| Neon Hitch | |
|---|---|
| Birth name | Neon Hitch |
| Born | 1986 (age 25–26)[1] |
| Origin | London, England, United Kingdom |
| Genres | Pop, Dance-pop, Electropop |
| Instruments | Vocals |
| Years active | 2007-present |
| Labels | The Beats, Warner Bros. |
| Website | http://www.neonhitch.net |
Neon Hitch is a British singer and songwriter. She was signed to Mike Skinner and Ted Mayhem's label, The Beats, before it closed down. She was later discovered on MySpace by Benny Blanco who flew her to New York to work with him. Their work together earned her a music publishing deal with EMI and a record deal with Warner Bros. Records.
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Hitch was born in the south England countryside of London.[2] For a time being, she was resentful towards her parents for giving her the birth name, Neon, wanting to change her name to a more conventional name, such as Melanie.[3] Her father was a lighting technician.[4] Her mother bought a caravan to live in when their house burned down.[5] They then began street performing, making and selling jewelry and clothing around Europe.[2] As a result, she never attended school as they did not stay in one location for prolonged periods of time.[3] By age four, she was traveling and performing with the Archaos circus. She trained as a trapeze artist, fire swinger and stilt walker and had performed all over Europe by the time she was a teen.[2] Her family was featured in a BBC documentary.[3] At age ten, she began writing poetry which led to her writing lyrics.[4] Her boyfriend noticed that she could sing and encouraged her to hone her singing.[6] She left home at sixteen to live in India for a few years before settling in London for her music career.[2]
Through Neneh Cherry's daughter, Hitch met Cherry and her husband, Cameron. He told her to cut a demo, after discussing Hitch's interest in pursuing a music career. Hitch then found a producer in Stage magazine to record a demo, with which Cameron got Hitch signed to 679 Recordings, the label that The Streets was on.[7] After singing on several tracks for Greensleeves Records, Hitch was signed to Mike Skinner's label The Beats, later going on tour with him.[2] She also toured with Professor Green and opened for 50 Cent at the Nottingham Arena before The Beats closed in 2007. Soon after, Hitch was flown stateside by James Johnson, owner of Pilot Creative Services Inc, who asked her to go to New York to meet with him and his client, songwriter Benny Blanco, on MySpace.[5] She was homeless at the time, occasionally checking her MySpace account at friends' houses, and could not afford the plane ticket to meet him.[5] A little over a year later, she signed James and Pilot as her management and quickly landed a publishing deal with EMI.[4] Within the next year she co-wrote and sang background vocals for pop punk band Friday Night Boys' song "Stupid Love Letter", Kesha's "Blah Blah Blah" and 3OH!3's "Follow Me Down" from the Almost Alice soundtrack.[4] She was also featured on Benny Blanco's remix of Miike Snow's song "Burial". Another feature song is 'What's Urban' with WanCee. In early 2010, she was signed to Warner Bros. Records by Kara Dioguardi after a writing session between the two. Hitch later performed at Lollapalooza in the summer.[8] She also co-wrote "Traces" by Sky Ferreira.[9]
Hitch began recording her debut album, Beg, Borrow and Steal in March 2010 with Blanco.[4] She released promo single, "Get Over U", co-written by Sia, for free in January 2011. This was followed by "Silly Girl", "Bad Dog" and "Poisoned with Love", the latter which appeared in Teen Wolf and Now That's What I Call Music! 40. She also released a series of covers and mash-up covers of songs by other artists, including Wiz Khalifa's "On My Level", Waka Flocka Flame's "No Hands" and Kreayshawn's "Gucci Gucci". The album with be released early 2012.
Hitch lists The Beatles, Sia, Kate Bush, Madonna, Michael Jackson, Jay Thomas, Spice Girls, Daniel Johnston, Nelly Furtado, Miike Snow, Amadou & Mariam, Erykah Badu and The Police as influences.[10]
| Year | Title | Peak chart positions | Album | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| NZ | US | |||
| 2010 | "Follow Me Down" (3OH!3 featuring Neon Hitch) | - | 89 | Almost Alice |
| 2011 | "Ass Back Home" (Gym Class Heroes featuring Neon Hitch) | 19 | 100 | The Papercut Chronicles II |
| Year | Song | Artist | Album | Credits | Ref. |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2009 | "Stupid Love Letter" | Friday Night Boys | Off The Deep End | Co-write, background vocals | [4][11] |
| 2010 | "Blah Blah Blah" | Kesha featuring 3OH!3 | Animal | Co-write, background vocals | [4][12] |
| "Follow Me Down" | 3OH!3 | Almost Alice | Co-write | [4] | |
| "Traces" | Sky Ferreira | As If! | Co-write |
| Title | Year | Director(s) | Artist |
|---|---|---|---|
| "Derek" (Streets Remix) | 2007 | Mike Skinner[13] | Neon Hitch |
| "Get Over U" | 2011 | Jason Bergh[14] | Neon Hitch |
| "Ass Back Home" | 2011 | Gym Class Heroes |
http://pilot-creative.com/#/ARTISTS/NEON_HITCH