Lauren Eve Mayberry (born 7 October 1987) is a Scottish musician who is the vocalist and percussionist of the pop band Chvrches.[7] In Chvrches, Mayberry co-writes and co-produces the songs with Iain Cook and Martin Doherty, and sings as the lead vocalist. She also plays drums and keyboards. Mayberry is a soprano.[8] She is also an active feminist and philanthropist.[9]
Early life and education
Mayberry was born in 1987 in Thornhill, Stirling.[10][11] She has played the piano since she was a child and drums since she was a teenager.[12]
Mayberry attended Beaconhurst School (now known as Fairview International School) a private school in Bridge of Allan. She also lived for six months[13] in Gladstone, Illinois, as a foreign-exchange student.[14] After completing a four-year undergraduate law degree at the University of Strathclyde, she earned a master's degree in journalism in 2010, and won the Royal Environmental Health Institute for Scotland Journalism Award.[15][16][17] This led her into a career in freelance journalism and production running. From 2009 to 2010 she was a contributor[18] to the UK music website The Line of Best Fit.
Career
Mayberry performing with Chvrches in 2012
From age 15 until 22, Mayberry played drums in various bands.[19] Prior to Chvrches, Mayberry was involved in two local bands, Boyfriend/Girlfriend and Blue Sky Archives.[19] In Blue Sky Archives, she was a vocalist and played the drums and keyboards.[19] As a member of Blue Sky Archives, Mayberry also covered the Rage Against the Machine song "Killing in the Name" which was released as a single.[20]
In September 2011, Iain Cook of Aereogramme and The Unwinding Hours produced Blue Sky Archives' Triple A-SideEP.[19] Cook started a new project with his friend Martin Doherty and asked Mayberry to sing on a couple of demos.[16] They wrote together for seven or eight months in a basement studio in Glasgow.[19] Cook, Mayberry and Doherty decided to form a new band after the sessions proved to be successful.[16] The band chose the name Chvrches, using a Roman "v" to distinguish themselves from actual churches on internet searches.[16]
In 2018, Mayberry was featured on the cover of Vestal Magazine,[30] and in October 2023 she was on the cover of DIY magazine.[31] That same year Chvrches performed at BBC Radio 1's Biggest Weekend in Swansea.[32]
In 2023, it was announced that Mayberry would be releasing solo material for the first time, which would be accompanied by a US and European/UK tour later in the year.[33] She released her debut solo single, "Are You Awake?", on 1 September 2023.[34] She co-wrote the song with award-winning Canadian songwriter Tobias Jesso Jr.[13] This was followed by the singles "Shame", "Change Shapes",[35] "Something in the Air"[36] and "Crocodile Tears" over the next year.
Her debut album Vicious Creature was released on 6 December 2024.[24] The album track "Oh, Mother" documents Mayberry's shifting relationship with her mother, whilst "Crocodile Tears" criticises emotionally manipulative men.[24]
In 2024, Mayberry was a special guest on the podcast Before They Knew Better.[31]
Activism and philanthropy
Feminism and women's rights
Mayberry performing with Chvrches at The Greek theatre in Griffith Park, Los Angeles in September 2018
Mayberry is a vocal feminist and is the founder of TYCI, a feminist collective in Glasgow.[37] Her ongoing work with the organisation includes written contributions to the online magazine and blog, and she can be heard regularly on TYCI podcasts.[38] The group also holds live events, raising money for charities like Glasgow Women's Aid,[39] and produced a radio show.[13]
In September 2013, Mayberry wrote an article for The Guardian in response to misogynist messages she received online.[40] She wrote:
"What I do not accept ... is that it is all right for people to make comments ranging from 'a bit sexist but generally harmless' to openly sexually aggressive. That it is something that 'just happens'. Is the casual sexual objectification of women so commonplace that we should all just suck it up, roll over and accept defeat? I hope not. Objectification, whatever its form, is not something anyone should have to 'just deal with'."
In 2018, Mayberry discussed the #MeToo movement during a BBC interview and explained how she was sceptical that much had changed:[32]
"It's great that people are waking up and having that conversation, but it has to be more than a symbolic gesture," she says. Yes, it's great that you kicked Harvey Weinstein out of the Academy but Roman Polanski's still in there, Woody Allen's still in there, Bill Cosby's still in there. People wear white roses at the Grammy Awards to show they stand with these things - but then you look at the show, and you look at the content of it, and you look at the people in the room, and you're like, 'Oh, nothing has changed.'"
In 2019, she criticised former Chvrches collaborator Marshmello for working with Chris Brown,[13] who had admitted assaulting his then girlfriend Rihanna in 2009.[55] Mayberry wrote on Instagram that "working with people who are predators and abusers enables, excuses and ultimately tacitly endorses that behaviour."[55]
In 2020, during the covid-19 pandemic, Mayberry performed as part of the For The Love Of Scotland live stream fundraiser which aimed to get Personal Protective Equipment to key workers in Scotland.[56]
Mayberry has been an outspoken critic of the Trump administration and has attributed his presidency with the rise of global activism for social issues, calling him "an unpunished sexual predator in office."[57] Referring to the mixed reaction by the crowd to a Trump joke she told at a concert, Mayberry said "you can't say you don't think he's a racist. You can't say you don't think he's a sexist. You can't say you don't think he's transphobic and homophobic, 'cause he has shown us who he is."[58]
Mayberry and actor Justin Long have engaged in multiple philanthropic activities together, including hosting a holiday variety show charity fundraiser at The Fonda Theatre in Los Angeles[61] and travelling together to Nicaragua to visit a women's shelter.[62] In May 2018, The Guardian identified Long as Mayberry's boyfriend.[63] Mayberry subsequently suggested that these claims were false.[64] In September 2018, People reported that Long had split from Mayberry, "whom he began dating in 2016".[65] During an interview with Rolling Stone in October 2018, Mayberry indicated that she was single.[66]
In 2019, Mayberry met her current boyfriend, Sam Stewart when his band Lo Moon was opening for Chvrches.[67][68] Sam is the son of Eurythmics member Dave Stewart.[69]
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