Birmingham-based Rebecca is a fully independent artist creating original blues/rock music with her co-songwriter Steve Birkett and releasing it on her own label Mad Hat Records.
She usually plays live within a 5-piece band, performing tracks mainly from her studio albums Believe(2016), More Sinner Than Saint (2019) and The Space Between Us(2022) along with new material and one or two classic covers. She also performs the songs of her 2021 album Stripped Back in a 3-piece with Steve and drummer Neil Ablard, along with other RD tracks and a few covers delivered in the same style.
Rebecca was born and grew up in Wolverhampton. She started performing live music when aged 13 and as a teenager wrote and performed her own material. The current music began when she linked up with co-songwriter Steve to write blues-infused material – a partnership that ‘clicked’ right away to deliver their excellent first album, Back To The Start (2013) followed by Believe and the live album BeLive (2017). Rebecca was voted Female Vocalist and Emerging Artist of the Year at the British Blues Awards 2016 and Female Blues Vocalist of the Year in the FORM UK Blues Awards 2018.
Listen to Rebecca’s Song ‘More Sinner Than Saint’ below.
The 2019 album More Sinner Than Saint contains material honed with advice from producer Chris Kimsey, famous for working with the Rolling Stones and Peter Frampton, and the tracks were mixed by California-based producer Bill Drescher and Thunder’s bassist Chris Childs. The album received considerable critical acclaim and the second single – Hurts – was playlisted by Planet Rock Radio UK.
In 2020 Rebecca and Steve released a dark, moody version of Slade’s classic track Mama Weer All Crazee Now that very much reflected the mood of the times, and a new version of Wave Them Goodbye from the last album in which she duets with Alan Nimmo of King King.
Listen to Rebecca’s Song ‘Hold On’ below.
In April 2021 Rebecca released Stripped Back, an album created under lockdown conditions and containing ten tracks from Believe and More Sinner Than Saint each reimagined and re-presented in a laid-back style, together with two previously unreleased tracks. Steve plays the bulk of the instrumentation on the album, with the gigging band contributing their parts to the track Hurts. The album was arranged and produced by Steve and mixed by Steve Birkett Jnr. Even the album artwork was shot remotely by Adam Kennedy and the album sleeve and accompanying merchandise was created by manager Colin Speller, making Stripped Back a fully in-house creation by the Rebecca Downes team.
In November 2022, Rebecca released The Space Between Us, ten new songs and one cover in a collection of raw, passionate, multi-hued tracks with a very live feel ranging from big, bold blues rock to darker, moodier and atmospheric material that allows Rebecca to deliver her at times very personal lyrics with vocal conviction. The album was produced by Steve Birkett and mixed and mastered by Gavin Monaghan.
Rebecca released a cover of Gnarls Barkley’s Crazy, in December 2024, and a cover of the Sananda Maitraya (Terence Trent D’Arby) song Sign Your Name in February 2025, with new, original material due later this year 2025.
Let’s see what Rebecca Downes has to say about Vocalzone!
“I have been using your products for years. I’m also a vocal coach and recommend them to all my students (I have worked with X factor / The Voice performers amongst others and some high profile Rock clients). I recommend them because they ‘work’. There’s been many a show I wouldn’t have got through due to colds or throat infections without them. My last tour in Germany I would have had to cut short without them.They are always part of my vocal health routine”
Follow Rebecca Downes on either Songkick or Bandsintown to see where they are performing next!