Ruth Lorenzo

Ruth Lorenzo
Ruth performing live in Ayr, Scotland
Background information
Born	(1982-11-10) 10 November 1982 Murcia, Spain
Genres	Rock, Latin pop, opera
Occupations	Singer-songwriter, actress
Years active	2008-present
Labels	Virgin/EMI Records (2009-2010)[1]
Associated acts	The X Factor finalists 2008, Dannii Minogue
Website	www.theraspberrypattern.com www.ruthlorenzo.es www.ruthlorenzo.biz

Ruth Lorenzo (born 10 November 1982)^[2] is a Spanish singer, best known for coming fifth in the fifth series of the British TV talent show The X Factor in 2008.

Her debut single "Burn" entered the Spanish Singles Charts and reached number 16 when she released the single on the 27th of June 2011. She released her first UK single "The Night" on 15 June 2013, featuring a club remix by Almighty. ^{[citation needed]}

Early life

Ruth Lorenzo was born on November 10, 1982 in Murcia, a south-eastern region of Spain. At a very young age she became a fan of the musical Annie and although she had no idea of what the words meant she would sing along to the songs in English. When she was six years old she discovered music by Montserrat Caballé, a Catalan opera singer, and after her mother bought her an album by Caballé, Lorenzo began to sing opera, imitating Caballé's vocals until she was pitch perfect.

At the age of 12, Lorenzo's family moved to America and this was the first time she had the opportunity to be involved in music at school. After much encouragement from her teachers, Lorenzo was entered into competitions and played lead roles in musical productions such as The Phantom of the Opera and My Fair Lady. When Lorenzo turned 16 the family returned to Spain and although having had singing lessons by this time, she had to cancel these lessons due to family financial difficulty and as a result Lorenzo gave up on her dream of becoming a recording artist.

When Lorenzo was 19 she joined a rock band, which was a challenge for her as she had only sung opera music. In 2002, she auditioned for the second series of Operación Triunfo, the Spanish version of Star Academy, where she was rejected in the first rounds of auditions. The series was eventually won by Basque singer Ainhoa. She also made a big decision to quit her job in her family's business in order to pursue her dreams once again, but after three years of touring around Spain the group decided to split up. Ruth landed a contract at Polaris World where as well as performing, she worked as a PR consultant.

The X Factor

In 2008, Lorenzo auditioned for the fifth series of The X Factor in front of judges Simon Cowell, Cheryl Cole and Louis Walsh. She sang "(You Make Me Feel Like) A Natural Woman". She impressed the judges and made it through to the next stage of the show, "bootcamp". Lorenzo passed both stages of bootcamp and was sent to St. Tropez with the other successful contestants from the over-25s category. There she auditioned in front of Dannii Minogue who was her X Factor mentor. After an emotional performance of "True Colors", sung in Spanish, Minogue decided to pick Lorenzo for her final three who would proceed to the live shows.

On the first live show she sang "Take My Breath Away" in English and Spanish. She had mainly good comments, especially from Cowell, who told her she should sing in Spanish more often. However, the next week Lorenzo sang "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" in English only, and ended up in the bottom two. She performed "Purple Rain" in the singoff, and it saved her into the next week. In Week 5, Lorenzo was in the bottom two again against one of the crowd favourites Laura White. This time she sang "Knockin' on Heaven's Door" and was saved by judges Minogue, Walsh and Cowell. Her performance was overshadowed by the uproar over White's departure. During Take That week, Lorenzo sang "Love Ain't Here Anymore". She received high praise for her performance, with Cowell saying it was sensational. By Week 8 Lorenzo was Minogue's last remaining act and she was eliminated after receiving the fewest public votes. Lorenzo bowed out with another performance of "Always". Former friend Alexandra Burke went on to win the show.^[3]

Performances on The X Factor

2009-2010: After The X Factor

Ruth Lorenzo

Lorenzo performed at gigs across the UK and Ireland in December 2008 and January 2009, and at the Spirit of Northern Ireland Awards on 20 January.^[4] In February and March 2009, she joined the X Factor Live tour with fellow finalists. She also was nominated for three awards at the Digital Spy Reality TV Awards.

