| Birdy | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Jasmine van den Bogaerde |
| Born | 15 May 1996 |
| Origin | Lymington, Hampshire, United Kingdom[1] |
| Genres | Folk |
| Labels | Lady of The Lake, 14th Floor Records,[2] Warner Bros. Records,[3] Warner Music Group |
| Notable instruments | |
| Piano, Vocals | |
Jasmine van den Bogaerde (born 15 May 1996), also known by her stage name Birdy, is an English musician. She is known for winning the music competition Open Mic UK in 2008, at the age of 12. Her version of Bon Iver's "Skinny Love" was released in January 2011, peaking inside the top twenty of the UK Singles Chart and in some European territories. Her self-titled debut album "Birdy" was released on 7 November 2011.
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Birdy was born on 15th May 1996, in Lymington, England. Her mother is a concert pianist, and Birdy learned to play piano at the age of four, and began writing her own music at the age of seven.[4] Birdy currently studies at Priestlands School in Lymington, a small state school which specialises in performing and visual arts. She sings and plays the piano. Her great uncle was the actor Sir Dirk Bogarde.[1]
Jasmine van den Bogaerde uses the name 'Birdy' because when she was a young child when she was being fed she would open her mouth wide like a little bird, her parents named her this and it has become a nickname.
In 2008, at the age of 12, Birdy won the UK talent contest Open Mic UK, a spinoff of the Live and Unsigned competition. She won both the under-18s category and the Grand Prize, against 10,000 other competitors.[5][6] She performed her own song at the competition called "So Be Free" in front of 2,000 people.[7]
After the competition, Birdy was then offered a publishing contract with Good Soldier Songs Ltd, run by Christian Tattersfield, chairman of Warner Bros. Music UK[7] and the label 14th Floor Records. Tattersfield previously signed other singer/songwriters such as David Gray.[8] In 2009, Birdy performed live on piano for BBC Radio 3's Pianothon in London.[9]
In 2011, at the age of 14, Birdy released a cover version of Bon Iver's song "Skinny Love".[10] The song became her first hit on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at 17. The single was chosen as "Record of The Week"[11] by UK radio DJ Fearne Cotton,[7] resulting in it being added to BBC Radio 1's B-list playlist[2] as soon as it was released in March 2011.[3] The official music video for the song was directed by Sophie Muller.[12] The song was also featured on The Vampire Diaries episode "The Sun Also Rises", which aired on 5 May 2011. Since then, Birdy has covered the song "The A Team" by Ed Sheeran, as well as The XX's "Shelter", which was also featured on The Vampire Diaries episode "The End of the Affair", which aired on 29 September. "Skinny Love" peaked at number 1 in the Netherlands.
On 19 July 2011, Birdy performed in BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge.[13] In the session, she performed a cover of The XX's "Shelter" as well as Ed Sheeran's "The A Team". Her eponymous debut album was released on 7 November 2011; the album peaked 13 in the UK, 40 in Ireland and top 10 in Belgium and The Netherlands.
On 21 December 2011, Birdy received a Golden Single from 3FM during Serious Request in the Netherlands for selling more than 25,000 copies from her debut album. She promptly donated it to be auctioned online.
A day later, Birdy received a Golden Single from Studio Brussel during Music for Life in Belgium for selling more than 15,000 copies from her debut album. She also donated it to be auctioned online, it was sold for €2000.
| Album Title | Album details | Peak chart positions | Certifications | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | BEL (VL) [14] |
BEL (WA) [15] |
IRE | NL [16] |
SCO [17] |
|||
| Birdy |
|
13 | 6 | 22 | 40 | 2 | 18 | |
| Year | Single | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [20] |
BEL (VL) [14] |
BEL (WA) [15] |
IRE [21] |
NL [16] |
SCO [22] |
||||||||
| 2011 | "Skinny Love" | 17 | 3 | 4 | 40 | 1 | 17 | Birdy | |||||
| "Shelter" | 50 | — | — | — | — | — | |||||||
| "People Help the People" | 33 | — | — | — | 32 | 32 | |||||||
| 2012 | "I'll Never Forget You" | — | — | — | — | — | — | ||||||
| "—" denotes that the song was not released in that country or did not chart. | |||||||||||||
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