Ketevan "Katie" Melua (/ˈmɛluː.ə/; Georgian: ქეთევან "ქეთი" მელუა IPA: [kʰɛtʰɛvɑn mɛluɑ], born 16 September 1984) is a Georgian-British singer, songwriter and musician. She moved to Northern Ireland at the age of eight and then to England at fourteen. Melua is signed to the small Dramatico record label, under the management of composer Mike Batt, and made her musical debut in 2003. In 2006, she was the United Kingdom's best-selling female artist and Europe's highest selling European female artist.
In November 2003, at the age of nineteen, Melua released her first album, Call Off the Search, which reached the top of the United Kingdom album charts and sold 1.8 million copies in its first five months of release. Her second album, Piece by Piece, was released in September 2005 and to date has gone platinum four times. Melua released her third studio album Pictures in October 2007.
According to the Sunday Times Rich List 2008, Melua had a fortune of £18 million, making her the seventh richest British musician under thirty. It was reported in 2009 that she may have lost millions as a result of the global economic downturn.As of May 2011, Melua could have a £12m fortune and she came second in the under 30 rich list.
Pictures is the third album by British-Georgian jazz and blues singer Katie Melua, and was released on 1 October 2007. It was released in the USA on May 5, 2009, with a different album cover.
The iTunes release includes a bonus track, "Under the Cherry Moon".
The Japanese release also contains extra tracks, "When You Taught Me How to Dance" and "Closest Thing to Crazy (acoustic version)".
In the USA, the Target store release had four extra live tracks:
On 2 September 2007, iTunes began selling Pictures in many of its locations, including the UK and Australian stores in error, a month before its official release date. Initially, it was unclear if it was in error. However, moderators on Melua's forums had deleted any posts relating to the discussion of the release, and the "tell a friend" link on the UK iTunes Store stated the album would be available on 29 September, suggesting that it should not have been available. Melua's official website also made no mention of an early iTunes release.