early 2021.
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“A TALENTED SONGWRITER, UKULELE PLAYER AND ARRANGER"
UKE MAGAZINE / ISSUE 27
PRESS & AWARDS
'RISING STAR' AWARD WINNER
UKULELE FESTIVAL OF SCOTLAND 2019
'BEST BREAKTHROUGH UKULELE ARTIST' AWARD NOMINEE
UKE MAGAZINE AWARDS 2021