Amy Elizabeth Macdonald (born 25 August 1987) is a Scottish singer-songwriter. In 2007, she released her debut studio album, This Is the Life, which produced the singles "Mr. Rock & Roll" and "This Is the Life"; the latter charting at number one in six countries, while reaching the top 10 in another 11 countries. The album reached number one in four European countries – the United Kingdom, Denmark, the Netherlands and Switzerland – and sold three million copies worldwide. Moderate success in the American music market followed in 2008. Macdonald has sold over 12 million records worldwide.
Macdonald's second studio album, A Curious Thing, was released in 2010. Its lead single "Don't Tell Me That It's Over" peaked at number 45 on the UK Singles Chart, and reached the Top 10 in several mainland European countries. In 2010, she collaborated with Ray Davies on his album, See My Friends, performing a cover of the Kinks' "Dead End Street". Her third studio album, Life in a Beautiful Light, was released in 2012 and spawned three singles: "Slow It Down", "Pride" and "4th of July". In 2017, Macdonald released her fourth studio album, Under Stars, which entered at number two on the Scottish and UK Album Charts, and spawned three singles, with the lead single "Dream On" achieving success in European charts.
In 2020, Macdonald released her fifth studio album, The Human Demands, which spawned four singles and one promotional single. The lead single "The Hudson" reached number twelve in her native Scotland, whilst The Human Demands performed favourably in European album markets. She represented Scotland at the Free European Song Contest 2021 with her song "Statues", finishing in 4th place with 77 points. In April 2025, she released the lead single from her sixth studio album Is This What You've Been Waiting For? which was released on 11 July 2025.
Amy Elizabeth Macdonald was born on 25 August 1987 in Bishopbriggs, nearby to Glasgow, located in the central belt of Scotland. She attended Bishopbriggs High School. After being inspired by Travis at the T in the Park festival in 2000, she heard Travis' song "Turn" and wanted to play it herself.
She bought a Travis chord book, and started playing on her father's guitar, teaching herself how to play. Soon afterward she began composing her own songs, the first being called "The Wall". She started playing in pubs and coffee houses around Glasgow at the age of 15, including the Brunswick Cellars on Sauchiehall Street.
Macdonald sent a demo CD in response to an advertisement placed in the NME by a new production company set up by songwriters Pete Wilkinson and Sarah Erasmus. Wilkinson said he was "literally aghast" at her songwriting abilities when first he heard Macdonald play the songs "This Is the Life" and "Mr Rock n Roll". He then spent around eight or nine months recording demos with Macdonald at his home studio with a view to securing a record deal for his new client. In 2007 she signed a contract with Vertigo when she was 18 years old.
She has claimed that she feels she was "in the right place at the right time" by answering the advertisement in NME, later claiming that the subsequent success she endured to be "a weird life". Macdonald has been described as "one of the last artists" to gain a recording contract by sending a demo to record companies, with Macdonald claiming it to be "mental", citing the music industry changes since 2007. Macdonald claims that "what's funny is even then, everyone found it bizarre that I got a record deal from sending a demo, because this was when people were being discovered on MySpace — Lily Allen, Arctic Monkeys; they were all doing it that way".
2007–2011: This Is the Life and A Curious Thing
In 2007 Macdonald released her debut album, titled This Is the Life. The album sold three million copies, and reached No. 1 in the UK, the Netherlands, Switzerland and Denmark. This Is the Life reached No. 92 on the US Billboard 200. The single, "This Is the Life" reached No. 25 on the US Billboard Triple-A radio airplay charts. The first single from the album, "Poison Prince", was only a limited release. The second single, "Mr. Rock and Roll", became Macdonald's first top 40 song, charting at No. 12 in the United Kingdom. However the third single, "LA", missed the top 40 at No. 48.
The fourth and most successful single, "This Is the Life", charted at No. 28 in the UK, and was No. 1 in five other European countries ― Austria, Belgium, Czech Republic and the Netherlands. In her native Scotland, it achieved considerable success, peaking at number seventeen. The single was awarded Platinum in Germany and Belgium and Gold in Spain and Switzerland. It was also the theme song of True Law (Prawo Agaty), a Polish legal drama TV series. The fifth single, "Run", gave Macdonald her second lowest chart position in the UK at No. 75. However, "Run" charted at No. 36 in Germany. The sixth and final single was the re-release of "Poison Prince"; it charted at No. 148 in the UK, Macdonald's lowest chart position. The album's track "Youth of Today" was chosen as the first single featured on Bebo/iTunes' "Free Single of the Week" program.
She appeared as a musical performing guest on British and foreign shows including The Album Chart Show, Loose Women, Friday Night Project, Taratata (France), and This Morning. She won the best newcomer award at the Silver Clef Awards. She has appeared on several US talk shows such as The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson (2008), where she performed "Mr. Rock and Roll" and also The Ellen DeGeneres Show (2008) where she performed her hit single, "This Is the Life".
Macdonald began working on her second album in 2009. She said "Some of the sounds are just amazing and we've managed to persuade one of my favourite artists to whack some stuff down on them, but you'll have to wait and see." The artist in question was Paul Weller, who contributed electric guitar on the track "Love Love" and piano and bass guitar on the track "This Pretty Face". Titled A Curious Thing, it was released on 8 March 2010.
The album was preceded by the release of the first single from it, "Don't Tell Me That It's Over", a week earlier on 1 March 2010. The single was released to UK radio on 11 January, and Amy performed it that same day on the Simon Mayo Show on BBC Radio 2. "Don't Tell Me That It's Over" was also released to radio in countries like UK, Switzerland, Germany and France. The album's second single "Spark" was released on 10 May 2010 on digital download format. Macdonald also confirmed that she would tour the United Kingdom and other parts of Europe in 2010.
The album's third single "This Pretty Face" was released on 19 July 2010 after Macdonald confirmed she would embark on a tour entitled The Love Love Tour. Also that year, she was one of a number of artists who recorded with Ray Davies on his 2010 album See My Friends, in which she sang with him on "Dead End Street".
2011–2015: Life in a Beautiful Light
Macdonald's third album, Life in a Beautiful Light, was released on 11 June 2012. Macdonald began to write Life in a Beautiful Light after having a "lovely year off" following touring in support of A Curious Thing. Macdonald had no time to write songs on her second album as she was touring with This Is the Life. However, Macdonald said she felt that the creation of Life in a Beautiful Light was a more natural process. Two songs from Life in a Beautiful Light were begun before Macdonald's break. "In the End" was written with Macdonald questioning herself whether being a musician was a worthwhile occupation.
Macdonald wrote "Human Spirit" inspired by the Chilean miners' rescue. The song "Left That Body Long Ago" described her grandmother's decline into Alzheimer's disease whilst "Across the Nile" is a response to the conflict of the Arab Spring.
Three songs from the album were released as singles: "Slow It Down", "Pride" and "4th of July". She told BBC News that Pride was written to describe her feelings about performing Flower of Scotland at Hampden Park prior to Scotland international football matches. Macdonald wrote the last track on the album, In the End, at the end of her previous tour and Life in a Beautiful Light was then recorded in Surrey. It was produced by Pete Wilkinson and mixed by Bob Clearmountain, who previously worked on her debut album. On 2 June 2012 she sang her song "Slow It Down" with the finalist of the second season of the Polish version of The X Factor, a girl group the Chance.