Dido

Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong ( born 25 December 1971), known as Dido, is an English singer-songwriter.

Dido shot to worldwide success with her debut album, No Angel (1999). The album sold in excess of 21 million copies worldwide, and won several awards; including the MTV Europe Music Award for Best New Act, two NRJ Awards for Best New Act and Best Album, and two BRIT Awards for Best British Female and Best Album. Her following album, Life for Rent (2003), continued her mainstream success with the help of popular singles "White Flag" and "Life for Rent". The album went on to sell around 12 million copies worldwide and saw her receive more accolades; including the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year for "White Flag", two further BRIT and NRJ Awards, as well as a Grammy Award nomination. Dido's first two albums, No Angel and Life for Rent, are among the best-selling albums in UK Chart history, and both are in the top 10 best-selling albums of the 2000s in the UK. Her third and latest studio album, Safe Trip Home (2008), received critical praise to help maintain her success. She was nominated for an Academy Award for the song "If I Rise". Dido has been ranked #98 of Billboard 200 Artists Music Chart based on the success of her music in the first decade of the 21st century.

Early life

Dido was born at St. Mary Abbots hospital in Kensington, London, on Christmas Day 1971. On her birth certificate, her name was registered as Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong. Because she was born on Christmas Day, she also celebrates an "official birthday" on 25 June, following the example of Paddington Bear. Her mother, Clare (née Collins), is a poet, and her father, William O'Malley Armstrong, was an Irish publisher and former managing director of Sidgwick & Jackson. Her older brother, Rowland Constantine O'Malley Armstrong, is better known as record producer Rollo, part of the British electronica trio Faithless. Despite their impressive birth names, the pair were known from childhood by the names that are famous now — Dido and Rollo. Dido has made it clear that "Dido" is now her real name and not simply a stage name or nickname. Her name derives from that of the mythical Queen of Carthage. As a child, she had to deal with its ambiguous and unusual nature, which led to her being bullied and even to her pretending to have an ordinary name.

Personal life

Upon the release of No Angel in 1999, after a long time promoting the album, Dido broke up with her fiancé, entertainment lawyer Bob Page, after a seven-year relationship.

Dido is a keen Arsenal F.C. fan and regularly attended matches with her father as a child. Dido briefly dated Sol Campbell who played for the club at the time.

In February 2011, Dido posted a message on her official website, explaining to fans that she would not perform at the 83rd Academy Awards because she was pregnant and was expecting a baby with her husband.

Discography

• No Angel (1999)
• Life for Rent (2003)
• Safe Trip Home (2008)

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Björk

Björk Guðmundsdóttir [ˈpjœr̥k ˈkvʏðmʏntsˌtoʊhtɪr]  (born 21 November 1965), known simply as Björk (pronounced /ˈbjɜrk/ byurk in English), is an Icelandic singer-songwriter. Her eclectic musical style has achieved popular acknowledgement and popularity within many musical genres, such as rock, jazz, electronic dance music, classical and folk. Her voice has been acclaimed for its distinctive qualities.

Björk's 1990s singles "It's Oh So Quiet", "Army of Me" and "Hyperballad" charted in the UK Top 10. Her record label, One Little Indian, reported that by 2003 she had sold more than 15 million albums worldwide. She has acquired a high level of critical acclaim. She has won four BRIT Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, one MOJO Award, three UK Music Video Awards and in particular, she received, in 2010, the Polar Music Prize from the Royal Swedish Academy of Music, in recognition for her "deeply personal music and lyrics, her precise arrangements and her unique voice".

Additionally, Björk has been nominated for 13 Grammy Awards, one Academy Award and two Golden Globe Awards. For her performance in Dancer in the Dark, Björk won the Best Actress Award at the 2000 Cannes Film Festival. She was ranked #36 on VH1's "The 100 Greatest Women in Rock and Roll" and #8 on MTV's "22 Greatest Voices in Music".

 Early life

Björk was born and raised in Reykjavík, Iceland. Her father is Guðmundur Gunnarsson, a union leader and electrician, and her mother is Hildur Rúna Hauksdóttir, an activist who protested against Kárahnjúkar, a controversial hydro-electric development in Iceland.

Her musical career began when she was eleven with her study of classical piano in elementary school. One of her instructors sent a recording of Björk singing Tina Charles' song "I Love to Love" to RÚV, then the only radio station in Iceland. The recording was broadcast on radio nationally; after hearing it, a representative of the record label Fálkinn contacted Björk to offer a record contract. An album, Björk, was recorded and released in 1977.

In her teens, Björk was influenced by punk; at 14 she formed the all-girl punk band Spit and Snot, shortly followed by the jazz fusion group Exodus in 1979. In 1980 she graduated from music school. In 1981 she and bassist Jakob Magnússon formed another band called Jam-80, which later became Tappi Tíkarrass (which means "Cork the Bitch’s Arse" in Icelandic), and released an extended single, "Bítið Fast í Vítið" in the same year. Their album, Miranda, was released in 1983.

Björk collaborated with Einar Örn Benediktsson and Einar Melax from Purrkur Pillnikk, and Guðlaugur Óttarsson, Sigtryggur Baldursson, and Birgir Mogensen from Þeyr. After writing songs and rehearsing for two weeks, the new band, KUKL ("sorcery" in Icelandic), developed a sound described as Gothic rock. Björk began to show indications of her trademark singing style, which was punctuated by howls and shrieks.

KUKL toured Iceland with anarchist UK punk band Crass, and later visited the UK in a series of performances with Flux of Pink Indians. They produced two albums as a result of these collaborations: The Eye in 1984, and Holidays in Europe in 1986, both on Crass Records.

The band eventually dissolved, in part due to the closure of their label, Gramm. In mid-1986, several members of KUKL and the surrealist group Medusa got together to create the arts collective Smekkleysa (Bad Taste). They created a musical division, a band again called KUKL, but soon changed the name to The Sugarcubes.

Music and voice

Compositions

Björk's music style tends to be quite eclectic and often challenging. She has embraced many genres throughout her career, creating a varied range of pieces, from big band music to sound art. Björk's lyrical themes range from personal matters to scientific, natural, or social topics.

Voice

Björk is a "robusto" soprano, which means she has a voice which is particularly marked by a certain fullness of sound with a light timbre, but without losing the projection or volume of it. Her vocal range covers three octaves, going from F3 to E6, but she tends to use her chest and mid voice more often, using her head voice particularly during vocal games in live concerts. Her singing style is largely based on improvisation and natural expression, letting her voice perform long vocal acrobatics while performing. Classical composer John Tavener has praised Björk as being "more intelligent than most opera singers", music critic Alex Ross has cited Björk as one of the most gifted voices nowadays. The National Public Radio counted Björk among its list of "50 Great Voices" and MTV included her on its countdown "22 Greatest Voices in Music".

Currently, Björk trains her voice with vocal coach Maureen Scott from the British Voice Association.

Discography

• Björk (1976)
• Debut (1993)
• Post (1995)
• Homogenic (1997)
• Vespertine (2001)
• Medúlla (2004)
• Volta (2007)
• Biophilia (2011)

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