Sonya Madan

Slim with brown hair and brown eyes, Sonya Madan has spent decades in music while keeping a relatively low profile. Born in Delhi, India, on 15 May 1967, she is Indian and British. She moved to England with her family at the age of two.

As lead vocalist of the Britpop band Echobelly, Madan found her voice in the early 1990s. In 1992, she met Glenn Johansson in a pub and told him she had a secret desire to sing. They teamed up with bass guitarist Alex Keyser and drummer Andy Henderson, who had played with PJ Harvey's band. Guitarist Debbie Smith, formerly of Curve, joined in 1994. The name Echobelly came from the idea of 'being hungry for something.' With Madan and Johansson as songwriters, they released their debut EP, Bellyache, in late 1993 on the Pandemonium label.

Echobelly released five albums in their initial run, then a sixth in 2016 after a hiatus. Their single 'Insomniac' appeared in the film Dumb and Dumber. Their sound drew comparisons to a Britpop version of Blondie, and they gained high-profile fans such as Morrissey and R.E.M. Madan continues to perform, and she has amassed 7k followers on Instagram.