Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Ellis-Bextor began her professional musical career in 1996, singing lead vocals in indie band Theaudience. The band released four singles, including the UK Top 40 hits "I Know Enough (I Don't Get Enough)", and "A Pessimist Is Never Disappointed", and one self-titled album (theaudience (1999)). Videos for the band's singles were directed by her father, Robin Bextor. While in Theaudience, readers of Melody Maker voted Ellis-Bextor number one in a poll of 'most sexy people in rock'.[9][10]

The band split in 1999 after demos for a planned second album were rejected by their label Mercury Records, who then dropped the band.[10] Ellis-Bextor recorded a duet with Manic Street Preachers — "Black Holes for the Young" — as a B-side for their 1998 single "The Everlasting",[11] and in 1999, made an appearance on the Departure Lounge album Out of Here.

After Theaudience split, Ellis-Bextor took a year off from singing. In 2000, she collaborated with Italian DJ Spiller, adding vocals to his track "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)". It entered the UK charts at number one, just beating former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham on her first solo track. "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.[12] 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.[13]

In 2001, Ellis-Bextor released her début album, Read My Lips. It reached number two on the UK charts and spawned four top-twenty hit singles. Her rework of Cher's "Take Me Home" reached number two, as did "Murder on the Dancefloor", which became Ellis-Bextor's biggest single and was on charts for twenty-three weeks.[14] "Murder on the Dancefloor" became Europe's most played song of 2002. In 2002, Read My Lips was re-released with two new songs (and a live version of "Groovejet") and Ellis-Bextor won the Recording Artist Award at that year's Showbusiness Awards. Her third single, "Get Over You / Move This Mountain", was released in June 2002 and reached number three. The fourth single, "Music Gets the Best of Me", rose to number fourteen in December. 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.[15][16][17]

Her second album, Shoot from the Hip, was released in October 2003 and yielded two further top-ten singles, "Mixed Up World" and "I Won't Change You".[1] The album reached number 19 on the UK charts and was certified silver by the BPI for shipments of 60,000.[1][18] Ellis-Bextor described the album as "more emotionally direct" and "a little more left-of-centre at times" than Read My Lips—"It has more of a live feel [...] It's still a pop album—with elements of disco, indie and rock."[19] She opted to step back from promotion of the album after becoming pregnant.[20]

In 2005, Ellis-Bextor was featured on the Busface single "Circles (Just My Good Time)" under the alias Mademoiselle E.B.[21]

Ellis-Bextor performing at G-A-Y in 2007

Trip the Light Fantastic, Ellis-Bextor's third album, was released in May 2007 and reached number seven in the UK.[1] The album produced three singles: "Catch You" (number 8 in the UK), "Me and My Imagination" (number 23), and "Today the Sun's on Us" (number 64).[22] The song "If I Can't Dance" was announced as a single but later retracted.[23][24]

Ellis-Bextor supported George Michael on his UK tour leg in June 2007. Her own UK tour, the Trip the Light Fantastic Tour, was due to start in August 2007, but it was postponed after Ellis-Bextor was invited to be the "special guest" on Take That's Beautiful World Tour, which commenced in October 2007.[23] Ellis-Bextor stated that her tour would be rescheduled for March 2008, with all tickets purchased being valid for the rescheduled concerts. The tour was never rescheduled, and Ellis-Bextor subsequently refused to discuss the issue in interviews.[25] In October 2008, Ellis-Bextor sang at the Keep the Promise Rally in Trafalgar Square to end Child Poverty.[26]

In June 2009, Ellis-Bextor was featured on the Freemasons single "Heartbreak (Make Me a Dancer)", which reached number 13 in the UK.[22] In July, she performed alongside girl groups The Saturdays and Girls Can't Catch at the iTunes Festival, held at the Roundhouse in London.[27] A recording of her performance was released, Sophie Ellis-Bextor: iTunes Live in London, which was the singer's first extended play. "Bittersweet" (co-written by Freemasons and Hannah Robinson[28]), the first single from Ellis-Bextor's fourth album, was released in May 2010 and reached 25 on the UK Singles Chart. Ellis-Bextor's collaboration with DJ Armin van Buuren, "Not Giving Up on Love", was released as a single in August 2010 in Europe.[29][30] Also in 2010, she was featured on the Junior Caldera single "Can't Fight This Feeling".[31]

The singer's fourth album, Make a Scene, was released in June 2011 following a year-long delay, during which she left her label Universal Music Group to establish her own label, EBGBs.[32] [33] Ellis-Bextor said that her decision to leave Universal was spurred on by the departure of the head of Fascination Records, the sub-label to which she was signed, following the release of "Bittersweet".[34] Ellis-Bextor described Make a Scene as "very much [a dance album]—more so than any of my other albums."[35] Ellis-Bextor said she was planning an "album that's really different [...] but I think this album [Make a Scene] is a good way to bow out of the dance sound for now. I think it's finishing on a high."[35] She worked with Calvin Harris, Richard X, Dimitri Tikovoi, Hannah Robinson, Metronomy,[36] and Liam Howe from the Sneaker Pimps. "Off & On" preceded the release of the album in continental Europe and Russia, where the album was released by Universal Music Russia;[37] in the UK, the single "Starlight" was released ahead of the album in May 2011.[38]

