Information AboutImogen Heap |
| CATEGORIES ABOUT IMOGEN HEAP | |
| 1977 births | |
| living people | |
| english female singers | |
| people from essex | |
| english singer-songwriters | |
| former students of the brit school | |
| ableton live users | |
|
Imogen Heap (b. December 9 1977 ) is a British Singer-songwriter from Essex , most famous for her work as part of Frou Frou , a joint collaboration with Guy Sigsworth , and for her 2005 solo record, '' Speak For Yourself ''. Heap grew up playing music from an early age, and is classically trained in many instruments, including the piano and the Mbira and had begun to write songs by the time of her eleventh birthday, before attending the Brit Music school (later attended by artists such as Katie Melua ). She signed her first record contract at the age of 17, and enjoyed a prestigious live debut, performing four songs, backed by friends Acacia , between sets by The Who and Eric Clapton at the 1996 Prince's Trust Concert in Hyde Park, London . Her debut album, '' I Megaphone '' (an anagram of "Imogen Heap") was released in 1998 internationally via independent record label, Almo Sounds , and garnered critical acclaim. During the promotion of the record, which included a tour of America, it was announced that the record label had been sold and would be shut down, with its repertoire of artists moving or leaving the label. The album featured collaborations with Guy Sigsworth and Dave Stewart, but mainly saw Heap on her own, writing and producing. Three singles were commercially released in limited quantities in the UK; "Getting Scared" (available on CD and 10" vinyl), "Shine" and "Come Here Boy." Following the album, Heap appeared on a further UK single, "Blanket," a collaboration with Urban Species . The album was licensed to Zora Records in Japan, who re-released the album in 2002, featuring "Blanket," and a Frou Frou remix of one of her B-sides, "Aeroplane," a video to which was released exclusively to Japanese media. Following the disbanding of Almo Sounds, all versions of ''i Megaphone'' apart from the Japanese re-release are scarce in circulation, having not been re-printed since 1999. A Brazillian label, Trama Records , claim to hold the license to the record and have started re-printing copies of the album in limited quantities. The album was also released onto the USA ITunes Music Store in early 2006, and will be available via Heap's own digital download store later on in the year. Prior to the Japanese re-release, Heap had begun collaborating on new tracks with Guy Sigsworth , who had collaborated on "Getting Scared" from ''i Megaphone''. Together, they formed an Electro-pop group Frou Frou (the first usage of the name being on the remix of "Aeroplane" they had done for the Japanese re-release), releasing an album called "Details" and singles, "Breathe In," "It's Good To Be In Love" and "Must Be Dreaming." The album was a full collaboration between the duo, with Heap giving vocals to tracks they had written and produced together. The album was critically acclaimed, but did not enjoy the commercial success that had been hoped for, and in 2003, the duo were told that their record label, Island Records would not be picking up the option for a second album. They were, however, open to signing Heap as a solo artist. Despite not having a record contract, Frou Frou were approached to cover the Bonnie Tyler classic, "Holding Out for a Hero", for the soundtrack to the highly successful movie '' Shrek 2 '', as the music producer had loved ''Details''. Frou Frou also saw a resurgence in 2004, when album track, "Let Go", was featured in the independent movie '' Garden State '' starring Zach Braff . In December 2003, Heap announced on her web site that she was going to write and produce her second solo album, using her site as an online Blog to update fans on progress, and even seeking them to be her A&R team for the lyrics to "Daylight Robbery" (which started out as a sample recorded for a television advert). Heap set herself a deadline of one year to make the album, booking a session to master the album exactly one year ahead in December 2004. Having seen how much her flat was now worth, thanks to a neighbour moving, she re-mortgaged her flat to fund production costs, including renting a studio, and purchasing instruments (which were a birthday present to herself). At the end of 2004, Heap premiered two album tracks online, enabling fans to pay for a digital download; "Just For Now" (which was up for a limited time as a Christmas gift), and "Goodnight And Go," which had been featured on the second season of hit US TV drama '' The O.C. '' In April 2005, ''The O.C.'' featured another track, the sparse Vocoder ed-vocal track, "Hide And Seek" in the season two finale. The track was released immediately to Digital Download services such as ITunes where it became an instant fixture in the chart. The track was released as a Digital Download on the 5th July 2005 in the UK and peaked at #8 on the iTunes download chart. Due to her bad experiences with record labels in the past, Heap had decided to put out the album on her own in the UK, starting her own company, entitled Megaphonic Records. The album, entitled '' Speak For Yourself '', was released in the UK on July 18th 2005 on CD and iTunes UK, where it entered the top 10 chart. "Hide And Seek" also received radio attention from the popular UK radio station BBC Radio One , with DJ Scott Mills featuring it as his record of the week, and provoking strong reactions ("love it or hate it") from other DJs at the station. Due to popular demand, the track was commercially released on a special limited edition (1500 copies were printed) 7" vinyl in the UK in September, featuring an exclusive instrumental, "Cumulus," to accompany the vocal-only A-side. It has also been featured on compilations, including '' The Chillout Session 2006 ''. In August 2005, Heap announced that she had licensed ''Speak For Yourself'' to Sony BMG imprint RCA Victor for the album release in the USA, Canada and Mexico. The album was released in November 2005, and Heap appeared on the Hotel Cafe Tour as well as a mini-tour of her own to promote the record. She also performed the album's second single, "Goodnight And Go" on '' The Late Show With David Letterman '' on 11th January 2006, and both "Hide And Seek" and "Goodnight And Go" on ''Last Call With Carson Daly ''. When she returned from the USA, having sold over 110,000 copies, she announced tour dates for the UK, which saw her playing to a crowd of 2000 at the Shepherds Bush Empire in March 2006. Heap also announced that she had signed a deal for the album to be released internationally, as well as re-promoted in the UK, with a new imprint of Sony BMG , entitled White Rabbit , run by former Sony BMG UK A&R vice president Nick Raphael. ''Speak For Yourself'' was re-released on the label on 17th April 2006, ahead of a full promotional push on 15th May, a week after the second single, "Goodnight And Go," will be commercially released in the UK on CD, and special limited edition 7" vinyl. The single was remixed by Heap for radio, including elements from her live performance of the track, as 'Immi's Radio Mix', and is accompanied by a brand new B-side, "Speeding Cars," which she performed at dates in the UK in February and March. The video to the track, which is featured on the CD release, hit MTV and VH1 UK in early April, before being added to other television channels later in the month. A special version of the video for the US market was released in late April, and "Speeding Cars" will be available via iTunes a few weeks later. She will also perform at festivals in Germany and England, performing at the V festival, as well as performing in Europe in October, and doing a UK tour for Christmas 2006. In addition to albums, Heap has also been approached to record songs for movies, including a cover of the '' entitled "Can't Take It In," which is played at the end of the film in a special mix by Heap and Harry Gregson Williams who scored the movie. In 2004, she also recorded a short nursery rhyme for HBO television series '' Six Feet Under '', entitled "I'm A Lonely Little Petunia (In An Onion Patch)" (three versions were recorded and are available from Heap's official web site). She also worked on a track about locusts for a CD of music about the plagues of Egypt, having been approached by Brian Eno , and is also set to score a soundtrack for a movie documentary about flamingos later in 2006. In addition to producing her own records, she has also produced a track for '' TV show. On April 28 , 2006 , she appeared on The Tonight Show with Jay Leno as the musical guest of the evening. DISCOGRAPHY
Compilations
EXTERNAL LINKS
|
|
|