Connie Talbot

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Connie Talbot
Talbot at the Olympic Studios during the recording of Over the Rainbow
Background information
Birth name	Connie Talbot
Born	20 November 2000 (2000-11-20) (age 7)[1] Streetly, Walsall, West Midlands, England
Origin	West Midlands, UK
Genre(s)	Pop
Occupation(s)	Singer
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Years active	2007–present
Label(s)	Rainbow Recording Company
Associated acts	Paul Potts
Website	http://www.connietalbot.com

Connie Talbot (born 20 November 2000) is an English child singer from Streetly, Metropolitan Borough of Walsall, West Midlands. She rose to fame in 2007 when she reached the final of the television talent show Britain's Got Talent, where she lost to Paul Potts. Although it had originally seemed as though Talbot would sign with Sony BMG, the label pulled out of the deal due to her age.

Shortly afterwards, she signed with Rainbow Recording Company, and began production of her debut album, Over the Rainbow, which was released on 26 November 2007 in the UK. The first single from the album, "Over the Rainbow"/"White Christmas" was tipped as a potential Christmas number one. However, the single was not released, and the number one was claimed by fellow reality star Leon Jackson's single "When You Believe".

Since the initial album release, Talbot has performed publicly and on television both in England and across Asia. She has recorded several new tracks for a rerelease of her debut album due to be released in 2008, including "Three Little Birds", released as her first single in June 2008. A music video has also been recorded for the song.

Contents 1 History 1.1 Britain's Got Talent and Sony BMG 1.2 Over the Rainbow 2 Personal life 3 Discography 3.1 Albums 3.2 Singles 4 Footnotes 5 External links

[edit] History

[edit] Britain's Got Talent and Sony BMG

Although auditioning for the television reality show Britain's Got Talent was originally a family day out, Talbot's confidence increased when Simon Cowell, whom she is said to have idolised,^[2] described her as "pure magic" and said that he would make her earn "£1 million-plus this year".^[2] In June 2007 Talbot reached the final stage of the show singing The Wizard of Oz's "Over the Rainbow".^[3] Talbot was joint favourite (along with Paul Potts) to emerge as the winner of the first series of Britain's Got Talent.^[4][5] It was Potts who won as the result of a call-in vote on the night of the final.^[6]

According to journalist and Britain's Got Talent judge Piers Morgan, it was thanks to Talbot that so many children, including Faryl Smith, auditioned for the second series of Britain's Got Talent.^[7] Series 2 winner George Sampson spoke after his victory of his participation in the first series, where he was knocked out before the live shows, saying that "I don't think I had any shot of winning last year... When you look at the standard of Paul Potts and Connie Talbot. Paul Potts is out of this league, and Connie is out of this league - I wasn't good enough."^[8]

Cowell had preliminarily deal with his own record label, Sony BMG. After recording two songs in London for Sony BMG, ("Over the Rainbow" and "Smile"^[2]) the company changed its mind.^[9] Talbot's mother said she was told that her daughter "...was too young to be their sort of artist", adding "We have been told to look for a company which looks after children."^[10][11] Simon Cowell was quoted as saying- "My views on Connie have not changed. I think she’s a wonderful talent. But I was persuaded by everyone at Sony BMG that she is just much too young to be embarking on a recording career. When the time is right I will be delighted to see if we can make it work. My views on Connie are still exactly the same. She’s an amazing little girl with a beautiful voice."^[12][13]

[edit] Over the Rainbow

In October 2007, it was reported that Talbot had signed with the Rainbow Recording Company for a six figure deal.^[11] Rainbow Recording Company, an offshoot of record label Rhythm Riders made specifically for Talbot,^[2] was due to release Talbot's first album on 26 November 2007.^[11] It was later reported that the album was named Over the Rainbow, and the first single, "Over the Rainbow"/"White Christmas", was due to be released on 3 December 2007.^[2] Experts predicted that she had a good chance of getting the Christmas number one,^[11][2] but it was then reported that the single was cancelled in favour of an album-first release. Instead, Talbot was said to be due to release a cover of ABBA's "I Have a Dream" on 21 February 2008.^[14] Music experts have described Talbot as potentially being "the next Charlotte Church".^[15]

The team behind the album are John Arnison, who currently also manages Gabrielle and Billy Ocean, and Marc Marot, former managing director of Island Records.^[2] It was produced and mixed by Simon Hill and Rob May.^[16] Arnison revealed that he and his team "are not going to give [Talbot] singing lessons – we don't need to" and said that when he met Talbot, he was "blown away".^[17] A schedule was worked out so that Talbot could continue with her normal school activities while recording the album in her aunty Vicky's spare bedroom, which her mother described as "a better solution [than Sony BMG] which has not robbed her of her childhood".^[2] Although Arnison claimed he did not "want to put her through the promotional grind which most artists go through because she is too young", plans were laid out for appearances on This Morning and perhaps even The X Factor, as well as an appearance on Children in Need on 16 November 2007.^[2] The album was released on 26 November 2007 and Sharon, Talbot's mother, said that "All the family is really excited, but Connie is quite blasé about it."^[18] The album was certified gold in early December,^[19] with Talbot being presented a gold disc by Phillip Schofield on daytime television programme This Morning.^[20] Initially, 50,000 copies of the album were pressed, but an additional 120,000 had to be made after the album sold out in days.^[20]

