| Sophie Ellis-Bextor |
Sophie
Ellis-Bextor performing at Astoria on July 28th 2007
|
| Background information |
| Birth name |
Sophie Michelle Ellis-Bextor |
| Born |
April 10, 1979 (1979-04-10) (age 28) |
| Origin |
 London, England |
| Genre(s) |
Pop, Dance |
| Occupation(s) |
Singer, songwriter, model |
| Years active |
1997–present |
| Label(s) |
Polydor
Records, Fascination Records |
Associated
acts |
theaudience |
| Website |
sophieellisbextor.net |
Sophie Michelle Ellis-Bextor (born 10 April 1979) is a multi-platinum selling
English
pop singer and songwriter. Her music is a mixture of mainstream pop, disco and 1980s electronic
influences.
|
Contents
- 1 Biography
- 1.1 theaudience
- 1.2 Rise
to fame
- 1.3 Read
My Lips
- 1.4 Shoot
from the Hip
- 1.5 Trip
the Light Fantastic
- 1.6 Sopot
Festival 2007
- 2 Discography
- 3 References
and Notes
- 4 External
links
|
Biography
Sophie Ellis-Bextor was born in West
Middlesex, England
to Janet
Ellis, then an actress, but later better known as a presenter on the TV
series Blue Peter (on
which Sophie appeared with her mother at the age of six, modelling snoods),
and Robin
Bextor, an award-winning film director. Ellis and Bextor divorced when
Sophie was four years old. She has three sisters and two brothers. She
has often spoken about being very close to her family growing up and
she often takes her brothers and sisters to work with her. Her official
website hyphenates her surname, which is the joining of her parents'
surnames; some other sources separate the names with a space. She went
to school at Godolphin and Latymer
School in Hammersmith.
Among her earliest public performances were with the W11 Opera
childrens' opera from the age of thirteen.
An advocate for animal rights, she posed for PETA's anti–fur
clothing advertisement.
theaudience
theaudience.
Ellis-Bextor began her career in 1997, with an indie band called theaudience.
She sang the lead vocal in the band. While she was a band member,
readers of Melody Maker
elected her to the Number 1 position among the 'most sexy people in
rock'. She recorded a duet with Manic Street Preachers—Black
Holes for the Young—as a B-side for their 1998 single The Everlasting.
Some songs released by theaudience are I Got the Wherewithal,
If You Can't Do It When You're Young; When Can You Do It?,
I Know Enough (I Don't Get Enough), and A Pessimist Is
Never Disappointed (perhaps their best-known
single). The band split in December 1998.
Rise to fame
After theaudience split, Sophie took a year off from singing;
she tried modelling, but didn't like it and soon gave it up. She also
started writing a novel. In 2000, Sophie collaborated with Italian DJ Spiller on the
song Groovejet (If This
Ain't Love), her first recorded work since that
with theaudience. Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)
entered the U.K. charts at No. 1, just beating
former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham to the
top spot. Since then, the two have been known as rivals to each other. Groovejet
won several awards: No. 1, Pop Top 20; No. 1, ILR; No. 1, Radio 1; No.
8, top dance track of 2000 and single of the year in Melody
Maker. In the Metro Newspaper, it received ninth
place in the contest for the Greatest No. 1 of all time, beating the
likes of Madonna.
In 2000, it was a finalist in The Record of the Year.
In that same year, it won the awards for Best Single and Best Ibiza
Tune at the Ericsson Muzik Awards.
Read My Lips
In 2001,
Sophie released her debut album, Read
My Lips. It reached No. 2 on the UK charts and
spawned four top-20 hit singles. Her part cover of Cher's "Take Me Home" reached No.
2, as did "Murder on the Dancefloor",
which became Sophie's biggest single to date and was on charts for 23
weeks.
In 2002, "Murder on the Dancefloor" became Europe's most
played song of the year. Her third single, "Get Over You" /
"Move This Mountain" was released in June 2002 and reached No. 3. The fourth single, "Music Gets the Best of
Me", rose to No. 14 in December. In 2002, Read My Lips
was re-released and Ellis-Bextor won the Recording Artist Award at that
year's Showbusiness Awards.
