About

Just turned 18, Lisa Kowalski has been performing and writing music for around four years. Performance highlights have included singing to 4000 fans at St Mirren FC games, owning the acoustic tent at Mugstock in 2016 and 2017, a support slot for Wildwood Kin, entertaining at the John Byrne Award Summer Party and gracing the Motherwell Concert Hall Main Stage in October 2017 for the annual Beer Festival.

Thanks to the incredibly supportive Paisley music scene, there was a turning point in 2016 when Lisa took part in a youth songwriting workshop with esteemed local musician James Grant. James described her as a “songwriter of great maturity and poise” and made her Song Free Spirits the finale of the Showcase at The Spree Festival. Lisa obtained a grant from Paisley 2021 and started recording her first EP, Free Spirits, featuring songs written between ages 14 and 16. It was the release of the EP in April 2017 that really stepped up the pace again. Glowing reviews, lots of local radio interviews, worldwide airplay, an appearance on STV, the BBC Radio Scotland Janice Forsyth Show, the BBC at the Fringe stage, a mention in the Times and an opportunity to take part in a Celtic FM Showcase alongside Rab Noakes, Gillian Frame, Jill Jackson and Findlay Napier.

During the year, EP tracks were selected for the Fatea UK Acoustic showcase album, helped her win the Renfrewshire Live and Unsigned competition and receive a nomination for Female Artist of the Year by Radio Wigwam. She beat off significant competition to make it to the finals of the new Salute Music UK competition and to the finals of the Radio Clyde Cash for Kids Jim Diamond Award.

Lisa is currently working on her next EP/ album release for 2018. She plans to self-fund with her Salute UK finalist winnings, which she collects on her 18th birthday in February, headlining King Tuts for the Salute hometown gig.