July 1983 Annabel Lamb was several years ago into her musical career before she worked up the nerve to unveil her own best songs. Better late than never, the saying goes - and there can be no more positive proof than ONCE BITTEN, the young English singer/pianist/songwriter's first A&M album.

ONCE BITTEN has already been hailed by one English critic as "The most impressive debut album I've heard in a long time, and looks set to turn her into a massive star." "The future looks pretty brisk", added Melody Maker.

A native of Surrey, Annabel had the kind of musical upbringing that gives a new dimension to words like varied and eclectic. By day, she'd listen to her older sisters' collections of albums by The Doors, The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan and David Bowie, at night, her father would sing her to sleep to the strains of Hoagy Carmichael tunes. A concert by Oscar Peterson was among the things that convinced her early on that she wanted to be a performer; at the same time she was galvanized by the virtuosity of many other performers including jazz pianists like Bill Evans, and Red Garland. Add to that a love of musicals, and you've got what Annabel laughingly calls "a pretty weird bunch of influences".

By the time she was 15, Annabel had joined her first rock band, as singer and keyboard player. She had already been playing and writing songs on her own.

At 20 she was married and pursuing a career in nursing. For a while, music took a back seat to nursing and marriage, although she was able to continue playing gigs with her old band. She also continued working on her songs, honing her writing skills but still keeping them essentially under wraps.

Finally, about three years ago, she recorded several demos and two 24-masters of her own songs with producer/engineer Wally Brill who would later produce ONCE BITTEN.