Sophie Heawood
Sophie Heawood grew up in York, where she went to the local schools while longing to attend Mallory Towers. She studied languages at Kings College London but dropped out and eventually got her degree at night school. She has lived in Barcelona, where she was a teenage au pair, Hong Kong, where she acted as an extra in low-budget Chinese soap operas, and Los Angeles, where she interviewed celebrities for British newspapers. Her journalism career began writing pop music reviews for the Guardian and she now writes for The Guardian, Observer, Sunday Times and Vogue. Sophie now lives in Hackney, East London with her daughter and their dog, Chips. Her bestselling memoir, The Hungover Games, was published by Cape in 2020 and has been optioned for TV.
50 articles
List of articles in the library by date
Laura Cantrell: Jazz Cafe, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 3 June 2005
WHEN YOU BURST INTO TEARS ON STAGE, forget the words to several songs and introduce your double bass player as a guitarist, chances are you're ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 22 July 2005
WHEN YOU GO SOLO after spending eight years in a duo, how do you fill that nagging gap beside you on the stage? Easy: take ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 12 October 2005
"BUT ANYWAY, back to the album ... " This will prove the leitmotif of tonight's show, as the Roll Deep collective find themselves yo-yoing between ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 14 October 2005
WHAT A DIFFERENCE a Mercury nomination makes, as frontwoman Ninja discovers when she bounces on to the stage to announce "We're The Go! Team," and ...
Animal Collective: Scala, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 29 October 2005
LIKE WATCHING SPEEDED-UP FOOTAGE of the dawn, you don't quite notice when one part of an Animal Collective set has ended and another has started. ...
The Fiery Furnaces: ICA, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 31 October 2005
GREAT GIGS, LIKE GREAT DRAMA, require an element of conflict, and The Fiery Furnaces have the advantage on that one: they are brother and sister. ...
Roots Manuva: Kentish Town Forum, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 28 November 2005
THERE HAS ALWAYS BEEN SOMETHING of the drunk-uncle-at-a-wedding about Roots Manuva, so it's as much of a surprise for him as for us to see ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 16 December 2005
BETH ORTON has always been accompanied by a narrative of loneliness. The death of her parents inspired many of her early songs, which told of ...
Kid Creole & The Coconuts: Kid Creole and the Coconuts: Jazz Café, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 25 January 2006
IN AN EXCHANGE which seems quite fair —we get the Scissor Sisters, the Americans get Gavin Rossdale — US acts often make it big here ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 27 February 2006
JD SALINGER CLAIMED he was a paranoid in reverse who suspected people of plotting to make him happy. The Concretes seem to be gripped by ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 6 March 2006
WHERE DO OLD RAVERS GO when they retire? They get drunk and go to Lou Rhodes gigs. Tonight the Scala is a sea of dirty ...
Mark Morrison: ’I'm the most reallest black artist in England'
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 8 March 2006
After the court cases, the jail time and the unfounded rape allegation, Mark Morrison is keen to put his bad boy image behind him. He ...
Plan B: Islington Academy, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 1 April 2006
THERE ARE THINGS that get said only for the shock factor, and then there are things that are just shocking. Plan B's subject matter, with ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 6 April 2006
FOR A ONE-HIT WONDER, Roachford sure has a lot of tunes. Gone are the early gigs, as a diehard fan reminds him tonight, where he ...
Salsa Celtica: Islington Academy, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 12 April 2006
IT IS NOT OFTEN that a salsa concert takes a break for a bagpipe solo, but that juxtaposition is Salsa Celtica's unique selling point. As ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 14 April 2006
IF ANYONE BOUGHT A TICKET for tonight's show because of an advertisement, in which hundreds of coloured balls tumble gaily down a San Francisco hill, ...
Placebo: Alexandra Palace, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 15 April 2006
WHEN PLACEBO FIRST HIT THE CHARTS in the mid-1990s, Brian Molko's thick black eyeliner and androgynous posturing caused a bit of a stir, as much ...
Panic! at the Disco: Astoria, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 29 April 2006
PANIC! AT THE DISCO'S DEBUT ALBUM may be called A Fever You Can't Sweat Out, but tonight their obsessive fans are trying to do just ...
Hard-Fi: Brixton Academy, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 16 May 2006
BILLY BRAGG MIGHT SEEM an unlikely guest to support a pop-rock band like Hard-Fi, but both acts are often referred to as "of the people". ...
The Rakes: Shepherd's Bush Empire, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 17 May 2006
IN THE CURRENT SURFEIT of guitar bands named after collective nouns, a group needs something singular if they are not to fall prey to NME ...
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 24 May 2006
"I JUST CAN'T BELIEVE THAT, four years on, we're doing an arena tour!" announces Nadine Coyle with genuine astonishment. She's not the only one. While ...
Hot Chip: King's College, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 3 June 2006
HOT CHIP are five white Englishmen who stand in a straight line across the stage, as if waiting to be shot. They claim to love ...
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 9 June 2006
In a bid to shake off their clean-cut image, Keane have been exploring murkier territory — and hanging around with Bret Easton Ellis and Irvine ...
