Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading, MBE (born 9 December 1950) is a British singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Armatrading is a three-time Grammy Award-nominee and has been nominated twice for BRIT Awards as Best Female Artist. She also received an Ivor Novello award for Outstanding Contemporary Song Collection in 1996. Throughout her career, she has only ever sung the songs that she has written and has not recorded any cover songs