The Boys - 2020 - S02 E02

Lorraine Bowen (born 31 October 1961 in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire) is an English singer, songwriter, comedian and musician.[1] Bowen has released eleven studio and compilation albums, and multiple singles as both a solo and contributing artist.

She studied music at the University of Surrey,[1] and then busked around London. She was a member of two bands in the 1980s: See You in Vegas and The Dinner Ladies,[2] as well as performing regularly with Billy Bragg on stage and on record. She has also made many appearances on BBC Radio 4 including John Shuttleworth's show Radio Shuttleworth and the 1999 all-female sketch show Heated Rollers, starring Lynda Bellingham, Gwyneth Strong and Joanna Monro. She has also written for BBC Radio 4's Loose Ends.[1]

In 1990, Billy Bragg encouraged Bowen to start a solo career. She started to perform solo shows under name of The Lorraine Bowen Experience; her act featured three songs, a Casio keyboard and an ironing board. This has led to shows all over the world, including festivals in Winnipeg, Toronto, San Francisco, and in the UK, Glastonbury, Edinburgh, Glasgay, Bestival, The Big Chill, Secret Garden Party and Shambala and many shows in Italy and Spain. Her songs are seen as "quirky", contain humour and are often with a sense of kitsch.[3] Themes often include food, film stars (one of her most popular songs is about Julie Christie), mobile phones, fish fingers and launderettes. Bowen is known for her catchy choruses in songs and encouraging audience participation.[3]

Vital Organs was the name of Bowen's first solo musical comedy tour celebrating her collection of portable Casio electronic organs, omnichord and other eccentric portable organs. First performed at London's Drill Hall, the show toured extensively between 2005 and 2009.

In 2011, Bowen discovered that composer Barbara Moore was alive and living in Bognor Regis while recording an episode of Lorraine Bowen's Stereo Spectacular radio programme. Moore was active in the British music scene for over 25 years. After starting as a member of The Ladybirds, went on to work with Elton John, Jimi Hendrix and Tom Jones amongst others, but she is not widely known today. Bowen created 'Lorraine Bowen meets Barbara Moore' to provide a platform to show others how prolific Moore had been in the 1960s and 1970s. This show presented Moore and her work to a new audience and featured in the Brighton Fringe festival in 2014.

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