Alice Armstrong

St Mary's Church, Rye

The Rye International Jazz & Blues Festival is delighted to welcome the incredible Alice Armstrong and her band to perform on Saturday 29 August at St Mary's church Rye. Alice Armstrong is an independent, multi award-winning R&B artist from the UK, reshaping nostalgic rhythm & blues grooves through a contemporary lens. Armstrong delivers heart-breaking ballads and toe-tapping earworms with a breathtaking vocal talent, sharp wit, and electric stage presence, all backed by a world-class band. In 2025 alone, Armstrong's second studio EP, Fury & Euphoria, gained over 100K streams in its first month, she performed live on BBC Radio 2 at Maida Vale Studios and was interviewed on air by Cerys Matthews for the second time. Embraced and supported by the British Blues community, Armstrong and her band secured first place at the European Blues Challenge after competing against acts from twenty-two other countries and was voted Contemporary Artist of the Year at the UK Blues Awards for the second year running. She also features on Joe Bonamassa's Spotify playlists and has played to sold out venues in over twenty-two countries. Her debut studio EP Love, Sex and Death was met with critical acclaim, followed by the equally celebrated 2024's Live at Area 88. Her second studio EP, Fury and Euphoria, was released on 1st July 2025. “Really loving that vocal” Craig Charles, BBC Radio 2 “A thing of wonder” Cerys Matthews, BBC Radio 2 “Alice is THE best female vocalist in the UK at the moment: there are others with superb voices and charisma, but Alice has it by the bucket load” Blues in Britain In 2024, Armstrong was named Contemporary Blues Artist of the Year for the first time and won the UK Blues Challenge, earning her place at the 2025 European Blues Challenge. She released her critically acclaimed live EP Live at Area 88, played even more sold out shows across the UK and Europe, and received regular support from BBC Radio 2 and Cerys Matthews. Her music featured consistently in the IBBA's Top 20, while her dynamic performances and striking visual identity continued to build her reputation across the UK and beyond. An article in ERB Magazine said: “She is a born entertainer, with a voice very few people could rival. If you can get to one of her gigs, I would recommend going to hear what the voice of a generation could easily be.” Armstrong credits Aretha Franklin, B.B. King, Tina Turner, James Brown, Koko Taylor, Ella Fitzgerald, Etta James, Donny Hathaway, Freddie King, Amy Winehouse, Janis Joplin and Dinah Washington as just some of her musical influences and peppers her performances with a trademark sense of humour inspired by The Goon Show, French and Saunders, and Monty Python.