Biographyby Jody MacgregorThough born in Auckland, Annabel Fay was sent to school in Switzerland and then Chicago by her father, multimillionaire Sir Michael Fay, whose wealth is estimated at NZD 660 million. Having loved music from an early age, she planned to study vocal performance and audio engineering at Chicago's Columbia College. All that changed when, at a Christmas party in New Zealand, a music promoter heard her sing. He convinced her to record a demo of cover songs, which was then heard by an A&R of Siren Records. Fay put her plans to attend college on indefinite hold and recorded an album in New Zealand. The album, self-titled Annabel Fay, was recorded with producer Brady Blade, formerly Emmylou Harris's drummer and producer of Brooke Fraser's debut album. The first two singles were well received, but slow sales of third single "Shake It Off" (originally titled "Fat Boy") resulted in the album being pushed back. It was released in 2007.