Meinir Gwilym
Welsh-language singer-songwriter, radio and TV presenter
Meinir Elin Gwilym was born on the 31st of March 1983 and raised in the village of Llangristiolus on Anglesey, North Wales. She comes from a thoroughly musical family, one grandfather played piano, another wrote lyrics, and both her mother and sister were keen singers, and she was writing her own songs by the age of fourteen, having competed as a child in the Urdd Eisteddfod. She was educated at Ysgol Henblas in Llangristiolus and Ysgol Gyfun in Llangefni, before going on to study Welsh Literature and Philosophy at Cardiff University and later Bangor University, graduating in 2004.
Meinir released her first EP, "Smôcs, Coffi a Fodca Rhad" ("Smokes, Coffee and Cheap Vodka"), in 2002, the same year she signed to the Welsh label Gwynfryn Cymunedol and won both Composer of the Year and Best Female Artist at the BBC Radio Cymru Rock and Pop Awards. Her debut album, "Dim Ond Clwydda" ("Nothing But Lies"), followed in November 2003 and sold strongly, and by 2004 she had secured sponsorship from Yamaha. She has released a steady stream of albums since, "Sgandal Fain" (2005), "Tombola" (2008), "Celt" (2014, marking her US debut), "Llwybrau" (2016), a 20th-anniversary re-release of her first EP, "Smôcs, Coffi a Fodca Rhad (Yn 20 Oed)" (2022), and most recently "Caneuon Tyn Yr Hendy" (2023), and remains, by her own website's claim, among the best-selling Welsh-language musicians in history.
Meinir has performed at all of Wales' major festivals, including Sesiwn Fawr Dolgellau, Maes B, the Royal Welsh Show and Bryn Terfel's Faenol Festival, and took her music further afield in March 2014, when she headlined the Los Angeles St David's Day Festival — her North American debut.
Alongside her music, Meinir has built a long broadcasting career. She presented the afternoon request show on BBC Radio Cymru with Dylan Wyn, and has been a familiar face on S4C for two decades, including the 2005 documentary series "Blwyddyn Meinir Gwilym," which followed a year in her life, and the music programme "Noson Chis a Meinir" alongside Huw Chiswell. Since 2009 she has presented S4C's nightly magazine show "Wedi 7," and she also fronts the channel's gardening programme, "Garddio a Mwy." She currently presents weekend shows on Heart Cymru across Anglesey and Gwynedd.