b. 12 December 1963, Johnstone, Paisley, Renfrewshire, Scotland. Scottish singer-songwriter, descended from Romany Gypsies, Laula received her first guitar when she was 12 years old. She later joined local bands, Playing For Time and This Perfect Heart. In 1989 she recorded her first solo single, ‘Gypsy’. This was followed, in 1990, by ‘Standing Proud’, a song officially adopted by the City Of Glasgow as the theme for its Year Of Culture. After a spell of busking on the continent, Laula returned to Scotland, during the summer of 1990, this time adding to the solo guitar/vocal format, by forming the Carol Laula Band. The group comprised a number of top Scottish musicians, namely Martin Hanlin (drums), Alan Hosie (bass), and Johnny Cameron (guitars, mandolin, vocals), and the resultant 1991 Scottish tour was highly successful. On 5 October 1992, Still was released, on Iona Records, and for the recording, the group was augmented by James Prime (Hammond organ, accordion), Ewan Vernal (bass), and Dougie Vipond (from Deacon Blue; drums), Anne Wood (from the Cauld Blast Orchestra; fiddle), and Mark Duff (from Capercaillie; whistle). All the songs were composed by Laula, apart from the classic ‘White Dress’ written by Dave Swarbrick. For the subsequent Scottish tour, she was supported by former Go-Go, Jane Wiedlin. Laula then went out to Louisiana, USA, to work on songs for the follow-up album with a new line-up which included Gavin McComb (bass), Martin Hanlin (drums), and Johnny Cameron (guitars). Precious Little Victories moved into soft rock, but still had an acoustic feel. Again, apart from one track co-written with Wiedlin, the songs were composed by Laula.