Mel Wiggins

Event information

Gloria Estefan was right. The rhythm did get her. And it got her young.

“Music was in my veins, and there wasn’t much getting around it,” says 25-year-old Mel, who has recently relocated to her roots in Northern Ireland after over 10 years spent in both Canada and London. “I was sent to piano lessons twice as a child and was pulled out after a
few weeks because I was wasting my parents’ hard-earned money. They could never get me to practice what my teacher sent me home to do. I was a free spirit when it came to music. I wanted to explore. I wanted to create it for myself.”

Not much about Mel’s attitude to music has changed...but her talent has certainly evolved.

“I can remember distinctly dancing around the house to my mum’s records playing as she cleaned the house,” she remembers, “I thought there was no one in the world that could sing like Karen Carpenter or write songs like Simon & Garfunkel, and that was the soundtrack to
my childhood. These are the sounds that still move me to this day.”

Since those days, Mel’s passion to create music has formed in specific and significant ways and she has discovered her voice, inner and outer. In doing so, she has been given amazing opportunities to sing and write songs about stuff that she thinks matter in the world...and
people are starting to listen. Since Mel’s return to Northern Ireland, she has been busy sinking her teeth into the local music scene, showcasing her music wherever she can and taking every opportunity to learn, write and perform. She has recently released her debut EP 'My Brother's Keeper' which has arrived to great critical acclaim.

As well as this, Mel is frequently commissioned to write songs for International Charities, which she counts as a privilege.

In a world where songs with no depth or truth rule the airwaves, Mel wants to say something real. She is desperate to turn the clocks of the music industry back and bring something classy and beautiful...something with poignancy and clarity about the redemptive longing in the human condition. On any platform she has, Mel is hungry to use her voice to be a voice for others: Saying the things people are afraid to say, and putting music to the stories of people, who otherwise, we would never hear about…

With heartbreaking melodies and conversational lyrics, Mel’s songs give you that ‘at home’ feeling, and you soon get the idea that her songs will be remembered for a while to come…


"Mel Wiggins is an artful and gifted singer and songwriter. Her ability to perform a diverse and inspiring range of music is only rivalled by her stunning lyricism. Her best work is undoubtedly the songs that she writes and sings as a heartfelt and well-thought-through response to some of the world's most horrific situations of injustice. It is these songs, which she has given as a gift to our work with the world's poorest, that stand alone as both beautiful works of artistic expression and as shouts of advocacy for the voiceless and poor of our world. Mel's gift is a unique and dulcet voice of justice."
Graeme Hodge SA International Development Team

"….. her poignant and stunning lyricism, close in the spirit to that of Foy Vance, is not only the appeal of My Brother's Keeper. Mel's sugar-spun voice kindly strolls you through these narratives and adds a delicious frisson to the stirring subject matter." AU Magazine

“With the right push, Mel Wiggins could be sitting on a musical goldmine” David Roy, Irish News

PLEASE NOTE:
DOORS OPEN 7PM, MUSIC STARTS AT 9PM.

The venue comprises both seated and standing space. There are a limited number of tables, and these are allocated on a first come first served basis. If you’d like a table, please ensure you arrive early.