Riva Taylor

Rebecca Jane Grosvenor Taylor (born 29 June 1988),^[1] known professionally as Riva Taylor, is an English singer and actress. In her childhood and teens, she recorded under the names Becky Taylor,^[2] Becky Jane Taylor, and simply Becky.

Taylor was born on June 29, 1988, in Hammersmith, London.^[3] She had her first experience on the stage at the age of seven in London's West End, playing Little Eponine at the Palace Theatre.^[4] Other early achievements include winning the Thorndike Talent competition for ages 8–24, and winning a British Arts Award for her dance performance of the Secret Garden, both of which she achieved at the age of 8. She also appeared on Blue Peter, performing "My Heart Will Go On" at the age of 10. She attended Danes Hill School, Surrey before studying for her GCSEs and A Levels at Tormead School, Guildford. Taylor has said that living the life of a normal school girl was important for somebody exposed to the music industry from a young age.^[5]

Taylor is an Associate of the Royal Academy of Dance. Taylor graduated with a degree in history from the University of Durham in 2010.^[6]

At the age of 12, she landed a recording contract with EMI,^[4] making her the youngest artist to have been signed to the record label. Her debut album, A Dream Come True (2001) recorded at Abbey Road Studios and arranged by Simon Hale, enjoyed international success. That same year she sang at the Farm Aid benefit gala concert at the Royal Albert Hall. This was attended by Prince Charles who praised the young Taylor and stated he would watch her career with great interest. She also caught the attention of Mohammed Al Fayed who, after hearing her sing at her album launch at Harrods, invited her to open the Harrods Sale with Jean-Claude Van Damme and Salma Hayek.

Over those years, Taylor toured worldwide promoting her music. Her 2001 US tour was supported by promotional performances on Live with Regis and Kelly hosted by guest presenter Usher and the MDA Labor Day Telethon, Los Angeles.^[7][8]

While Taylor's first album entirely consisted of show tunes,^[4][2] her second one could be defined as a classical/pop crossover. Naturally a soprano, by 2005 she started using her "deeper range".^[4]

In 2005, she performed at the Last Night of the Audley End and Kenwood Proms with Wynne Evans. In 2006, she performed at the Millennium Stadium at the FA Cup Final where she sang "Abide with Me" with Lesley Garrett. She also performed the Rugby World Cup Anthem "World in Union" at the Madjeski Stadium for the Aviva Premiership in 2010 and the national anthem at the Twickenham Stadium for the Six Nations in 2012.^[9]

In January and February 2012, she appeared as a guest artist on both The Soldiers and Alfie Boe's UK tours.^[10]

In 2017 Taylor released a club remix of her song "Deeper than Us" which charted at number #3 in the Music Week pop charts and was backed by Pete Tong on BBC Radio 1 and Tiesto on his Club Life^[11]

In 2018 she released a single titled "My Mouth" which was selected by Sir Elton John for his Beats1 show Rocket Hour.^[12]

In 2020 she released an album titled This Woman's Heart .1, featuring the singles "This Woman's Heart", "Jealous" and "Running at Walls".^[13] She showcased the songs at British Summer Time where she supported Barbra Streisand.^[14]

Taylor helped found the Songwriters' Circle in 2019, held at Roundhouse, London with Nashville songwriter Jeff Cohen. Later rebranded The Online Songwriters' Circle during the pandemic.^[15]

In 2021 she released This Woman's Heart .2 including BBC Radio 2 favourite "If I Could Ever Stop Loving You" and "Woman".^[16]

In 2022 Taylor began writing songs between London and Mexico City, inspired by a love of jazz and the rhythms of Latin America.^[17] Her first release was a bossa nova song called "Colours of Blue" which Taylor performed live in Mexico on Sale el Sol (TV program).^[18] Her follow up single Cubano was supported by Los 40 and Exa FM and peaked at #17 in the radio charts In Mexico.^[19]

In 2024 Taylor released a multi-cultured pop album Colours of Blue.^[20]

Taylor has performed the theme tunes for a number of film and TV programmes including BBC Christmas feature film Second Star to the Left starring Barbara Windsor and Hugh Laurie,^[21] Taylor performed the song "You Can Be a Hero" and the theme tune for Barbie as Rapunzel.^[22] In 2014 Taylor featured as a guest artist on the Video Games Live World Tour, performing her song from Assassin's Creed and Grammy nominated music from Journey. Some venues included the Eventim Apollo, London and the Heineken Music Hall, Amsterdam. Taylor also opened the Bafta Game Awards where she performed and presented the award for music with film composer David Arnold.^[23][24]

As Becky Taylor

• 2001: "You Can Be a Hero" (EMI Classics)
• 2001: "Song of Dreams" (EMI Classics) — reached #60 in the UK^[25]

As Riva Taylor

• My Mouth (2018)
• Running at Walls (2018)
• This Woman's Heart (2019)
• Jealous (2020)
• If I Could Ever Stop Loving You (2020)
• Woman (2021)
• Colours of Blue (2022)
• No Protection (2022)
• Cubano (2023)

• Official website