Dido (singer)

Information about Dido (singer)

Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong,[1] (born December 25, 1971), better known by the stage name Dido, is an English BRIT Award-winning and Grammy Award-nominated singer and songwriter who performs under a nickname her mother gave her in childhood.

Biography

Dido's mother, Claire (née Collins), is a French poet and her father, William O'Malley Armstrong (9 November 1938–22 December 2006) was an Irish[2] publisher and former managing director of Sidgwick & Jackson.[3][4]

Informally named after the mythical Carthaginian queen, Dido was educated at Thornhill Primary, City of London Girls' and Westminster School. Because she was born on Christmas Day, in childhood she celebrated, rather in the manner of the British monarch, an "official" birthday on 25 June.[5]

After she stole a recorder from school at age five, her parents enrolled her at the Guildhall School of Music in London, England. By the time she reached her teens Dido had learned to play the piano, recorder and the violin. After her teens and whilst working as a literary agent, Dido studied law at Birkbeck, University of London, however, she never completed this course, deciding instead to take up music full-time. After learning the guitar, she showcased her skills to audiences during her 2004 Life for Rent tour.

Early recordings

In 1995, Dido began recording demo tracks which were put together on a collection entitled Odds & Ends and sent out by Nettwerk management. Nettwerk had signed her after she was brought to their attention by her collaborations with Faithless (Dido co-wrote and provided vocals for album tracks, such as "Flowerstand Man" and "Hem of His Garment") and the UK dance act spearheaded by her brother, Rollo Armstrong. The collection was released by Nettwerk on CD-R acetate in 1995 and featured a mixture of finished productions and demo versions which she later considered for release on her debut album, released in 1999 as No Angel. Odds & Ends brought her to the attention of Arista Records, who signed her in the USA, striking a deal with her brother's record label, Cheeky Records, to co-sign her. Of the tracks included on Odds & Ends, "Take My Hand" was included on all editions of No Angel as a bonus track; "Sweet Eyed Baby" was remixed and renamed to "Don't Think of Me", while "Worthless" and "Me" were released exclusively on the Japanese edition.

Breakthrough: (1998–2000)

Cheeky Records, to which Dido was signed, was sold to BMG records in 1999. This delayed the release of No Angel in the United Kingdom, but also allowed her to concentrate on promoting the album No Angel in the United States, including a slot on Sarah McLachlan's Lilith Fair tour. Through touring, both before and after the album was available, Dido's music began to receive more exposure. The first official single chosen by Dido and her label, "Here with Me", was used as the theme music for the television programme Roswell. However, it was arguably the airplay on MTV in Europe of the video for "Here with Me", with its inventive manipulation of context, dreamlike NYC road-walking scenes, together with Dido's evident musicality and the distinctive strings arrangement (all perhaps echoing Massive Attack/Shara Nelson's "Unfinished Sympathy"), that helped form the bedrock of her future success.

In 1998, the music producer for the film Sliding Doors picked her track "Thank You" for the soundtrack. No Angel was first released in 1999, and Dido toured extensively to promote the record.

The rapper Eminem helped introduce Dido to another audience when he sampled the first verse of "Thank You" in his UK number-one single "Stan", after seeking permission from Dido herself; she also appeared in the music video as Stan's long-suffering girlfriend. Interest soared in her debut album, leading it to hit charts in Europe on import sales alone, charting in the top five on the UK albums chart before its official UK release.

No Angel (1999–2001)

Main article: No Angel
No Angel went on to become the top-selling album of 2001 in the United Kingdom, debuting at, and returning to, number one in the official UK albums chart many times throughout the year. It spawned two top ten hit singles, "Here with Me" and "Thank You", and a further top twenty hit, "Hunter". It was certified platinum in over thirty-five countries, and is estimated to have sold over 13.5 million copies worldwide. Dido's widely emulated hairstyle at this time became known as the "Dido flip". After a sold-out worldwide tour (which featured hip-hop artist Pete Miser as her live band's DJ), Dido announced she was taking a sabbatical in 2002, in which time she began to write and record her second album.

Life for Rent (2003–2004)

Main article: Life for Rent
Life for Rent was released on 29 september 2003 (world), 30 September 2003 (USA & Canada) and became one of the fastest selling albums in UK music history, debuting at number one in the UK, Ireland, France, Denmark, Switzerland, South Africa, Australia, Greece, Mexico, Hong Kong, Malaysia and Thailand and in the top five in the USA, Italy, New Zealand, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. Preceded by the number-two hit single "White Flag", the music video for which features Buffy, Angel and Bones star David Boreanaz, the album sold over 152,000 copies in the first day alone in the UK, and went on to sell over 400,000 in the first week. Three further singles — "Life for Rent", "Don't Leave Home" and "Sand in My Shoes" — were lifted from the album, with Dido embarking on a worldwide tour in support of the album (a DVD of footage from the tour was released in 2005 entitled Dido: Live/Dido – Live at Brixton Academy).

