Curated playlist

21st-century English women singers

AdeleA friend posted Adele's three-song class demo on Myspace, and a record label phoned.
Amy WinehouseAmy Winehouse won five Grammys singing by satellite from London at 3 a.m. Her visa was not processed in time.
Kate BushKate Bush's second UK number one came 44 years after her first. That gap beat Tom Jones's record of 42 years.
Dua LipaIn the week beginning the 15th of May 2020, Dua Lipa's album Future Nostalgia sat at number one on the UK chart with only 7,317 sales. No chart-topping album this century has sold fewer copies in a single week. That modest number belongs…
Charli XCXCharli XCX once drew about 37,000 RSVPs to a single club set in Brooklyn, and only 400 of those people were allowed inside. The set was called PARTYGIRL, and it took place on the 22nd of February 2024. It was her second Boiler Room set…
M.I.A. (rapper)M.I.A. arrived in London as an eleven-year-old refugee speaking no English. She later became a Grammy and Oscar nominee.
RayeAt the 2024 Brit Awards, the British singer-songwriter Raye won six trophies in one night, more than any artist had ever taken home from a single ceremony. One of them made her the first woman to be named Songwriter of the Year. Raye was…
Julie AndrewsJulie Andrews sang on a beer crate as a child. She needed it to reach the microphone in wartime variety shows.
Melanie CIn 1994, Melanie Jayne Chisholm, known as Melanie C, joined around 400 women answering an advertisement in The Stage magazine. The advertisement came from two managers hoping to form a new girl group. That group became the Spice Girls, and…
Victoria BeckhamOn the 8th of July 2000, Victoria Beckham performed alone in public for the first time. The setting was London's Hyde Park, where a crowd of 100,000 had gathered for a Prince's Trust charity concert. She sang "Out of Your Mind", her first…
Petula ClarkPetula Clark's photo was plastered on British Army tanks as a good-luck charm. She was a child singer during the Blitz.
Rita OraRita Ora broke a 30-year-old record in 2018, when her single "Let You Love Me" became her thirteenth top-ten song in the UK. No British female solo artist had reached that number before her. Shirley Bassey and Petula Clark had jointly held…
Lily AllenIn the months before her debut album, almost nobody outside her record label's A&R department knew who Lily Allen was. Even so, 500 limited edition 7-inch vinyl copies of her song "LDN" were rush-released, and they resold for as much as…
FKA TwigsFKA Twigs chose the first three letters of her stage name for how they sounded, not for what they meant. Many listeners assumed FKA stood for "formerly known as". She has said in multiple interviews that it does not. Her own explanation…
Florence WelchFlorence Welch, the English singer and songwriter, chose the name of her band while the clock was running out. About an hour before her first gig, she still had no name to announce. Her best idea was Florence Robot Is A Machine, which she…
Cynthia ErivoCynthia Erivo, whose surname is pronounced uh-REE-voh, belongs to a very small group. She has been nominated for an Emmy, a Grammy, an Oscar and a Tony Award. She has won every one of them except the Oscar. That set of four honors is known…