Eliza Doolittle (singer)

Eliza Doolittle
Background information
Birth name	Eliza Sophie Caird
Born	(1988-04-15) 15 April 1988 Westminster, London, England
Genres	Indie pop pop soul
Occupation(s)	Singer songwriter activist
Instruments	Vocals
Years active	2007–present
Labels	Parlophone
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 and activist^[2] who signed with the Parlophone record label in October 2008.^[3] Her debut eponymous album was released on 12 July 2010, where it debuted at number three on the UK Albums Chart. The album, Eliza Doolittle, produced two UK top forty hits: "Skinny Genes" and "Pack Up", the latter of which peaked within the top five on the UK Singles Chart.^[4]

On 7 June 2013 she premiered a single called "Big When I Was Little", which was released in July 2013. It subsequently joined BBC Radio 1's and Radio 2 playlist. It was later included on her second studio album, titled In Your Hands.^[5]

Early life

Eliza Doolittle was born in Westminster, London in 1988. She comes from a family with a successful and varied musical background. Her father is John Caird,^[6] a stage director and writer of plays, musicals and operas who is also an Honorary Associate Director of the Royal Shakespeare Company. Her mother is musical theatre actress and model artist Frances Ruffelle,^[6] 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,^[6] founder of the eponymous theatre school.

She has eight siblings. Her parents separated when she was four years old.^[7]

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 United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest in 1994, when Doolittle was six years old)^[8] she had always wanted to become a recording artist and write music.^[3] She chose the stage name of Eliza Doolittle, the Pygmalion and My Fair Lady character, because it was her nickname as a child.^[8]

Eliza had a brief career on stage (as Eliza Caird) which somewhat mirrored and was influenced by her parents. She played Young Cosette in Les Misérables in London's West End in 1996-1997. Her parents met and began their relationship during the original production - her father was the co-director and her mother was the original Eponine. In 2001 she played the lead role in Lucy Simon's Tony Award-winning musical version of The Secret Garden, when The Royal Shakespeare Company premiered the show in Stratford and London. The RSC also produced Les Misérables. The production was directed by Adrian Noble, a contemporary of John Caird.

Musical career

Career beginnings

Before entering the charts, Eliza Doolittle toured the UK everywhere 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,^[9] Fearne Cotton and Jo Whiley.

2010–13: Eliza Doolittle

Doolittle at Skyfest, 2011

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.^[10] Her debut single "Skinny Genes" was released on 12 April 2010, reaching #22 in the UK Singles Chart. The song had featured in a television advert for an online retailer.^[11] 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."^[12] Doolittle's second release is titled "Pack Up" and was released on 5 July 2010, reaching #5 on the Official UK Singles Chart on 11 July 2010.^[13]

Doolittle performing in the Q-music studios in May 2011

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.^[14]

Doolittle 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 UK. On 19 April 2011, Doolittle'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".^[15]

In 2013 Doolittle collaborated with Disclosure on the track "You & Me" from their debut album, Settle. Early that year, she began recording new material for her second album. In an interview with Elle magazine in April 2013, she stated "I'm definitely showing more of myself than I ever have before. I feel like on my last album, I hadn't experienced very much of anything really, and it's been three years or more since then and I have felt and seen things I hadn't before, and I know things I didn't know before. In a way I have answers to questions, but then those answers open up a thousand other questions. I guess I've gone through things that so many people go through at the age I am. I've written almost every day about my every thought and emotion and the album is made up of the songs that mean the most to me".^[16]

2013–present: In Your Hands

On 7 June 2013 she premiered a new single called "Big When I Was Little", which was released in July 2013. It subsequently joined BBC Radio 1's playlist in the 'C' list, and features on her second studio album. On 17 June 2013 the video for the single premiered on her YouTube channel.^[17]

She had a small role as a nightclub singer in The Great Train Robbery, a drama series on BBC One in December 2013.

In March 2014, it was confirmed Doolittle would be featured in England's official 2014 World Cup song. She collaborated on the track with fellow pop stars Melanie C, Emma Bunton, Katy B, Conor Maynard, Pixie Lott and Kimberly Walsh. Past footballers who also took part in the recording of the track included Gary Lineker, Geoff Hurst, Michael Owen, David Seaman, Peter Shilton, Dion Dublin and Glenn Hoddle.^[18] The track, a cover of Take That's "Greatest Day", was recorded on location at Sarm Studios in London and produced by Gary Barlow.^[19]

Modelling career

In 2010 Doolittle was made an 'ambassador' for a Nike running game and did some modelling work to promote the concept in London.^[20] 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.^[21]

Doolittle told Metro that she does not believe she looks like a model, but hoped that the signing would help raise her profile.^[22]

Discography

Studio albums

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Music videos

Tour

Opening Act For Gary Barlow's Since I Saw You Last UK/Ireland Tour 2014.

• Since I Saw You Last Tour - Gary Barlow^[38]
  • Setlist

1. Back Packing
2. Skinny Genes
3. Rollerblades
4. Big When I Was Little
5. You and Me (Disclosure Feat. Eliza Doolittle)
6. In Your Hands
7. Mr Medicine
8. Walking On Water
9. Pack Up
10. Let it Rain

Filmography

References

Footnotes

Sources

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Eliza Doolittle.

• Eliza Doolittle on Twitter
• Eliza Doolittle's channel on YouTube