Live 8 (2005)

Main article: Live 8
Following her sold-out world tour of 2004, Dido was asked to perform at three of the Live 8 concerts on 2 July, 2005 — performing in London, then at the Eden Project in Cornwall, before flying over to Paris, performing both solo ("White Flag") and duetting with Youssou N'Dour ("Thank You" and "Seven Seconds").

Upcoming third album

In late 2005 Dido began recording her third solo album, experimenting with different sounds and producers, including Jon Brion in Los Angeles. The album was originally expected to be released in late 2006, but Dido had stated on her official website that the album would be released in early 2007. Her official website has since begun the process of being relaunched to coincide with the launch of her third album, and now states that a new single will be released at the start of 2008, followed by her new album. March 10, 2008 is the tentative date. An official date has not been set.

In a recent interview for Q Magazine (Issue from October 1st), Dido revealed that album is almost finished and it remained to be titled. Exclusively, in that interview can be found names of 5 new tracks that will appear on new album: "It Comes And It Goes", "Look No Further", "Never Want To Say It's love", "The Day Before" and the grief-stricken "Grafton Street" (Brian Eno).

Other work

In addition to her solo work, Dido has co-written and provided vocals for tracks with Faithless, including "One Step Too Far" — which was released in the UK as a limited edition single, where it debuted at number six — and "No Roots", the title track of the fourth Faithless album. Rollo — Dido's brother — co-writes and co-produces a lot of Dido's solo material, including many tracks on No Angel and Life for Rent. She has provided guest vocals for each of the five studio albums by Faithless, from 1996's Reverence to 2006's To All New Arrivals. Dido worked with her brother on a CD to accompany the children's book he wrote with Jason White, Safe from Harm; the CD is also titled Safe from Harm and the artist is listed as "Dusted". In 2006 she also brought out the song "Christmas Day" it reached #148 in the UK charts. Dido has provided guest vocals to tracks by other artists including "Feels like Fire" for Carlos Santana's 2002 album, Shaman, and a duet with Rufus Wainwright entitled "I Eat Dinner (When the Hunger's Gone)" for the film soundtrack.

Personal Life

Upon the release of No Angel, after a long time promoting the album, Dido broke up with fiancé Bob Page (entertainment lawyer), after a seven year long relationship. She has described the departure with Bob Page as her being "a free agent in every sense", however, still maintains a friendship with him. A few songs on her No Angel album were written about him (Thank You was written about missing Bob). She thanked ex-fiancé Bob upon winning the songwriter of the year award at the Ivor Novello music awards. "The song Thank You still sums up that relationship. Being single might make my album more psycho this time." Dido has had a few boyfriends after her long term relationship with Bob Page (1995-2002, broken engagement) including Ferdinand Rafael Andres Unger-Hamilton (2002-03), Rodney Webber (2004), and Sol Campbell (2004). Dido's brother is Rollo Armstrong from the music group Faithless. Dido provided vocals on Faithless recordings and shows. During the beginning of Dido's career she used to suffer from panic attacks, after witnessing a stabbing in the audience at a Faithless gig.

Awards

Discography

Albums

Year Title Chart positions Sales/Certification
UK FRA GER AUS U.S. CAN
1995Odds & Ends 1
  • Demo
  • Released: 1995
—
—
—
—
—
—
Not available
1999No Angel
1
1
1
1
4
4
Sales worldwide: 12 million[6]
IFPI certification: 5× platinum
RIAA certification: 4× platinum
BPI certification: 10× platinum
2003Life for Rent
1
1
1
1
4
2
Sales worldwide: 10 million[7]
IFPI certification: 5× platinum
RIAA certification: 2× platinum
BPI certification: 9× platinum
  • 1 Management CD-R Acetate.

Singles

Year Song UK U.S. U.S. Dance U.S. Adult CAN ITA AUS NZ BRA FRA Album
2000"Stan" (Eminem featuring Dido)151——1111433The Marshall Mathers LP
2001"Here with Me"4————35583—4No Angel
"Thank You"33112241—3130
"Hunter"17—9———50281645
"All You Want"——
"Don't Think of Me" (U.S. radio only)——
2002"My Lover's Gone" (Brazil only)————————1
"Take My Hand" (U.S. radio only)—1
"One Step Too Far" (Faithless featuring Dido)6—4———21——Outrospective
2003"Feels Like Fire" (Santana featuring Dido)———————26—Shaman
"White Flag"218923011125Life for Rent
"Stoned" (12" vinyl/download only)—1——
"Life for Rent"8—8281724
2004"Don't Leave Home"25———
"Sand in My Shoes"29—1——37
"Do They Know It's Christmas?" With Band Aid 20

