Bat for Lashes
Natasha Khan (born 25 October 1979), known professionally as Bat for Lashes, is an English singer, songwriter, producer, and multi-instrumentalist. She has released six studio albums: Fur and Gold (2006), Two Suns (2009), The Haunted Man (2012), The Bride (2016), Lost Girls (2019), and The Dream of Delphi (2024). She has received three Mercury Prize nominations. Khan is also the vocalist for Sexwitch, a collaboration with the rock band Toy and producer Dan Carey.
"Natasha Khan" redirects here. For the Pakistani singer, see Natasha Khan (Pakistani singer).
Bat for Lashes
Natasha Khan
25 October 1979
London, England
- Singer
- songwriter
- multi-instrumentalist
- Vocals
- piano
- guitar
- bass
- harmonium
- drums
- autoharp
- synthesiser
- vibraphone
- keyboards
2006–present
Early life[edit]
Khan was born to an English mother and a Pakistani father, squash player Rehmat Khan.[7][8] A member of the Khan family, she is the granddaughter of squash player Nasrullah Khan, the niece of squash players Jahangir Khan and Torsam Khan, and the stepdaughter of singer and actress Salma Agha.
The family moved to Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire, when Khan was five years old. She attended many of her family's squash matches, which she felt inspired her creativity: "The roar of the crowd is intense; it is ceremonial, ritualistic, I feel like the banner got passed to me but I carried it on in a creative way. It is a similar thing, the need to thrive on heightened communal experience."[8] After her father left the family when Khan was eleven, she taught herself to play the piano, which became "a channel to express things, to get them out".[8]
Khan was subject to racial abuse during secondary school due to her Pakistani heritage. She played truant and was suspended after swearing and throwing a chair at a teacher. She told The Daily Telegraph: "I was an outsider at school. When I came back from being suspended they had told the small group of friends that I did have there that they weren't allowed to talk to me because I was a really bad influence. Then it got quite lonely."[8] After completing her GCSEs and A-Levels, Khan took a job in a card-packing factory where she would work while listening to songs she had made. She said: "My internal imaginary life was really fruitful at that time...All day long just listening and dreaming, while counting the cards to be packed."[8] With money saved from the job, she embarked on a three-month road trip through the United States and Mexico.[8]
After returning to the UK, Khan settled in Brighton in 2000 to study music and visual arts at the University of Brighton,[8][9][10] where she produced sound installations, animations, and performances influenced by artists including Steve Reich and Susan Hiller.[11] After finishing her degree, Khan completed an NVQ in play work and childcare, and worked as a nursery school teacher, dedicating her spare time to developing songs, recording demos, and gigging in Brighton.[12][7] She has said the name Bat for Lashes "doesn't really mean anything [...] It conjured up Halloween-y images, and it sounded metal and feminine.”[13]
Other projects[edit]
Khan and fashion house YMC designed a limited edition capsule collection of sportswear and accessories for the spring/summer 2014 season.[66][67][68] The release of the collection was accompanied by a fashion film, Under the Indigo Moon, directed by and starring Khan, with a soundtrack she composed with Beck.[69]
In 2014, Film4 commissioned Cowboy Films to produce the short film Gotcha, with Khan as writer and director.[70] She said she intended to develop the project into a feature-length film.[69][71] In 2016, she wrote and directed the short film Madly.[72]
Khan has written feature-length film scripts for both The Bride (2016) and Lost Girls (2019).[73]
Personal life[edit]
Khan moved from London to Los Angeles in 2017.[74] She and her partner, Australian actor and model Samuel Watkins, live in Highland Park.[75] Khan gave birth to their first child, a daughter, in July 2020.[76]
