British sound engineer and campaigner
Olga Fitzroy is a German-born British Labour Party politician who has represented St Martin's ward on Lambeth London Borough Council since 2022. She is also a sound engineer at Associated Independent Recording (AIR) studios and a noted campaigner for shared parental leave and fair pay.[2][3][1]
Early life
Fitzroy was born in Berlin, Germany.[5] and educated at Madras College[6] in St Andrews, Scotland.[3] She initially wanted to be a drummer in a punk rock band,[7] but completed a Tonmeister degree at the University of Surrey which included a placement as a runner at AIR studios.[1]
Career
Fitzroy works for Associated Independent Recording (AIR) studios[8] in Hampstead, London.[3] She has worked with George Michael,[3] Paul McCartney on the Love album, Chris Martin from Coldplay, Dave Grohl from the Foo Fighters, Matt Bellamy from Muse, and Hans Zimmer.[9][10] She has mixed music for the London 2012 Olympics.[5][9][3][11] As of 2023 her recent projects include The Crown season 5, Live In Buenos Aires by Coldplay, and Doctor Who season 13.[5][8][9] She formerly served as a member of the Music Producers Guild (MPG) board of directors [12]
Campaigning and politics
Fitzroy unsuccessfully stood as parliamentary candidate for the Labour Party in Croydon South[13] in the 2019 General Election against the winning Conservative incumbent Chris Philp. She is the founder of Parental Pay Equality[14] and worked closely with Tracy Brabin on the Selfieleave Bill to give shared parental leave to the self-employed in 2018.[15]
During Covid she worked pro-bono for the charity Pregnant Then Screwed, leading their work on a judicial review against the chancellor for discrimination in the SEISS scheme.[16]
She was elected as a councillor in St Martin's ward in Lambeth in the May 2022 local elections.
She is standing to be the Labour prospective parliamentary candidate for the new constituency of Croydon East at the next general election.[17]
Awards and honours
Fitzroy was named recording engineer of the year at the Music Producers Guild (MPG) awards in 2016.[18] She was recognised by the BBC on Woman's Hour power list in 2018[19] for her successful campaign for shared parental leave and maternity allowance for self-employed and freelance staff. In 2019 she was awarded the Ivors Academy Gold Badge Award[20] and also the 2019 campaigner of the year award at Music Week's women in music awards.[21], which was presented by Tom Watson.