DVDs

  • "Here with Me/Thank You (Acoustic)" - DVD single (2001)
  • "White Flag/Life for Rent" - DVD single (2004)
  • Dido: Live/Dido: Live at Brixton Academy - CD+DVD (June 2005)

References

1. ^ England & Wales, Birth Index: 1837-1983 [database on-line]. Original data: General Register Office. England and Wales Civil Registration Indexes. London, England: General Register Office.[1] Lists Florian Cloud de B. Armstrong on the index of births registered in Jan-Mar. 1972. Official publicity states her proper name is Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong, but Dido does not appear in this part of the registry.
2. ^ William Armstrong. independent online edition. Retrieved on 2007-03-31.
3. ^ William Armstrong : Publisher at Sidgwick & Jackson The Independent, January 17, 2007.
4. ^ A rebel at heart : Margaret Willes remembers William Armstrong Publishing News January 13, 2007
5. ^ Times Magazine, 20 January 2001
6. ^ Dido: Biography. DidoMusic.com. Retrieved on 2007-05-04.
7. ^ "Life for Rent" sales Mediatraffic.de

External links

  •  • [ e] Dido
Discography
Studio albums
No Angel Life for Rent Third album
Singles
"Here with Me" "Thank You" "Hunter" . "All You Want"
"White Flag" . "Life for Rent" . "Stoned" . "Don't Leave Home" . "Sand in My Shoes"
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Motto
Dieu et mon droit   (French)
"God and my right"
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BRIT Awards, often simply called The BRITs, are the annual United Kingdom pop music awards founded by the British Phonographic Industry. The backronym BRIT stands for The British Record Industry Trust

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Grammy Award

The Grammy awards are named for the trophy: a small, gilded gramophone statuette.
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A singer is a musician who uses their voice to produce music. Often the singer is accompanied by musicians and instruments. While many people sing for pleasure, vocal skill is usually a combination of innate talent and professional training.
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A songwriter is someone who writes the lyrics to songs, the musical composition or melody to songs, or both. That is to say, a songwriter is a lyricist, a composer, or both.
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Irish people (Irish: Muintir na hÉireann, na hÉireannaigh, na Gaeil) are a European ethnic group who originated in Ireland, in north western Europe.
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DIDO was a nuclear reactor at the Atomic Energy Research Establishment at Harwell, Oxfordshire in the United Kingdom. It used enriched uranium metal fuel, and heavy water as both neutron moderator and primary coolant. There was also a graphite neutron reflector surrounding the core.
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Thornhill Primary School is the name of schools:

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City of London School for Girls

Established 1894

Type Independent All-female
Headmistress Miss Diana Vernon
Grades Kindergarten-Sixth Form

Location London, , England
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Westminster School
The Royal College of St Peter at Westminster

Motto Dat Deus Incrementum
Established 1179 and refounded in 1560

Type Public School

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Queen's Official Birthday (sometimes known as "the Queen's Birthday") is celebrated as a public holiday in several Commonwealth countries—usually Commonwealth Realms, although it is also celebrated in Fiji, now a republic.
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The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes — whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle and ocarina.
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Guildhall School of Music and Drama is a music and dramatic arts school which was founded in 1880 in London, England. The first Guildhall School was housed in an old warehouse in Aldermanbury, but these premises soon proved too small.
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Motto
Dieu et mon droit   (French)
"God and my right"
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No official anthem specific to England — the anthem of the United Kingdom is "God Save the Queen".
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piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It produces sound by striking steel strings with felt hammers that immediately rebound allowing the string to continue vibrating at its resonance frequency.
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The recorder is a woodwind musical instrument of the family known as fipple flutes or internal duct flutes — whistle-like instruments which include the tin whistle and ocarina.
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''For the Anne Rice novel, see Violin (novel)


The violin is a bowed string instrument with four strings tuned in perfect fifths. It is the smallest and highest-pitched member of the violin family of string instruments, which also includes the viola and
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Birkbeck, University of London, sometimes referred to by its former name Birkbeck College or by the abbreviation BBK, is a constituent college of the University of London.
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Life for Rent
(2003) TBA
(2007)

Life for Rent is the second album by Dido, released in 2003 (see 2003 in music). "White Flag" was the first track from the album to be played on the radio, and became a major worldwide hit.
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Nettwerk is a large Vancouver, British Columbia based record label and music management firm. The label was founded in 1984 by Terry McBride, Mark Jowett, and Brad Saltzberg in McBride's small Vancouver apartment, initially to release albums by Jowett's band Moev.
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Faithless are a British band whose music is described by the band as a cross between hip-hop and dance. While they are mostly famous for their dance songs ("Insomnia" "God Is A DJ" and "We Come 1"), they try to produce albums which offer a blend of styles.
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