Born in 1969 in Yeovil, Somerset, PJ Harvey’s whole life has been devoted to music. Growing up on a farm in the nearby town of Corscombe, Harvey’s parents regularly hosted travelling musicians, who would teach the young Polly Jean in return for their board.

After studying at Yeovil Art College, Harvey released her first album, Dry in 1992 and immediately started to turn heads. Her raw style of rock and her direct lyrical style made her one of the most talked-about female artists in Britain. ANd that was before she appeared topless on the cover of NME.

Harvey built on the success of Dry in 1993 with Rid of Me and 4-Track Demos, before leaving longtime collaborators and bandmates Rob Ellis and Steve Vaughan to work on material as a solo artist. The result was 1995 album To Bring You My Love, which, to this day, is possibly her strongest album, with more textured and eclectic sounds accompanying her trademark vocal style.

1998 album Is This Desire? was a downbeat and experimental effort resting on a more sparse and minimalist backing but it was on 2000’s Stories From the City, Stories From the Sea that Harvey equalled the efforts of To Bring You My Love. Compared to the raw, edgy style of her early records, Stories… was a collection of beautifully arranged pop tracks that spanned the distance between Harvey’s two homes – the English countryside and urban New York.

After returning to a more stripped-back formula for 2004 album Uh Huh Her, Harvey set off on her biggest tour to date, with a new band featuring former Nick Cave collaborator Mick Harvey, along with Josh Klinghoffer (guitar, drums) and Dingo (bass). At the end of 2004, Harvey fuelled speculation of her retirement, announcing at a Paris gig that this was the last show they would play together. The songstress has since began work on a new record and has shows scheduled in Spain later this year.