Barfly

After a year away Eileen returns to the uk for a series of live shows in support of her new album due for release early 2008.

She was born in Saugus, a tough suburb of Boston, and brought up in her close-knit Italian-Irish American family, the youngest of five sisters and three brothers.

Eileen studied criminal law but disappointed her mom and dad by running away to England to become a rock star. Following a couple of false starts with bands, she got a solo career under way and hasn't looked back since.

Her records and electrifying live performances have won her a dedicated following of both fans and critics. No-one sings about regret and precious time lost like Eileen Rose.

The first album, Shine Like It Does, released in 2000, had the critics reaching for their Rogets to come up with new ways of saying 'Bloody brilliant.' The Sunday Times went with 'sensational' and 'a very good album indeed'. The Guardian plumped for 'a gem', Uncut 'mesmeric' and Q 'a shining debut'.

The follow-up, Long Shot Novena, released in 2002, was even more rapturously received. The Times found it 'stunning'. Uncut marvelled at the 'rare power, polish and perception'. Time Out thought it 'a mighty powerful work' and 'genuinely moving'. Mojo found it simply 'formidable' (in a good way). Time magazine rated Good Man 'something close to the perfect song' and Nick Hornby named it as one of his favourites of the year in 31 Songs.

However, the pundits did struggle to figure out which box she fitted into. She uses a lot of slide guitar so she must be alt.country right? On the other hand, much of her stuff sounds like good old-fashioned rock music for grown-ups. Could she be the female Bruce Springsteen or maybe Paul Simon? Is she a one-woman mid-period Floyd? Or is she the new Janis Joplin/Stevie Nicks/Patti Smith?