Lauren Mayberry is the lead singer of the Scottish synthpop band CHVRCHES. I personally don’t find her “stunning” or “sexy”, but she can be awfully cute, in a pixie sort of way:
What’s even better than her looks is her mind. Mayberry wasn’t sure her music career would take off, so she got a bachelor of laws degree* and a masters in journalism. She even won a prestigious award from the Royal Environmental Health Institute of Scotland in 2010 for an article she wrote about body piercing practices (read it in this PDF). More recently, Mayberry wrote this piece in The Guardian about the misogyny she has to deal with online with Twitter and Facebook (and no, she’s not being hyper-sensitive about “I think you’re pretty!” tweets; most of the example tweets she gives are pretty disgusting).
She’s also quite smart about the music business. For one thing, the band liked the name “Churches”, but thought it would be difficult to Google for, so Mayberry proposed the alternative spelling. And it took them forever and a day to get a record contract because the band held out for a label that would give them considerable creative freedom. Mayberry says:
“You see so many bands regress and become like children, getting told what to do. I’m not in the business of telling people ‘DIY or die’ but I do think it’s important to be as hands-on with what you’re doing as possible. Sometimes if you don’t take the easy option it’ll pay dividends in the long run…. One guy came to a show, and was like: ‘You’re going to be huge. I can see it in my mind’s eye, we could make you the next Pixie Lott.’ I did an internal scream and ran away…. I guess at the end of the day I want to be viewed as a musician. Maybe I am super-paranoid about it. But after this is all done, I want to be able to say that we did it in the way we wanted to do it.”
But perhaps the BEST thing of all is that, despite being one of the tiniest singers I’ve ever seen, Mayberry is NOT a vegetarian. She even posted her recipe for beef and chorizo chili on a website after being asked for it. Sweet!
More pictures after the jump!
* – In common law nations outside the United States, a bachelor of laws degree is a four year degree, sufficient to become a lawyer, provided one passes the bar exam. In the United States, Yale University offered a bachelor of laws degree until 1971, finally putting the school in line with other universities, as the juris doctor degree been legally required by most states and legal professional groups since 1962.