At the beginning of 2002, Ellis-Bextor was nominated for the "British
Female Solo Artist" BRIT Award, going on to be nominated for
a further two consecutive years.
Shoot from the Hip
Her second album, Shoot
from the Hip, was released in October 2003. Although it was
not as commercially successful as her previous material, it held two
further top-10 singles. The album reached no higher than No. 19 on the
UK charts; its two singles were "Mixed Up World", which reached No. 7,
and "I Won't Change You", reaching No.
9. Around this time, rivalry against Victoria
Beckham was suggested again; Victoria's single "This Groove" / "Let
Your Head Go" reached the #3, a higher position in the charts than "I
Won't Change You".
Trip the Light Fantastic
After that, Sophie paused her musical career to take care of
her first child, a boy named Sonny (b. 23 April 2004), with Richard Jones, who
is bass
guitarist for The Feeling. The pair later
married, on 25
June 2005 in
Italy. In
early 2005,
she performed on a track by the duo Busface, entitled "Circles (Just My Good
Time)"; she is credited under the temporary pseudonym "Mademoiselle
E.B." because she didn't want the track to be mistaken as a single from
her next album. In 2004,
she announced that she was working on a third album. She worked with Fred
Schneider of The B-52s and Richard
Barone (formerly of The Bongos), Shelly
Poole (formerly of Alisha's Attic), Cathy
Dennis and Kerin Smith (formerly of theaudience)
among others to create a fun dance/party, disco-pop album which was
released on May 21st, 2007 and is entitled Trip the Light
Fantastic.
In August 2006 it was announced that she was the new 'face' of
high street fashion chain Monsoon replacing the model Sophie
Dahl. She was also first choice for the controversial Agent Provocateur
luxury underwear commercial which she turned down. (The role instead
went to the second choice - Kylie Minogue).
Before the album two singles were released, Catch You,
which charted in the UK through downloads alone at #18 and peaked at #8
after a physical release and Me
and My Imagination which was released on May 14th and
charted at #23. Her album Trip the Light
Fantastic peaked at #7 on the UK
albums chart.
Sophie supported George Michael on his UK
tour leg in June 2007. Her own UK tour starts on the 14th August 2007,
entitled Trip The Light
Fantastic Tour
The third single off Trip The Light Fantastic
is Today the Sun's on Us, which
is to be released on 13th August 2007. The track has received good
reviews, and the accompanying video, directed by Sophie
Muller, has achieved strong airplay on music channels.
In a recent interview, Sophie stated that the 4th single will
be either If I Can't Dance or Love Is Here,
with a possibility of a 5th.
She performed If I Can't Dance on DanceX, BBC One on 28 July 2007, making it seem
that the decision for the fourth single is swayed towards this song.
In an interview with Digital Spy on 2 August 2007, Sophie confirmed
that the fourth single will be If I Can't Dance.
Today The Suns On Us is available on download from the 6th August, and
has been reviewed 5/5 on radio 1.
Sopot Festival 2007
On 2 September 2007, Sophie will contest in Sopot Festival
2007 in Poland, representing the UK, and her rivals will be music stars like: September
(singer), Thierry Amiel, The
Cloud Room and Monrose.
Discography
-
Main article: Sophie Ellis-Bextor
discography
References and Notes
External links
| v • d • e Sophie Ellis-Bextor |
| Studio
albums: Read
My Lips • Shoot
from the Hip • Trip the Light
Fantastic
Singles:
"Groovejet (If This
Ain't Love)" • "Take Me Home" •
"Murder on the Dancefloor" •
"Get
Over You"/"Move This Mountain" •
"Music Gets the Best of Me"
• "Mixed
Up World" • "I
Won't Change You" • "Circles (Just My Good
Time)" • "Catch You" •
"Me
and My Imagination" • "Today
the Sun's on Us"
Television
and DVD: Watch
My Lips
Related
topics: Discography •
Fascination
Records • theaudience
• Trip The Light
Fantastic Tour
|
