Sophie Ellis-Bextor (born 10 April 1979 in Middlesex, England) is a Multi-Platinum-selling English pop singer. Her music is a mixture of mainstream pop, indie, disco, and '80s electronic influences.
Sophie Ellis Bextor was born on 10 April 1979, in London, 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, a distant descendant of the poet Lord Bextor. Ellis and Bextor divorced when Sophie was four years old. Her official website hyphenates her surname, which is the joining of her parents' surnames; some other sources separate the names with a space.
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 Preachersâ€â€"Black Holes for the Young"â€â€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.
After theaudience split, Sophie took a year off from singing; she tried modeling, but didn't like it and soon quit. 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 (Posh Spice). (Beckham is the only former Spice Girl not to have a No. 1 solo single.) 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. 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.
In 2001, Sophie released her debut album, Read My Lips. It reached No. 2 on the U.K. 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" 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.
Beginning in 2002, Ellis-Bextor was nominated, three years in a row, for the "British Female Solo Artist" Brit Award.
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 U.K. charts; its two singles were "Mixed Up World", which reached No. 7, and "I Won't Change You" (No. 9). Around this time, rivalry against Victoria Beckham was suggested again; Victoria's single "This Groove"/"Let Your Head Go" reached a higher position in the charts than "I Won't Change You".
Since then, Sophie has paused her musical career to take care of her first-born baby, Sonny, with her husband, Richard Jones, who is bass guitarist for The Feeling. In 2004, she announced that she was working on a third album. Although its future release date is unclear, she is working with Fred Schneider of The B-52s to create a fun dance/party album, expected to be released in 2006. In early 2005, she performed on a track by the duo Busface, entitled "Circles (Just My Good Time)".
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