Biography
Job Title: Senior Lecturer: Screen Acting, MA Songwriting
Courses Taught: BA (Hons) Acting, BA (Hons) Actor Musician, MA Songwriting
Specialisms: Performance and acting
Keeley Forsyth is a singer, composer and actress from Oldham, UK. Having been a frequent presence on primetime TV since the mid-'90s, she has struck out to forge an unusual parallel career over the past few years as a powerful, unique, and uncompromising new presence in contemporary music.
Described by Pitchfork as “an arid and beautiful debut”, by Uncut as "astonishing" and by The Sunday Times as "one of the most remarkable in years”, Keeley's debut album 'Debris' was released in 2020 and followed by 2022’s 'Limbs'. Both records drew unanimous critical praise, prompting comparisons with Nico, Nick Cave, Portishead’s Beth Gibbons, Aldous Harding, Anohni and Scott Walker.
It is often stated that no one else is making music quite like this. The unorthodox nature of Keeley’s sound finds disparate influences from various genres without seeming to belong to one itself. In Spring 2024, she released her third studio album ‘The Hollow’ on FatCat Records' 130701 imprint.
Having trained as a dancer and actor she has left an indelible mark on stages around the world. In recent years, Keeley has worked with esteemed collaborators including Matthew Bourne, Colin Stetson, Teho Teardo, Gazelle Twin, Evelyn Glennie, and Yann Tiersen. She has soundtracked Maxine Peake’s directorial debut, developed a unique performance piece commissioned as part of her 2022 New Music
Biennial award and is currently developing a stage project and studio record with electronic music producer and composer Ben Frost and writer Robert MacFarlane.
Keeley continues to act in film with 2023 finding her to appear in Jessica Hausner’s dark satire 'Club Zero' as well as a small character part in Yorgos Lanthimos’s celebrated and multi-award-winning 'Poor Things'.
