Olivia Chaney

Born in Florence, Italy but grew up in Oxford, UK. She also collaborated with as Offa Rex with The Decemberists last year. www.oliviachaney.com

Olivia Chaney was born in Florence, Italy, and grew up in Oxford, England, studying composition, piano, cello, and voice. Early influences include her father's record collections and his own renditions of early blues and '60s folk songwriters like Bob Dylan, Fairport Convention, and Bert Jansch. At 14, she won joint-first piano and voice scholarship to Chetham's School of Music in Manchester, which was focused on the classical repertoire. She then went on to attend the Royal Academy of Music in London, also on scholarship, where, as an improviser and songwriter, she studied in the jazz course. While at the Academy, Chaney spent much of her time experimenting and collaborating outside the traditional jazz course. 2015. oliviachaney.net