On April 30, 2009, Ruth Lorenzo performed at the Bubblegum Clubs 15th Anniversary Party at The Dandelion bar in Dublin. At the appearance she announced she had signed a record deal and that her album would be out at the end of the year. She also said that Simon Cowell was a bit devastated that she did not sign with him but she said he never offered and she dedicated a song to him. Aerosmith singer Steven Tyler has agreed to write with her, Slash and Carlos Santana has written a song which is said to be Lorenzo's debut single later in 2009.^[5] Ruth officially confirmed her record deal on May 6 with an interview with Xpose.

Lorenzo performed at Hamilton Park Racecourse on July 11 alongside fellow X Factor Finalists Diana Vickers and JLS.

Lorenzo also performed at the Ashfield Show in Sutton-in-Ashfield, Nottinghamshire on the 8th of August.^[6]

Lorenzo performed in a benefit concert at Polaris World in Murcia, Spain (her home town) where she used to work, with all proceeds going to Polaris World Projects in Africa on the 28th of August.

On the 14th of November 2009, she performed at the Paisley Christmas Lights Switch On event held in Paisley Town Centre. Whilst she did not turn the lights on, she appeared at 3pm and performed several of her popular X-Factor songs, finishing with Purple Rain. In a short interview following it on stage with Clyde 1, she confirmed her first single and album will be out in March 2010. She did not confirm what the title would be, nor did she sing any songs from it live.

Lorenzo was approached by Spanish TV Channel Cuatro and asked to write a song for their new fictional drama Valientes. She accepted and composed two songs for the show, one for the opening ('Quiero Ser Valiente') and one for the end credits ('Te Puedo Ver'). Ruth performed 'Quiero Ser Valiente' on Friday 22 January on Spanish talent show 'Fama a bailar' (which is also aired on Cuatro).^[7]

Lorenzo performed at the nightingales club in Birmingham for the second time, first been after she was eliminated from the X Factor.

In July 2010 it was revealed that Lorenzo has been writing songs for Dannii Minogue's comeback album revealed on Dannii's ITV2 show Style Queen. One of the songs she has written is called "Because You Are Beautiful".^[8]

Lorenzo confirmed in a blog posting that she parted away from Virgin Records/EMI due to "creative differences"^[1] and that she would continue working on her album as an independent artist.

2011-present: The Raspberry Pattern

Her debut single "Burn", a cover of a song from Francis Rodino's 2009 album Circles and Squares, will be released on the 27th of June in Spain and on the 7th of August in the United Kingdom. She signed up to website indiegogo.com where fans helped to fund her single. The funding was for airplay, the video shooting, marketing and PR services.^[9] Her debut album The Raspberry Pattern is planned to be released later this year. She said: "I have been working with some extremely talented writers and producers on a collection of songs of which not only I am proud of, but which represents who I am as an artist, writer and performer. An album that is true to my character and that hopefully will stand the test of time". Lorenzo has been booked for further more dates around the United Kingdom for summer and autumn 2011. Ruth released a free track download titled "The Night" for her Facebook fans in August 2012 and was officially released in June 2013. Lorenzo's debut album, The Raspberry Pattern is expected to be released in the United Kingdom in early 2013.^{[citation needed]} On November 11th a lyric video for her single "Love is Dead" was uploaded to Ruth's YouTube channel. The song is set to be released by November 24th.

Discography

Studio albums

Singles

Awards and nominations

• Brit Award nomination for Best British Single, "Hero".
• Digital Spy Award nomination for Best Contestant on a Reality TV Show
• Digital Spy Award nomination for Sexiest Female on a Reality TV Show
• Digital Spy Award nomination for best moment on a Reality TV Show (singing Purple Rain when in the Bottom Two)

References

External links

• Official website
• Official Spanish Site
• Ruth Lorenzo main website for news, gigs, photos & videos