Appearances since the album release include headlining the Great Bridge Christmas and Winter Festival, which local police threatened to cancel unless crowds clamouring to reach the tent in which Talbot was performing could be brought under control.^[19] At the event, on 7 December 2007, Talbot was quoted as saying "I love it here, it’s brilliant, really fun" but had to be ushered off-stage by the police.^[19] Talbot also appeared with 9 year-old James Buckley, Dragons' Den winner, to turn on the 2007 Halifax Christmas lights.^[21] She was also responsible for the turning on of Walsall's Christmas lights, and has performed publicly in Walsall's HMV store, and in Birmingham's Centenary Square.^[22] TV appearances included GMTV and Channel 5 news, both on 26 November 2007.^[22] According to her mother, Sharon, Talbot has received offers of a film. Sharon said "She’s been sent a script, I haven’t had a good look at it yet but it’s really exciting... Connie’s a singer, not an actress, so we’ll see what happens. It’s completely up to her whether or not she wants to do it. I can’t believe it, though."^[19]

Sharon Mawer, of All Music Guide, praised Over the Rainbow by saying "She can sing, for a seven year old, and most of the notes (if not all of them) are in the right order and sung to the right pitch; the timing is fine too".^[23] However, she criticised the album, saying "there's no feeling, no emotion, no realization of what each song is about; they're just pretty little songs", giving the album 2/5.^[23] Nick Levine, of Digital Spy, said in a review of the album that Talbot had a "sweet, pure voice", but that there is "no nuance or depth to her performance".^[24] However, he said that "There's something inherently wrong about awarding a star rating to a seven-year-old", and that "the decidedly adult concept of musical merit should have nothing to do with [her music]", awarding the album 2/5.^[24] Reviewers in the Harlow Star agreed, saying "There's no doubt she's a sweet little girl with a nice voice, but surely there's something inherently wrong with thrusting a child into the limelight at such a young age?"^[25]

The album is due to be rereleased on 16 June 2008,^[26] but was available for pre-order in May, with three new tracks to replace the Christmas-themed songs on the original album.^[27][28][29] The new songs are "Three Little Birds", "Any Dream will Do" and "You Raise Me Up" and they replace "White Christmas", "Walking in the Air" and "Silent Night".^[30][31] The album became available for pre-order on March 10, 2008, but the new tracks will be made available from Talbot's official website so that those who bought the original need not buy the rerelease.^[27] The first single from the album, "Three Little Birds" was released in June 2008, and a video for the song was shot in Jamaica.^[26]

In April and May 2008, Talbot toured Asia to promote Over the Rainbow.^[32] Asian press attributed her success to her videos on YouTube, with the Sun.Star mentioning that her most viewed video had been watched over 14 million times,^[29] and The New Paper saying that videos of Talbot's performances have been watched over 35 million times.^[32] The tour made stops in South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Singapore, and Talbot and her family returned to England in late May.^[33]

[edit] Personal life

Talbot lives in Streetly, in the West Midlands, and currently attends Blackwood Primary School.^[34] She lives with her mother, Sharon, a part time worker for an electrics company, her father Gavin, a self-employed property maintenance engineer, her teenage brother Josh and sister Mollie.^[2][35] Talbot's "signature song", "Over the Rainbow", is the song that she sang at her grandmother's funeral, due to the fact she and her grandmother enjoyed watching The Wizard of Oz together.^[35] Talbot has said that the belief her grandmother was watching gave her confidence, and vowed to win Britain's Got Talent in her memory.^[2] Despite Talbot speaking positively of the effects of her fame, her parents spoke of a darker side, including having to change their phone number and hire a bodyguard for their daughter.^[2]

[edit] Discography

[edit] Albums

Date of release	Title	Label	UK chart peak	UK sales	Other chart peaks
26 November 2007	Over the Rainbow	Rainbow Recording Company	38[14]	100,000+ (rated gold by BPI)	Taiwan: 1[33] Singapore: 3[33] South Korea: 1[26] Hong Kong: 1[26]
18 June 2008	Over the Rainbow (rerelease)	Rainbow Recording Company

[edit] Singles

Date of release	Title	Label
10 June 2008[36]	"Three Little Birds"	Rainbow Recording Company

[edit] Footnotes

[edit] External links

• Official website
• Official channel on YouTube
• Connie Talbot at All Music Guide
• Connie Talbot on MySpace

v • d • e Connie Talbot Studio albums Over the Rainbow (2007)  · Over the Rainbow (2008) Singles "Three Little Birds" (2008)

v • d • e Britain's Got Talent Hosts Ant & Dec · Stephen Mulhern Judges Simon Cowell · Piers Morgan · Amanda Holden Winners Paul Potts · George Sampson Runners-up Damon Scott  · Signature Other alumni Connie Talbot · The Bar Wizards · Andrew Johnston · Faryl Smith · eScala · Kate and Gin

Persondata
NAME	Talbot, Connie
ALTERNATIVE NAMES
SHORT DESCRIPTION	English child singer
DATE OF BIRTH	20 November 2000
PLACE OF BIRTH	Streetly, England
DATE OF DEATH
PLACE OF DEATH