Emily Jane Roberts grew up in Chester[1][2] in the north west county of Cheshire, England, and began playing guitar at the age of six; however, she found guitar lessons boring and quit. At age nine, she returned to the instrument, learning acoustic guitar from a local teacher.[3][4]
She attended King's School, Macclesfield[5] before moving to Manchester to attend Chetham's School of Music, where she studied both jazz and classical guitar. During her time there, she was a member of Chetham's Big Band and the Wigan Youth Jazz Orchestra. She later accepted a place in the BMus Jazz course at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama in London. Roberts was a semi-finalist in the BBC Young Jazz Musician competition in 2020.[6]
Career
Roberts' professional career began in 2014 when she joined the Creative Leadership Ensemble, a project focused on encouraging women in jazz. From 2016 to 2021, she performed with a variety of orchestras at the Royal Festival Hall, the Wigan International Jazz Festival, the Barbican Concert Hall, among others, and performed with Guildhall Jazz and the BBC Singers in a concert broadcast on BBC Radio 3.[7] She gained experience in musical theatre by serving as the official electric guitar, mandolin, bass, and acoustic guitar understudy for the West End production of Our Ladies of Perpetual Succour at the Duke of York's Theatre in summer 2017.[8]
Roberts toured with neofolk artist Blanco White in 2018 and performed with various artists across different genres, including London based indie pop band Pink Haze, and a Babyshambles cover band called "Ladyshambles."[9] She joined a Queen tribute band called Fat Bottomed Girls in 2019.[4] She attributes the time she spent that summer "trying to get inside Brian's playing" as a strong influence on her later style of playing. In the end, the tribute band only played live once, at a convention near Hull.[10]
In 2021, Roberts began a song-writing collaboration with fellow musician Georgia Williams. As a duo, they called themselves Wednesday's Child, and released a debut five-track EP of the same name in 2021.[11][12] Wednesday's Child featured on a couple of Tom Robinson's 'BBC Introducing' mixtape featuring unsigned artists.[13][14] They began performing live shows as a five-piece band, and in July 2023 released another EP, Seven Sisters.[15] This EP featured seven songs about seven women; all of which were composed jointly by Roberts and Williams.[16] Tracks from this EP have been played on BBC radio, including "Theda" and "Paula" on BBC Radio London.[17][18]
In 2022, Roberts released a solo jazz EP, The Persistence of Memory, which critics commended for its "exciting mix of styles ... jazz ... and soul", and for Robert's arrangements.[19][6][20] The EP release was followed by live performances by Roberts at the annual London Jazz Festival,[21] and tracks from the EP have had airplay on BBC Radio 3.[22]
Roberts also played as a session guitarist for the musical Six,[23] before joining The Last Dinner Party in 2022. She plays lead guitar,[24] mandolin,[25] and flute, and contributes to song writing[24] and backing vocals. In reviews of the Last Dinner Party's debut album, Prelude to Ecstasy, Robert's guitar playing was described as "soaring, impressively stadium-ready axe heroics".[26] Her live performances have also attracted positive reviews, with music critic Kitty Empire noting how Roberts "peels off rock solos with a Mona Lisa smile ... [and] precision and sangfroid".[27] She normally plays a St. Vincent-signature Goldie from Music Man.[28][29][30]
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