The Automatic: Not Accepted Anywhere
Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 16 June 2006
BLAME THE AMERICAN EMO BANDS, or the palpable fury of those nu-metal teenagers who skulk around with stares that could kill kittens, but indie is ...
Busta Rhymes: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 17 June 2006
LOOKING AS IF HE'S BEEN STYLED BY MR T, and garlanded in enough bling to sink a small island, Busta Rhymes bounces on to the ...
Mary J. Blige: Mary J Blige: Wembley Arena, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 19 June 2006
THAT MARY J BLIGE HAS BEEN THROUGH some troubles in her life is well known; it's what makes her an icon of strength and survival ...
Gnarls Barkley: Hammersmith Apollo, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 8 July 2006
"I WAS GONNA STRIP FOR ALL THE GIRLS tonight but they said I'd get locked up. You can have a little peep though," says Cee-Lo, ...
Erykah Badu: Somerset House, London
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 17 July 2006
IN HER BILLOWING WHITE ROBES, with hair piled into a gigantic afro mohican, Erykah Badu looks incandescent and remarkable against the night sky at this ...
Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 4 August 2006
THE NAMES ON THIS ALBUM might be unfamiliar to some, but their work is all-pervasive in the pop landscape. Whose Mary J Blige remix apparently ...
Amy Winehouse: She's Class with a Glass: Amy Winehouse
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 3 November 2006
Cockney chanteuse Amy Winehouse thinks rehab is for wimps. But will her battles with her addictive personality deprive her of her rightful place in musical ...
Belinda Carlisle: In a Provence hideaway, Belinda goes native
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 9 February 2007
'80s pop star Belinda Carlisle loves France so much she's gone native, she tells Sophia Heawood. ...
Bloc Party: Party people turn political
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 10 February 2007
Their fiery mix of pop and passion is turning Bloc Party into a key band. Our writer met them. ...
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 27 July 2007
Frozen moments is how Interpol sees its intelligent, dark-edged brand of rock. Sophie Heawood met the quirky quartet. ...
Review by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 4 August 2007
YOU WOULD THINK that Richey Edwards from the Manic Street Preachers carving "4 real" into his arm, in 1991, might have ended the British fascination ...
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 28 December 2007
Universally tipped for stardom in the coming year, Adele has a mouth on her and she's not afraid to use it. Adele Adkins is dumb-founded. She's ...
The Zutons open up with their third album You Can Do Anything
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 30 May 2008
The Zutons wrote 'Valerie' about a friend. Now their new album is based on other personal stories ...
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 29 November 2008
JESCA HOOP is gleefully pulling a wad of vintage lace out of her shopping bag. Layer after layer appears — is a grandmother somewhere being ...
Little Boots is the big sound for 2009
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 10 January 2009
She's Blackpool's answer to Kylie and a fan of unhinged escapism — Little Boots is a hot prospect ...
Grace Jones: Grace under pressure
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 23 January 2009
The rigours of the road do nothing to cool the unexpected warmth of Grace Jones, says Sophie Heawood ...
Thom Yorke and Flea: Orpheum Theatre, Los Angeles
Live Review by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 5 October 2009
THE NEWS THAT THOM YORKE had come to Los Angeles and formed a temporary supergroup with Flea from the Red Hot Chili Peppers was surprise ...
Review by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 21 November 2009
MAYBE YOU SHOULDN'T, but it's impossible to listen to Rihanna's new record without hunting for clues about her feelings towards Chris Brown, the former boyfriend ...
Snoop (Doggy) Dogg: The new mellow Snoop Dogg still has bite
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 4 December 2009
Snoop Dogg: "Now that I'm more concerned and caring and a father and a husband — it seems the less respect I get" ...
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 14 January 2010
Grizzly Bear, the vocal harmony group beloved of the hip-hop elite, talk about touring with Radiohead and the truth behind the Brooklyn scene. ...
Julian Casablancas on the Strokes and going solo
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Sunday Times, 18 January 2010
He's the privileged kid who with The Strokes shaped the future of, among others, Kings Of Leon and Arctic Monkeys. Now he's all alone ...
Joanna Newsom: The Conversation: Joanna Newsom
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 20 February 2010
She is a homebody who models for Armani, a harpist and possibly the best composer of her generation ...
Roky Erickson: The Roky Erickson road to greatness
Profile and Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 7 July 2010
The pop musician has survived madness and drugs — if only just. His rocking tunes still make sense to the kids. ...
Katy Perry: What Katy Perry did next
Comment by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 27 August 2010
For a moment Lady Gaga looked to have outgunned her, but the singer is back on top. We look at what drives her ...
Scissor Sisters: "Being on stage is some sort of revenge"
Report and Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Times, 11 September 2010
Scissor Sisters talk supporting Lady Gaga, breaking the no clowns rule at Bestival and their filthy new live show Nobody watching Scissor Sisters play Boston tonight ...
Keane: As Keane bow out in Berlin, I pray it's not for good
Essay by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 11 November 2013
Unbearable as it is to contemplate, the release of a greatest hits album by the band from Battle could mark their split. ...
Florence and the Machine: "I funned myself out"
Interview by Sophie Heawood, The Guardian, 25 June 2015
Big nights and big feelings left "a trail of absolute destruction" in Florence Welch’s wake. As she prepares for the biggest night of her life ...
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