Odette Michell
Odette Michell
Odette Michell is an award-winning British singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist with a rich foothold in the folk tradition. She was born in Yorkshire with an Irish heritage, and first picked up the guitar aged fifteen. Inspired by the resurgence of folk and acoustic songwriters at the time, she began writing her own songs when she was just sixteen years old. Growing up in the vibrant city of Cambridge allowed her to take advantage of the many stages and performance venues there, including two early club stage appearances at the Cambridge Folk Festival.
Since then Odette has twice won the prestigious Female Artist of ihe Year award at the 2025 and 2019 FATEA Awards, following in the footsteps of previous winners Kitty Macfarlane and Cara Dillon, respectively, and was later nominated for a Rising Star Award at the 2020 Folking Awards. That same year she was invited to perform at Celtic Connections as part of the legendary Danny Kyle Open Stage.
A true storyteller and writer, Odette self-pens the vast majority of her songs. These are fresh, contemporary compositions but she blurs the lines so successfully you could easily believe some of them come straight from the traditional canon. When she does cover a well-known folk song however, it doesn’t go unnoticed – as Northern Sky noted, Odette’s version of the Appalachian folk ballad ‘True Lovers Farewell’ is “an absolute masterclass in how to deliver a traditional song.”
Likewise, a dynamic live performer, Odette has performed alongside the likes of Show of Hands and Seth Lakeman, as well as having opened for folk legends Martin Carthy, Phil Beer, Boo Hewerdine, Reg Meuross and BBC R2 Folk Award nominees Ninebarrow amongst others.
Odette’s much anticipated second studio album ‘The Queen of the Lowlands’ reached Number 25 in the Official Folk Albums Chart, with all three of its singles receiving notable airtime on BBC Radio 2’s The Folk Show as well as BBC Radio 3 and both national and international folk radio stations. For more please visit www.odettemichell.com