Name	Eliza Carthy
Height
Naionality	American
Date of Birth	August 23, 1975
Place of Birth	Scarborough
Famous for

Eliza Carthy, born in Scarborough in 1975, is the daughter of English folk musicians Martin Carthy and Norma Waterson. Perhaps not surprisingly, she grew up immersed in the world of traditional music, forming the Waterdaughters with her mother, aunt (Lal Waterson) and cousin Maria Knight at the age of thirteen. She has subsequently worked with Nancy Kerr, with her parents as Waterson:Carthy, and as part of the "supergroup" Blue Murder, in addition to her own solo work. She continues to divide her time between touring and recording with her legendary parents, and numerous solo and band projects.

Regarding her solo career, Eliza has built a remarkable reputation as a singer and fiddle player; she has twice been nominated for the Mercury Music Prize for UK album of the year: in 1998 for Red Rice, and again in 2003 for Anglicana. In 2003 Eliza swept the boards at the Radio 2 Folk Awards, winning Folk Singer of the Year, Best Album (for Anglicana) and Best Traditional Track (for “Worcester City"). She was also the first traditional English musician to be nominated for a BBC Radio 3 Award for World Music in the same year (for Anglicana).

Eliza is one of the most recognized members of the latest generation of folk musicians and has been at the forefront of bringing the genre back into media attention. She has been a regular guest-presenter on the BBC Radio 2 Mark Radcliffe Show and has made several appearances on BBC TVs ’Later with Jools Holland’. In addition, Eliza has presented her own four part series on the history of English Folk on BBC Radio 2 and was recently the subject of an hour long ITV documentary (’Heaven & Earth’).

Dreams Of Breathing Underwater, Eliza’s second collection of entirely self penned songs was released on June 23rd 2008. Combining traditional instrumentation with experimental arrangements, and drawing influences from all aspects of her career so far, the album was conceived as the follow-up to 2000’s Angels And Cigarettes and has been in the making for the best part of seven years.

Eliza has also worked with a wide range of other folk artists, including collaborations with The Ratcatchers; with John Spiers and Jon Boden, and as was part of Oysterband Big Session in 2004. Performing as a duo with Richard Thompson, she contributed "The Coo Coo Bird" to a boxed set on American Folk Music called The Harry Smith Project (2006).