Born in London, England on Christmas Day 1971, Dido started off playing music just five years later.
Playing away on her "stolen" recorder (fans debate
over whether or not the recorder was actually stolen!) around the house, Dido showed
early potential of becoming a musical prodigy. At ten, she could play both the violin and piano, and was accepted into the Guildhall School of Music in
London. As a teenager, Dido travelled around the UK performing with her classical ensemble.
Dido's first vocal gig came on an album
("Reverence") for Faithless, a band her brother Rollo had
formed, with Sister Bliss and Maxi Jazz. Interested in recording an album, but afraid to ask her brother for a break with his band, Dido spent much of her time loitering around the studio in hopes that she would be asked to contribute her vocals. Her persistance paid off. The release came out in 1995, and it received favorable reviews. Faithless toured the world for the next two years, selling an excellent five million copies of their album. Dido was loving the lifestyle - meeting all kinds of new people, and gaining excellent exposure.
She recalls being paid "a curry" for her work on the
album, and asking her brother what he thought of her chances
as a singer. Rollo told her "not to give up her day
job..."! Still, Dido persevered, and began writing and
producing an album with her brother. Dido readied her first album "No Angel",
an album with solid vocals and lyrics. Combining Dido's love
for warm acoustic sounds and her brother's fascination for
beats and all things electronic, the album is both modern and
classic at the same time. Dido's melodic and soulful voice
stands her apart from up and coming musicians. When the album
was finished, and Dido had a product to "sell" she
was able to get signed to Cheeky Records, who had also signed
Faithless. The album was finally released in the US early 1999 to critical appreciation, but little attention.
Dido continued to promote her work - performing in clubs, and
in as many festivals as she could, including Lilith Fair - as well as
her song "Thankyou" being contributed to the soundtrack of the film, "Sliding Doors."
The song gathered attention, and vocals from the first verse
were placed onto beat-tape, sent to rap star Eminem. He wrote
a rap over the top of the beat, and used Dido's portion as the
chorus. Despite having its chorus lifted from a touchingly
honest love song, "Stan" - the resulting product
from Eminem - was a disturbing tale of an over-obsessed fan,
who eventually murdered his pregnant girlfriend, and himself
by driving his car off of a cliff. The song was featured on
his album "The Marshall Mathers LP" and gradually
became one of the album's most popular tracks. People began to
ask who the female singer on the track was, and sales of
"No Angel" began to increase, providing her with instant exposure to a large audience.
Her track, "Here With Me" (which Dido describes as a
"post-shag" tale of not wanting to leave the bed in
which she has slept during a one night stand), was also used
in the theme tune to teenage drama "Roswell (High)."
The album became more and more successful in the USA, but had
still not been released in the UK following the selling of
Cheeky Records to BMG and Arista.
"Stan" was released in the UK and hit #1
instantly - those who had no idea who Dido was (a majority of
the UK public) were instantly struck by her vocals and a video
for "Here With Me" began to gain popularity with it
being added to UK music television. Imports came flooding
in and pushed "No Angel" into the top 5. The record
company politics that prevented Dido from releasing "No
Angel" in the UK first, were finally sorted out and "No Angel"
was finally officially released in the UK, preceding its first
single "Here With Me," sending it
straight to the UK #1 (its previous highest chart position had
been #5 on imports alone) where it stayed for 6 consecutive weeks. Since its fall from the #1 position, it stayed
as a top 10 album from February to October 2001, climbing back
to the much coveted #1 spot on many times. Singles from
the album include "Here With Me," "Thankyou,"
"Hunter" and "All You Want," which was
released as a special limited edition for fans and was
ineligible for the chart. Dido is not just a majorly successful
singer - she also writes all of her own material, and as such, she has been asked to write songs for
other artists, which she loves to do. She has currently
written tracks
for new band, Over The Rhine, and was asked to co-write a
track for the "Crossroads" movie, and "Britney"
album by Britney Spears, entitled "I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet
A Woman." The track reached #2 in the UK chart, and was
equally as successful worldwide. As 2002 begun, Dido continued
touring and appearing at awards shows to promote "No
Angel." She won many Brit, NRJ, Bravo and ARIA awards, and
her personal life was also going well - she was engaged to a man
known only as
Bob, and was continuing to write tracks, some of which she
premiered at concerts on her tour, such as "Afraid To
Sleep," "See The Sun," "Do You Have A Little
Time" and "Don't Leave Home." However, her
relationship was not meant to be and she broke up with Bob
during the year, and took a sabbatical to write and work on her
second album and heal a broken heart.
Dido knew the second album would be hard, as
"No Angel" was so "magically successful"
worldwide. It was so successful, people were hailing new artists
as the "next Dido" and so the second album could quite
easily have been rushed and people would still have bought it. Dido,
being an artist of integrity, wanted to make sure she was proud of the album so she took her
time and finally announced it was ready in July 2003.
"Life For Rent" is slightly lighter in tone than its
predecessor, but the elements that made "No Angel" such a hit are
still there - the melodic, mid-tempo songs with relatable, real life lyrics.
From the lead off single, "White Flag," a tale about not surrendering
love to a person, to the post-summer track, "Sand In My Shoes," the
album is a sure-fire hit and the second in what will be a very long and
successful career for Dido. "For me, it's about the little things, the detail. Always has been, always will be. As in life, I concentrate on that, leaving the big stuff to just take care of
itself. The title, and the song from which it's taken, represents how I feel about my life right now, and how I want to live it in the future,"
Dido says. "It's about not being afraid to take chances, or to live life to the full. It's so easy to slip into complacency, or to disengage from the world. This album works as a constant reminder to myself not to do that."
