Bilinda Butcher

Bilinda Jayne Butcher (born 16 September 1961) is an English musician and singer-songwriter, best known as the vocalist and guitarist for the alternative rock band My Bloody Valentine.

Her vocals have been referred to as a trademark of My Bloody Valentine's sound, alongside Kevin Shields' guitar techniques. Butcher was recruited as a vocalist for My Bloody Valentine in 1987. She replaced original vocalist David Conway and shared vocal duties briefly with Joe Byfield. At her audition for the band, she sang "The Bargain Store", a song from Dolly Parton's 1975 album of the same name

Butcher was featured as co-vocalist and co-guitarist on My Bloody Valentine's third extended play, Strawberry Wine, and the band's second mini album, Ecstasy, both of which were released in 1987 on Lazy Records. She performed vocals and guitar on all further My Bloody Valentine releases, until the band's second studio album Loveless (1991)—on which her guitar duties were performed by Shields. She contributed a third of the lyrics to Loveless, as well as other releases including Isn't Anything and You Made Me Realise (1988), Glider (1990) and Tremolo (1991). Butcher left the band in 1997, leading to an indefinite hiatus. My Bloody Valentine reunited in 2007, and released their third album, m b v, in 2013.

During My Bloody Valentine's hiatus, Butcher collaborated with two major bands. She performed lead vocals on two tracks—"Ballad Night" and "Casino Kisschase"—on the hip hop band Collapsed Lung's album Cooler (1996), and performed backing vocals on the Dinosaur Jr. song "I Dont Think ", from Hand It Over (1997).

Butcher was born and raised in London and later relocated with her family to Golden Valley, Derbyshire. Her forename is an alternate spelling of Belinda and was chosen by her grandfather. According to Butcher, "if I'd been a guy I would have been named Bill, but since I was a girl it became Bilinda." During one of his radio shows, BBC Radio 1's John Peel once said Butcher was "being pretentious and tried to be special by spelling name differently." Butcher has three sons: Toby, Davy and Billy. During the late 1980s and early 1990s, she and Kevin Shields were in a relationship. In recent years, she has practiced taekwondo and since studied both Flamenco dancing and guitar.