Milngavie musician tells how her music saved her during lockdown in London

A young Milngavie singer and songwriter has told how her music saved her during lockdown in London.
By The Newsroom
Published 9th Apr 2021, 12:53 BST
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Now Iona Blue (24) has released a single “Blue” from her second EP, available this week.

Both EPs were penned over the last year.

The former Douglas Academy pupil told the Herald: “Being able to stay creative and work on my songwriting over lockdown was a real saving grace. Songwriting has always been a form of therapy to me and this year it was sorely needed, maybe more than ever.”

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Iona learned guitar while she was still at school in Milngavie.

She said: “I absolutely loved it. I got my hands on my own guitar as soon as I could. I started writing my own songs and teaching myself outside of school.

"When I was about 15 I started taking part in under 18s gigs in and around Glasgow and carried on from there, playing wherever and whenever I could.”

Now living down south, Iona was working front of house at Her Majesty’s Theatre in London when the coronavirus pandemic struck. Like many others in the creative industry, she found herself out of work but also able to concentrate more on making music.

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She said: "I absolutely love performing and have sorely missed it over the last year. I’ve been on stage in various capacities for most of my life so it’s been very strange to be away from it for so long.

“The theatre industry, like many other industries, has really struggled over the course of the pandemic.

"For many people, theatre is their whole life, something they hold a great passion for and have trained since childhood to feed that passion. So the closing of theatres has had a massive impact.

"I was very lucky to be able to record last year with The Animal Farm Music record producers in London. It was so wonderful to be back in a recording studio and have a little normality back.”

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She added: “Music is so important to me I’m so many ways and being able to share something I’ve created with the world is everything to me.”

Iona’s new single is available at https://open.spotify.com/artist/4DblYfkvS1tQ4PB1J4k8SF?si=uflwEAbMQ8mhTzp8Ifjq3g&nd=1

Related topics:London