Described by her husband Pete Townshend of The Who as a woman who "plays Chopin and sings like Baez to my Dylan", Rachel Fuller is an acclaimed pianist, orchestral arranger and songwriter who released her debut album 'Cigarettes and Housework' in 2005. Growing up in Southend-On-Sea, Fuller started learning the piano at the age of nine and a year later began writing songs, taking part in a competition to pen a sea shanty, which was then performed at a show held at the Royal Festival Hall. By her teens she was writing more dramatic torch songs and at 17 she started working as an organist at a local crematorium where she played psalms, hymns and Elvis Presley songs at several funerals each day.
Pursuing her dream of becoming a concert pianist, she moved to London a couple of years later and worked for the BBC and the London Chamber Orchestra, before first meeting Townshend in 1996 while arranging strings for German musical star Ute Lemper at Nomis Studios. Townshend later hired her to work on his 'Lifehouse Chronicles' album and the pair started one of the first live-streamed Internet chat shows called 'In the Attic', which featured performances and informal jams with guests including Adele, The Kooks, Martha Wainwright and The Flaming Lips. Fuller went on to craft a set of anthemic confessional songs which drew comparisons with Tori Amos and Sarah MacLachlan on 'Cigarettes and Housework' in 2005, and the album included collaborations with Townshend, Jerry Hall and Big Country drummer Mark Brzezicki. She also co-wrote the track 'It's Not Enough' on The Who's album 'Endless Wire' in 2006, self-released concept record 'Kew' and created a musical called 'Ash', before scoring an orchestral, stage adaptation of The Who's 'Quadrophenia' in 2015. After 20 years together Fuller and Townshend secretly married in 2016 and the pair released charity album 'Animal Requiem' in 2019 featuring Paul McCartney, Alfie Boe and the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra in a fundraiser for animal welfare organisations.
