| Eliza Doolittle | |
|---|---|
| Background information | |
| Birth name | Eliza Sophie Caird |
| Also known as | Eliza Doolittle |
| Born | 15 April 1988 Westminster, London, UK |
| Genres | Indie pop, folk, ska |
| Occupations | Singer-songwriter |
| Instruments | Vocals, piano |
| Years active | 2007-present |
| Website | www.elizadoolittle.com |
Eliza Sophie Caird (born 15 April 1988),[1] better known by her stage name Eliza Doolittle, is an English singer–songwriter from London, who signed to the Parlophone record label in October 2008.[2] Her debut self-titled album, Eliza Doolittle was released on 12 July 2010, where it debuted at number 3 in the UK. Since the album's release, Doolittle has spawned two top 25 hits, including "Skinny Genes" and "Pack Up", which debuted within the top 5 on the UK Singles Chart.[3]
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Eliza Doolittle was born in Westminster, London in 1988.[4] She comes from a family with a successful and varied musical background, Her father is John Caird,[5] an English stage director and writer of plays, musicals and operas who is also an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her mother is English musical theatre actress and recording artist Frances Ruffelle,[5] who won a Tony Award for her role of Éponine in the English language version of Les Misérables. Doolittle is the granddaughter of Sylvia Young,[5] who founded her theatre school in 1981.
She has eight siblings. Her parents separated when she was four years old.[6]
Doolittle grew up in Camden Town and attended Channing School For Girls and Westminster Kingsway College. She was used to being around stages and seeing her mother singing, (Ruffelle represented the UK in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994, when Doolittle was 6 years old)[7] she had always wanted to become a recording artist and write music.[2] She chose the stage name of Eliza Doolittle, the My Fair Lady character, because it was her nickname as a child.[7]
Before entering the charts, Doolittle toured the UK with her band to gain recognition. This later turned into the "Playground Unplugged" tour where she performed at secondary schools Kingsdale School, Hagley RC High School, The Magna Carta School, The Bewdley School and Sixth Form Centre, Fairfield High School, Highworth Grammar School and Presdales School. The first release from Doolittle is a self-titled EP that features four tracks 'Rollerblades', 'Moneybox', 'Police Car' and 'Go Home'. This was released on 29 November 2009. Tracks from the EP were remixed by Plastic Little ('Rollerblades'), Sam Young and Jamie from The xx ('Money Box'). The EP received radio plays from Rob Da Bank, Nick Grimshaw,[8] Fearne Cotton and Jo Whiley.
In early 2010, she took part in musician Shane MacGowan's charity single "I Put a Spell on You", in aid of the 2010 Haiti earthquake.[9] Her debut single "Skinny Genes" was released on 12 April 2010. The song had featured in a television advert for an online retailer.[10] She told BBC's Steve Lamacq the song is "a funny scenario if you didn’t like someone, if they were really annoying, but you had a good time under the sheets."[11] Doolittle's second release is entitled "Pack Up" and released on 5 July 2010, reaching #5 on the Official UK Singles Chart on 11 July 2010.[12]
She recorded the song "Running For Life" which featured on the soundtrack to the film AdULTHOOD. Doolittle was a special guest on Paloma Faith's concert tour which began on 30 October 2010.[13] She has performed on the companion show to Channel 4's Big Brother, Big Brother's Little Brother. She appeared on BBC's Never Mind the Buzzcocks. In March 2011 she performed at the South by Southwest festival in Austin, Texas. In April 2011, Doolittle was touring the U.K. On 19 April 2011, Eliza's self-titled album was released in the United States almost one year from the U.K date. In 2011 Arte commissioned her to cover Madonna's Material Girl.[14]
In 2010, Doolittle was made an 'ambassador' for a Nike running game and did some modeling work to promote the concept in London.[15] In January 2011 it was announced that Doolittle had been signed by London based Select Models, the agency that launched the career of Sienna Miller.[16]
Doolittle told Metro that she does not believe she looks like a model, but hoped that the signing would help raise her profile.[17]
| Year | Album details | Chart peak positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) |
|||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK | BEL (FLA) [18] |
BEL (WAL) [19] |
CAN [20] |
DEN [21] |
FRA [22] |
IRE | NL [23] |
|||
| 2010 | Eliza Doolittle
|
3 | 46 | 100 | 89 | 38 | 101 | 10 | 45 | |
| Year | Title | Peak positions | Certifications (sales thresholds) |
Album | ||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [25] |
BEL (FLA) [18] |
BEL (WAL) [19] |
DEN [21] |
GER [26] |
IRL [27] |
NL [23] |
SWI [28] |
ITA [29] |
||||
| 2010 | "Skinny Genes" | 22 | 42 | — | — | 42 | 19* | 90 | 48 | 19 | Eliza Doolittle | |
| "Pack Up" | 5 | 10 | 34 | 37 | 49 | 6 | 19 | 75 | 8 |
|
||
| "Rollerblades" | 58 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | |||
| 2011 | "Mr Medicine" | 130 | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | 54 | ||
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