Shropshire musician to play dream gig at Glastonbury

A musician will play her dream gig at Glastonbury after being chosen to represent BBC Music Introducing.

Nieve Ella started making music in her bedroom during the Covid-19 pandemic and now has more than 80,000 TikTok followers.

She sent her music to BBC Music Introducing in Shropshire in 2022 and was put forward for the festival.

"Glastonbury to me is... where you've got to end up... a stage that you'll remember," said the 20-year-old.

Nieve, from Albrighton in Shropshire, has since signed with a record label and has played some of her first live gigs across Europe, supporting the likes of Inhaler and Dylan.

"Every time I'm on stage it feels like I'm in my room... I feel so comfortable. It genuinely feels like home," she said.

Grown in confidence

Nieve said it was thanks to BBC Introducing that she will be playing Glastonbury, and also Reading and Leeds Festival later this year.

After sending her music to the station, it was then played on BBC Radio 1.

Nieve called herself Nieve Ella after her mother's hair salon

Nieve's mum, Helen Pickering, who named her hair salon after her daughter, said that growing up Nieve hadn't sung in front of anyone.

Then she found a video on her iPad that Nieve had recorded of herself and realised how talented her daughter was.

"I just thought 'wow'. I always tried to get her to sing but she wouldn't so I never imagined she'd be where she is now," she said.

"Her confidence has just grown amazingly, from when she was little to now."