Skinny Pelembe

Beardmore was born in Johannesburg, South Africa to an English father from Birmingham and a Mozambican mother. Concerned about Apartheid, under which interracial relationships were illegal and stigmatised, the family relocated to Doncaster, South Yorkshire when Beardmore was three.^[1]

As a teenager, Beardmore played in garage bands. He taught himself guitar and production.^[2]

Beardmore self-released his debut single "Mindset is Fear" in 2016 followed by his debut EP Seven Year Curse in 2017.^[3] After joining Gilles Peterson's Future Bubblers programme, Beardmore's second EP Sleep More, Make More Friends was released in 2018 via Peterson's label Brownswood Recordings,^[4] featuring collaborations with Yazmin Lacey, Hejira, Bernardo, and Emma-Jean Thackray, as well as the single collection "Spit/Swallow" and "Toy Shooter". Beardmore featured on the BBC Music Introducing stage at Reading and Leeds.^[5] He also played at the Great Escape Festival,^[6] Latitude Festival, and the BBC Radio 6 Music Festival and had gigs supporting Nightmares on Wax and Unkle, and at Rough Trade with Dry Cleaning and Dana Gavanski.^[7]

Produced with Malcolm Catto and via Brownswood Recordings, Beardmore released his debut album Dreaming is Dead Now in May 2019^[8] and the single "I'll Be On Your Mind".^[9] He played at the Green Man Festival^[10] and Sŵn in Wales and had headline dates supported by Elsa Hewitt.^[11] He recorded a cover of Andrew Hill's "Illusion (Apparition)" for the Blue Note Records tribute jazz album Blue Note Re:imagined in 2020.^[12] He was commissioned to write a song for South Yorkshire in 2021.^[13]

Beardmore moved to Partisan Records in 2022.^[14] In 2023, Beardmore released his sophomore album Hardly the Same Snake^[15] and third EP Deadman Deadman Deadman, the singles "Oh, Silly George"^[16] and "Don't Be Another", and a rendition of Leonard Cohen's "Who by Fire" with Beth Orton.^[17] Beardmore made his Glastonbury Festival debut that summer.^[18] He also performed at Bluedot Festival,^[19] Deer Shed Festival and London Calling, returned to Reeperbahn and Sŵn, and embarked on tour.^[20][21] The music video for "Don't Be Another", directed by Jai Moseley, was nominated for Best Alternative Video – UK at the 2024 UK Music Video Awards.^[22]

Beardmore's sound has been described as an eclectic "collage" of different genres and "genre agnostic",^[23] and that "singling out any one influence… is an impossible task".^[20] During Beardmore's childhood, his father would play folk and country acts, his brothers introduced him to hip-hop, while his maternal family influenced him towards Afro-soul.^[3] Beardmore first drew upon drum and bass,^[24] developed as an artist on the UK garage scene and studied the Beatles and the Beach Boys.^[25]

In 2017 and 2019, Beardmore named Fela Kuti, Neil Young, CAN, Madlib,^[3] My Bloody Valentine and IG Culture as influences,^[26] as well as The Lijadu Sisters and Andrew Hill.^[2]

Other artists Beardmore has praised include The Only Ones, René Aubry, Frank Zappa,^[27] The Jam, The Style Council, Blossom Dearie, and The Animals.^[28]