Sylvia Patterson

Sylvia Patterson was born in the ‘Fair City’ of Perth, Scotland. She became a music journalist aged 20, working for Smash Hits magazine in its million-selling, late 80s heyday and went on to freelance for NME, Q, Glamour, the Face, the Word, the Guardian Guide, the Sunday Herald and the Sunday Times.

Her 2016 memoir I’m Not With The Band (Sphere) was shortlisted for the Costa Biography Award, the NME Awards Book Of The Year and the Penderyn Music Prize, winning BBC Radio 1 Annie Nightingale’s Book Of The Year. She’s appeared on Woman’s Hour, Scotland Tonight, Radio 5 Live, BBC 6Music, Channel 4, ITV and across the nation’s festivals from Edinburgh to Wigtown, Port Eliot, Laugharne, Hull, Sea Change and Latitude. Despite over 30 years living in London she still sounds like she comes “fae Perth”.