Ellis-Bextor supported synth-pop band Erasure on their Total Pop! Forest tour of woodland locations in the UK in June 2011.[39] She resumed touring internationally in 2011, playing venues such as Jakarta's SoulNation festival, as well as returning to Australia by performing in Sydney and Melbourne.[40] Ellis-Bextor collaborated with French DJ Bob Sinclar on a track titled "Fuck with You" (released in November 2011), which was included on his album Disco Crash and was a huge club hit in Continental Europe.[41][42] Ellis-Bextor's collaboration with French DJ Mathieu Bouthier, "Beautiful", was released in July 2012 in France.[43]

Ellis-Bextor in Poland, 2011

In May 2011, she revealed that she had begun work on her fifth album.[44] Beginning in 2012, Ellis-Bextor worked with British singer and producer Ed Harcourt on a "more concept driven record", and possibly having as few as eight tracks. Her performance at a London charity gala in November 2012 including a new song, "Young Blood";[45] a demo of the song was released in March 2013 as a complimentary digital download from her website, as a thank you gift to her fans.[46] Also in 2013, she performed outdoors at Old Republic Square in Almaty, Kazakhstan.[47] Ellis-Bextor confirmed completion of the album in May and revealed its title, Wanderlust, and covert art in October.[48][49]

"Young Blood" was released as the lead single from Wanderlust in November 2013, peaking at number three on the UK Indie Chart[50] and at number 34 on the UK Singles Chart.[51] The album was released in January 2014 and peaked at number four on the UK Albums Chart and at number one on the UK Independent Albums Chart.[52][53] Wanderlust also debuted inside the Scottish Top 10 Albums Chart.[54] Ellis-Bextor performed a headline sold-out show to support Wanderlust's release in January 2014 at Bush Hall, London, and also performed at Union Chapel, London in April.[55][56] Ellis-Bextor then announced a 10-date UK tour, which finished in Glasgow in April 2014.[57]

Ellis-Bextor collaborated with Guéna LG and Amir Afargan on the track "Back 2 Paradise", which was released in June 2014. The single was the number-one "breakout" in October 2014 on the US Billboard Dance/Club Chart,[58] later reaching number 25 on the Dance/Club Chart.[59] Ellis-Bextor then featured on the song "Only Child", produced by electronic music project DedRekoning, which was released in September 2014. The track was remixed by Paul Oakenfold, Roddy Reynaert and Pearson and Hirst, among others.

Ellis-Bextor performing at White Party in Bangkok, Thailand in 2017

In January 2015, Ellis-Bextor said that she had begun working on her sixth studio album, once again with Ed Harcourt.[60] In January 2016, Ellis-Bextor posted an image on Instagram captioned "Last song written. Next stop - rehearsals! #album6 #whatthehellshouldicallit." She also posted a YouTube video of the making of the album.[61] According to Ellis-Bextor, the album, titled Familia, was inspired by a recent visit to North America, particularly Mexico. Familia is the Spanish word for "family" (a tattoo Ellis-Bextor wears in her arm since her first child's birth) and Ellis-Bextor described the album's sound as closer to that of her earlier albums.[62][63] She explained that she "wanted something with a Spanish or Italian feel" and that it continued some stories from Wanderlust. Familia was released in September 2016 and reached number 12 on the UK Albums Chart.[22] It spawned four singles, but none of them made it into any major chart. After taking time off for the birth of her child in late 2015, she resumed touring in 2017, mostly at small venues in the UK.[64]

In November 2017, she announced via Facebook a selection of her greatest hits reworked with an orchestra.[65][66] In February 2018, she announced the album's title, The Song Diaries, and pointed out that it would consist of re-recorded tracks spanning her career from theaudience to Familia's "Wild Forever", plus a new track. The album's artwork was drawn by David Downtown.[67][68] The Song Diaries first single "Love Is You", a disco track originally performed by Carol Williams, which is sampled on her early hit Groovejet, was released in August 2018.[69] In the following months Ellis-Bextor further released the reworked versions of "Take Me Home", "Murder on the Dancefloor" and "A Pessimist is Never Disappointed". The Song Diaries was released in March 2019 and peaked at number 14 in the UK.[22]

In 2020, during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown in the UK, Ellis-Bextor performed live weekly "Kitchen Disco" concerts featuring herself and her family, streamed live from their kitchen on Instagram.[70]