Joan Anita Barbara Armatrading (born 9 December 1950) is an English [LINK: http://www.houstonpress.com/2000-07-13/music/union-joan/] [1] singer, songwriter, and guitarist. Career Joan Armatrading was born in Basseterre, Saint Kitts; she moved with her family to Birmingham, England in 1958. Her first job was working at Rabone Chesterman (makers of fine engineering tools), in Hockley, Birmingham. She was sacked from this job because she insisted on bringing her guitar to work, and playing during tea breaks. In the early 1970s, she moved to London to perform in a repertory production of Hair. There she met Pam Nestor, with whom she began writing songs. They worked together on the album Whatever's for Us, released on the Cube label in 1972. Cube, however, considered Armatrading to be the more likely star material and the album was credited to her alone. These events produced a tension whi