Born in the UK, this diminutive diva didn't, in fact, consider  singing until she was 13.  'Dad took me to Nashville  and it was a real eye-opener, what struck me most was that with Country music all the songs told an emotive story.  In England, there didn't seem to be much music that did that.'

Struck by the heartfelt tales of Country stars like Dolly Parton and Billie Jo Spears, the wide-eyed Rachael dove enthusiastically into her first studio session - paying $10 to record You Were Always On My Mind (made famous by Elvis, of course) at Barbara Mandrell's pay-as-you-go studio in a Nashville theme park.

Back in the UK, lack of musical support at school frustrated the teenager, so she decided to do something about it:  'I had a real urge to be on stage, so I spoke to my drama teacher to see if we could put on a musical.'  Accordingly, the school staged their first-ever musical, Grease, with Rachael playing Rizzo - and, thanks to her, musicals became part of the school's annual itinerary after that.

After leaving school and undaunted by budget restraints, the resourceful Warwick spent the next few years swapping time in a local studio.  Rachael would sing backing vocals for visiting bands in exchange for studio time for her own material. 

Rachael formed her own touring band, Hype (not to be confused with U2’s previous moniker, The Hype) in 1996.  They toured for about a year, until Rachael decided it was time for a musical diversification, so she stripped the songs back to basics – just vocals and acoustic guitar and began playing low-key but packed out gigs in friends cellars.  She made her own acoustic EP that sold enough copies – 700 self burnt CD’s hawked round her gigs – to finance a trip to Nashville.  That, after all, was where the flame had first been lit, so that was where Rachael evidently needed to be.

Nashville warmed instantly to Rachael’s homegrown tales and deceptively sweet voice.  In particular, producer Mark Moffatt – who, apart from working with INXS and the Finn brothers, was also a keen country fan (having worked with Australia's answer to Bryan Adams, country boy Keith Urban) – was so impressed with the honest, unfettered sound that came out of the CD that he took her under his wing, and put her straight into Nashville’s legendary Emerald Studios with illustrious country singer/actress Reba McEntire's band, the resulting session was a spontaneous success, gleaning six songs in just hours.  

Wisely at this stage, perhaps, The Impressive Records label was formed around Rachael and, in September 2004, her debut single, Mistake, was released, launching her right into the heart of the invincible country market.  It was an unprecedented success for this British ‘outsider’.  The single shot up to No 17 in the Texas Music Chart, 47 in the Music Row Chart in Nashville, 14 in the MPAK chart and spent Christmas 2004 topping the European CMA chart …and that’s just to name a few.

Rachael supported the single with gigs in the US, whipping up a storm wherever she played.  'She sings like a goddess, this Brit Diva belongs on a major label...', reported Robert K Oermann (Music Row) of this spellbinding young lady, and The Telegraph has praised her as ‘a diminutive figure emboldened with feisty energy’.

Following the single, the full six tracks recorded with Reba McEntire’s band were released as an EP entitled Maverick, and Highway 109 was released as the 2nd single charting at number 33 in the Texas chart and Number 1 in the British Independent chart. 

Review after review throughout the established country media (and some mainstream magazines), Rachael has received not a shred of negative press, either in the US or the UK.  She’s been featured favorably in Music Row, Radio & Records, Maverick Magazine, Country Routes, Southern Country, Up Country, CMDS, Country Music People, The Stage and Country Music Switzerland and been interviewed live by countless US and UK DJs…  No mean feat for a small, feisty English lass to be so heartily embraced by the biggest music industry market in the world. 

Feted in the US – where she was asked by the all-powerful CMA to host the 2005’s Global Artists Night (the in-official kick off to the CMA Music Festival / Fan Fair Nashville)

She’s also won several UK awards, most notably the New Music Award and Presenters Award at the 2005 UK Country Radio Awards.  She was also nominated in the Female Vocalist of the Year category in the European CMA.  

During the Country Radio Seminar this year, Rachael returned to Nashville and immersed herself in Masterfonics Studios, again with Mark Moffatt, to record nine new tracks for a full album, this time enlisting the help of George Marinelli, (Bonnie Raitt’s, Faith Hills, Dixie Chicks  guitarist), Bruce Bouton (Keith Urban, Shania Twain, Garth Brooks) steel player as well as McEntire’s band.  The album titled “Anglo-Americana” will be nationally distributed.  Although ten of the songs are her own, two have been penned by other songwriters. Most notably, one of those songs, (One Last Look At Love),  was written by Mark Moffatt, Jon Robbin and Alex Call, guitarist and songwriter for Huey Lewis & The News. The other is (Rodeo Man) written by Amy Mayo and Marv Green (Faith Hills writers).

Rachael has now come full circle.  Country will always be part of her soul – but now she wants to deliver her stories with more of a devilish flair, with the attitude she's already displayed.   Having already sashayed her way into the most impregnable genre in the world, this disarmingly charming lady will have no trouble at all barging into the mainstream markets.   The Brit diva is about to land.

Pippa Lang
Biographer and ex-music journalist (Melody Maker, Metal Hammer, Mojo, Sounds, What Hi-Fi...)