London-based singer-songwriter, composer and author.

Described by The Observer as ‘a highly individual singer-songwriter’, Maz O’Connor is truly a unique artist.

Known for her haunting, emotive vocals and poetic lyricism, her songs are most often short stories inspired by her love of literature, folklore and mythology. Her Irish roots, she suspects, inform her love of darker tales—those of heartbreak, longing and loss.

She wrote her first song aged 4, whilst making a ‘radio show’ with a cassette player and her brothers, and grew up singing old folk songs in her local Cumbrian venues. As a teenager, the songs of Bob Dylan and Joni Mitchell inspired her to learn the guitar, while Regina Spektor inspired her to write on piano.

Winning a BBC Performing Arts Fund Fellowship in 2014 (once won by Adele) brought Maz to wider attention, and later that year she was nominated for a BBC Folk Award for her first album, ‘This Willowed Light’.

Maz has since released 3 further albums, toured extensively, played live sessions on BBC Radio 2 and 3, and appeared at major U.K. festivals, including Glastonbury.

Her latest, ‘What I Wanted’ (May 2022), has been widely praised, and called ‘an excellent thing’ by Mark Radcliffe of BBC 6 Music and BBC Radio 2.

Maz’s songwriting commissions include The RSC, Broadstairs Folk Week, and The U.K. Parliament.

She is currently writing her first piece of musical theatre: ‘The Wife of Michael Cleary’, which is inspired by the true and remarkable story of Bridget Cleary. The piece has received support from Arts Council England, PRS Foundation, Help Musicians, English Folk Dance and Songs Society and the Liverpool Irish Festival.