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Kayla Kavanagh is a solo artist with a difference. The Yorkshire-based Singer/Songwriter plays nine instruments, writes and performs her own original music and has toured the UK with her ‘one-woman band’ show from the side of a VW Campervan – all while living with the daily struggle of a mental health condition.

Kayla has launched her debut album Stranger than Fiction, featuring twelve original songs with her trademark fusion of the traditional and modern - an eclectic mix of electronica pop/rock with hints of Imogen Heap, Nerina Pallot, Eva Cassidy and Sarah McLachlan.

Kayla moved from Ireland to Yorkshire to study an MA in Digital Performance in 2006, where she began introducing ‘live looping’ into her performances, allowing her to play numerous instruments simultaneously. Her live stage shows feature piano, acoustic guitar, electric guitar, looping pedal, hammered dulcimer, electric violin, flute, tin whistle, vocoder and Eigenharp Pico.

Working with local Barnsley Engineer/Producer Nigel Pease, the energy and diversity of Kayla’s vocal and instrumental music from her shows has been captured in the studio release. Kayla’s album is the world’s first to feature the Eigenharp, a new electronic device which plays and loops multiple software instrument sounds.

Hidden behind the music lies Kayla’s life with a mental health condition called Borderline Personality Disorder - a serious mental illness that affects around 2-3% of the population, characterised by a chronic instability in self-image, emotions and relationships.

Kayla has become an ambassador for awareness of illnesses such as BPD, and was interviewed on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour about how music has provided a positive outlet for the often overwhelming emotions associated with living with a mental health condition.

Kayla’s first album tour date was FrysGig in London on 13th May (pictured), raising money for Mental Health Charity Mind, supported by mental health advocate Stephen Fry.

Stranger than Fiction has now sold in four continents since the launch, and is available on the music page.

BBC Radio 4 Woman's Hour March 2010

Chronicle Newspaper Article February 2009

VW Camper & Bus January 2009