1. Education

2. Career

3. Discography

4. References

Education

Jwaydan was born and raised in the United Kingdom, and studied at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama resulting in a degree as a classical composer, pianist and cellist. Although initially a pianist/cellist, she gravitated towards classical composition and production and also trained to become a composer of Film music. She cites her parents inclination towards classical music as a pivotal inspiration in her development as a musician.^[3] Notable musical influences include composers such as Mozart, Tchaikovsky as well as Enya.^[4] Jwaydan began to sing and play piano at an early age and by the time she was eight years old, she began to give performances as a pianist at festivals around the UK including Wantage and Oxford. At the age of fifteen she won a scholarship to study as a cellist and a film composer at the Guildhall School of music and drama and soon after began to work in the music industry as a songwriter for mainstream artists before refocusing her attention upon writing songs for her own material.

In an interview with trance sound she expressed of a tough childhood growing up as a classically trained musician and that pop music was banned from the house and only composers such as Beethoven, Chopin, Stravinsky and other classical giants were permitted as far as music was concerned. "My parents really wanted me to become this world class performer the moment i was old enough to play the piano. Not a moment of rest was permitted when it came to music. I was forced to practise the piano and cello, enter competitions and win nearly weekly and if i so much as came second place, my parents would be hugely disappointed. They would enter me into every competition under the sun, whether it was for acting, poetry, music or anything else art related. It was a lot of pressure. But i also think it's the only reason i'm as obsessively driven and relentless with music as i am now. I'm determined to keep going regardless of the challenges".

"I think the fact I trained as a composer, and was educated to write all my ideas independently has made a huge difference in terms of how well I can shape my songs. People always say music is not something that can be taught, and they are right, it comes naturally to some, but I think having a musical education has allowed me to have a lot more control and be more involved with the collaborations I do rather than just putting my vocals to something that I didn’t create which I would actually never allow. I think singers need to feel what they are singing about, and the best way to do that is by writing everything yourself."

Jwaydan is a noted talent from within the electronic dance music scene, coming to attention of award-winning Paul Van Dyk's closest colleagues who stated "after being in the industry for 20 years and not once have I come across a singer who is so multi-talented, and not average at what she does, outstandingly good at all of them". She gained attention from the likes of Armin Van Buuren, Paul Oakenfold, Gareth Emery, Markus Schulz becoming one of the most played singers in the electronic dance music scene on the radio for 2011{{citation needed|date=January 2014}}. Outside of EDM, she has worked as a songwriter alongside producers whose involvement include artists such as Jessie J, Pixie Lott, Plan B, Demi Lovato, JoJo and Chipmunk.^[5]

Career

Jwaydan garnered considerable attention when she collaborated with Aly & Fila to release the critically acclaimed track "We Control the Sunlight", which went viral and eventually won the official tune of the year award from Armin van Buuren's highly acclaimed A State of Trance 2011, receiving 2,320 votes from listeners across the world.^[6] The compilation was released on 17 March and went straight to no.1 in the iTunes dance charts in both the UK and the US, and debuted at no.2 in Canada, France Ireland and Spain. WCTS gained a spot on the Beatport trance chart at no.1, no.1 on Audiojelly, no.1 on Armada top 100 download making it one of the highest selling trance tracks of 2011. Both the music and lyrics of We control the sunlight were originally written as an acoustic song by Jwaydan which she intended to use on her debut album. But the song became a collaboration between Jwaydan and Aly & Fila and since its release has reached over forty millions listeners with the support of radio plays and public performances.

Her second release "Untouchable", was added to Sirius XM's playlist as one of the most played tracks on their dance music station for 2011. She went on to write a second song for Aly & Fila "Coming home" added to Armin Van Buurens A State of Trance 2012, that charted at No.3 on Beatport. In 2013 she released 'Until The End' with Moldavian artist Andrew Rayel that gained the no.1 spot on the Beatport trance chart and no.70 on Beatport top 100 Electronic dance music tracks, making it her third trance release in the top 5 Beatport trance. Her non EDM releases include a song written for the Egyptian Revolution of 2011, "Standing our ground", composed by Jwaydan and produced by Mat Zo.^{[7][8][9][10]}

In 2010, she performed at some of the worlds most popular clubs including Pacha and Ibiza, opening for artists such as Tiësto and John Digweed.^[11] In 2011 she was invited to perform at the famous 'Miss world top model' beauty pageant held in Beirut, Lebanon, and more recently, invited to perform at Armin Van Buuren's ASOT 550 Den Bosch.^[12]

In 2014, she left her record label and management in order to pursue a career away from the electronic dance music scene with the intention of returning to more acoustic based music. Throughout 2014 her facebook page was active with updates regarding the track list for her album. An acoustic preview of a song written and performed by Jwaydan "Castles" was published on her social media but since then no further information was given as to when the album would be released. On her [https://www.instagram.com/jwaydan/ instagram] account she hinted at stepping back from music with the intention of redirecting her attention towards creative writing and particularly the creation and publication of several fantasy fiction books.

Jwaydan is the founder of a company [https://www.facebook.com/EarthChildren.World/ Earth Children] that raises awareness regarding environmental, animal welfare issues and wellness related matters. Since a young age, she has performed at several events throughout the UK and Europe as a means of raising money for children in developing countries as well as to support animal rescue centres such as Brook Hospital and ESMA, both located in Cairo. She is particularly involved with activism for animal welfare in the UK and child welfare in Syria, Thailand and Romania.

Discography

• We Control The Sunlight (2011)
• Untouchable (2011)
• Xantic (2011)
• Standing Our Ground : Song For The Egyptian Revolution (2011)
• Coming Home (2012)
• Until The End (2013)

References

• True Crime: Streets of LA Character list
• True Crime: Streets of LA (soundtrack)
• True Cross Catholic School (Dickinson, Texas)
• True Cross Catholic School (Dickinson, Texas, USA)
• True Cross School
• True Crow
• True Dakotan
• True death
• TrueDelta
• True Devotion
• True Devotion (album)
• True Devotion to Mary
• True Devotion to the Immaculate Heart of Mary
• True (disambiguation)
• Truedoc
• True Dungeon
• True Dungeon Fantasy Tavern
• True eagle
• True Enough
• True Ent
• True Entertainment
• True experiment
• True Faith
• True faith
• True Faith (Anberlin song)