My name is Shonagh. I'm a 22 year old singer-songwriter and co-owner of independent record label, Southern Music Records.
Born and raised in the historic, northern city of York, UK, I grew up with my three younger siblings (a sister and twin brothers) and a menagerie of cats, gerbils, guinea pigs, budgies, fish and chickens.
I spent my childhood fickly hopping from one instrument to the next before quickly deciding it was too heavy/too hard/not cool enough. I love to read and become temporarily transported to somewhere fantastical. I find cooking one of the most enjoyable hobbies ever and I am a massive foodie! I dream of being a fifties housewife, frilly apron and all.
I left York at 18 to go to University in Brighton to study Biomedical science. Brighton I loved, the course I did not, and after much debate I dropped out.
During this time I met my boyfriend, Arjan, the dutch music student studying songwriting. We first officially met through mutual friends at a Halloween party at the house I was sharing with 9 other students. I was Kayako (the grudge), he was Captain Jack Sparrow and we didn't speak more than two words to each other. It wasn't until a week later that we met again at our favourite club and got talking.
Fast forward a year and we're renting our first flat, sea-view, broken heating, tiny kitchen, the lot.
In 2012 I was bullied into assisting him with a school project that just had to have a female vocalist. This was how we started Southern Sunrise. It began as just a bit of fun, but we enjoyed it and after releasing our debut EP in June 2013, Arjan graduated and we decided to move to The Netherlands and give the band a real go. We have now played in several prestigious venues in The Netherlands such as Paradiso, Nieuwe Nor and Mezz Breda, along with a few local festivals.
Currently living with Arjan's family and attempting to find a job that doesn't require conversational Dutch so we can save for our own place again, I have taken up knitting to pass the time.
This blog covers anything and everything I have an interest in (hence the name and no I am not obsessed with Liquorice Allsorts, but the national sweet of The Netherlands is "drop" so when in Rome…!)
