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DIDO
| No
Angel [1999]
Life For Rent [2003] |
|
Dido Armstrong [1971 London, England]
Dido was born on Christmas Day 1971
in London. The rest of the band are all from New York.
Her first instrument was (rather embarassingly) the recorder.
Dido entered London's Guildhall School of Music at age six, and by the time she reached her teens had already mastered piano, violin and recorder. After touring with a British classical ensemble, she accepted a publishing job, in the meanwhile singing in a series of local groups before joining the trip-hop outfit Faithless -- helmed by her older brother, the noted DJ and producer Rollo -- in 1995. As the group's 1996 debut album "Reverence" went on to sell some five million copies worldwide, Dido began working on solo material, developing a lushly ethereal sound combining elements of acoustic pop and electronica; signing with Arista, she released her debut CD "No Angel" in mid-1999.
Her favorite vacation spot is Barbados. She likes music from Air (Moon Safari) to Missy Elliot (Supa Dupa Fly). Her first concert was a gig of Santana with Pat Metheny, Dido: "my mum took me when I was quite young".
Her teenage years were an interesting mixture of stealing her brother's record collection (from the clash to Gregory Isaacs to Duran Duran) and touring the UK with her classical music ensemble. And then, at 16, she finally fell in love with Ella Fitzgerald.
So began a passion that eventually led dido from listener to participator: she started singing with various bands in and around London, and despite the fact that her brother, Rollo, told her not to give up her day job, she eventually appeared on the debut album of a band that Rollo formed in 1995. This band was Faithless, and they went on to sell five million records.
Over the next two years, dido toured with Faithless (a very different experience from her classical days) and, whenever she was back in London, also
recorded demos of her own songs. On Faithless's current release, "Sunday 8pm", Dido appears on two songs, "Postcards" and "Hem of His Garment", one of which incorporates her own "My Lover's Gone." Arista records heard these demos
at the beginning of 1997, and Dido was invited to the Dorchester Hotel
in London to meet Clive Davis. The meeting was successful (Clive
even helped out with some of the
backing vocals as Dido sung to him).
So began the recording of Dido's debut album, No Angel. The album was produced by Dido, her brother, Rollo (obviously now deciding she should give up her day job), Rick Nowels and Youth, and what a beautiful album it is. Unified by both Dido's stunning voice and lyrical acuteness, the album travels through various and diverse styles ranging from the impassioned magnificence of "here with me," the gentle soulfulness of "Thank You" (featured in the recent Gwyneth Paltrow movie Sliding Doors), the deep dubbiness of "Honestly Ok," to the lyrical perversity of "Don't Think of Me." Combining Dido's love for warm acoustic sounds and her brother's fascination for beats and all things electronic, the album is both new and classic at the same time. Above all, it is the quality of the songs that will make this album both durable and successful.
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