Little Boots
Encyclopedia
Victoria Christina Hesketh, also known by her stage name
/pseudonym
Little Boots, is an English electropop singer-songwriter
. Her stage name comes from a nickname given to her by a friend, a reference to her unusually small feet. As a musician Little Boots sings and plays the piano
, keyboards
, synthesizer
, Stylophone and a Japanese electronic instrument called Tenori-on
.
After a return to college to focus on her studies, Hesketh along with two of her fellow students formed the electronic
/indie pop
band Dead Disco
. The band had limited releases of their four singles but due to increasingly different ideas about the band's musical direction Hesketh left to pursue a solo career. Hesketh has cited as influences The Human League
, Gary Numan
, Kraftwerk
, Pink Floyd
, Kylie Minogue
, Britney Spears
and Jean Michel Jarre
.
Hesketh began writing her own songs and posting covers on the social networking sites such as YouTube
and MySpace
. After appearing on several shows including Later... with Jools Holland and Last Call with Carson Daly
, Hesketh entered production on her debut album Hands
. With increasing media attention regarding her then-yet-to-be-released debut album, Hesketh topped the BBC Sound of 2009
poll and received a BRIT Critics Choice nomination. With the release of her debut she has been linked to a recent wave of breakthrough female artists in their twenties playing 1980s-influenced music, including Lady Gaga
, Ladyhawke, Florence and the Machine
and Elly Jackson
of La Roux
.
Her debut album, Hands
, released on 8 June 2009, peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart
and at number twenty on the Irish Albums Chart
. The first single off the album "New in Town
" became a top twenty hit, while the next single "Remedy
", produced by RedOne
, reached the top ten. She has also released the EP Illuminations
in the United States.
Her second album is scheduled to be released in sometime during 2012.
to English
parents; her father has a car sales business and her mother is a writer. The eldest sibling with three brothers, she was raised in the area of Thornton
, between Blackpool and Fleetwood
, Lancashire.
From the age of five Hesketh played the piano and began lessons at six, later taking lessons from Arthur Lingings and eventually winning a music scholarship. During this time she was taught how to play the flute
, was a member of the school choir and travelled regularly to Manchester
to take lessons on her harp. Trained initially in classical singing by Janet Wunderley, by the age of thirteen Hesketh was writing her own songs.
Hesketh attended the Rossall School
in Fleetwood, and then Blackpool Sixth Form College
; it was around this time that she entered the ITV
talent competition search Pop Idol
aged sixteen. Reaching the third round, she was eliminated by the producers of the show and did not reach the panel of judges. She stated that "[i]t gave me a thicker skin and it made me realise that it wasn't a short cut to getting where I wanted to be".
After singing with the Lancashire Youth Jazz Orchestra and performing with a jazz trio for some time Hesketh decided to prioritise her education and studied cultural studies
at the University of Leeds
, attaining a first-class honours degree. She subsidised her course by playing "awful, schmoozy lounge versions of Norah Jones songs" in hotels around the north-west. "It paid me loads of money, but it's not what I wanted to be doing" she said. It was during her time at Leeds University that Hesketh, along with two of her fellow students, formed the all girl band Dead Disco
, Hesketh herself eventually becoming the lead singer.
, The Rapture
and Siouxsie & the Banshees
, they formed the electro/indie pop
band Dead Disco
in August 2005, The band got their name through randomly picking words from a hat. With Dead Disco, Hesketh sang lead vocals and played synth, with Catherwood on guitar, and France providing bass and backing vocals.
With only a few songs written, Dead Disco began playing gigs around the north of England; their live gig in the headline slot at the "In the City" event in Manchester
gained them enough recognition to get a recording stint with James Ford
. Working with Ford in his London
attic studio, the band issued a limited release of their debut single "The Treatment" in April 2006 on the record label High Voltage. Their second release "City Place" was a digital-only release through Playlouder Records.
With the success of several sell out gigs and an appearance at the Leeds Festival
, the band moved to Los Angeles
to begin recording their debut album with Greg Kurstin
. However, it was around this time that Hesketh herself began to write songs not in keeping with the band's "indie" style. Choosing a new musical direction, Hesketh left Dead Disco; they officially revealed their disbandment on their MySpace
blog in December 2008. In an interview with The Times
, Hesketh spoke about her gradual shift away from the band: "All the time I'd been hiding my own songs and finally I had to make the sort of music I actually wanted to listen to. [...] Before I used to always think, 'What would a jazz performer do?' or 'What would the band do?'—Now it's so easy because it's 'What would I do?' It's just me." In a later interview Hesketh noted that the bands' label was pressuring the group to have a certain style and that her fellow band mates lost confidence in her because she wanted to write "cheesy" songs.
, Kate Bush
, MGMT
, Hot Chip
, Madonna
, Blur
, Estelle
, Alphabeat
, Wham!
and Miley Cyrus
and posted them on social networking websites YouTube
and MySpace
. Within a year she had narrowed down a list of her songs to create an album and by getting in touch with Greg Kurstin,, with whom she had previously worked with Dead Disco, Hesketh started production on her debut album Hands
. In early 2008 she began using the stage name Little Boots. Hands was recorded in Los Angeles with Greg Kurstin and Joe Goddard
, and by January 2009 she had begun to compile the album's track listings. During this period Hesketh topped the BBC Sound of 2009
poll ahead of the likes of White Lies
, Florence and the Machine
and Empire of the Sun
, leading to surge of media attention regarding her then-yet-to-be-released album.
Hands was released on 8 June 2009. A limited edition 12-inch vinyl
of the album was also released on 10 June, which was limited to 1000 copies. The album peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart
and has produced the top twenty hit "New in Town
" and top ten hit "Remedy
". The album is also doing well in Europe and Japan.
Critical response to the album was generally favourable, generating a score of 70 on Metacritic
. In a review for MusicOMH.com, Michael Cragg called it "a well-crafted, glorious pop record." ClashMusic.com reviewer Joe Zadeh disagreed, writing that the album "falls victim to attempts to reach beyond more boundaries than necessary, and thus ironically loses the concentration of the more earnest listener." David Renshaw of Gigwise.com
described Hands as "a big pop album" that "rival[s] Lady Gaga
, Girls Aloud
or Lily Allen
." Ben Thompson of The Guardian
wrote that the album's production was "diverse" and called the song "Symmetry", a duet with Philip Oakey
, a "joyous cross-generational head-to-head." NME
reviewer Emily Mackay wrote that "Little Boots gives us an inspiring story of self-realization" and called the album "brilliant." Pete Paphides of The Times
named "Stuck on Repeat
" the album's "best moment" due to its "exquisite vulnerability."
Hesketh was also nominated for BRIT critics choice in 2009. Little Boots was on Esquire
magazine's list of sixty "Brilliant Brits 2009". Little Boots was named a 2009 artist to watch by American publication Rolling Stone
.
Hesketh collaborated with illustrator/artist Chrissie Abbott for the artwork of the album. The artwork for the album has been compared to Pink Floyd
's 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon
because of its geometric design and fairytale imagery. The album was released in the United States on 2 March 2010, debuting at number seven in the Top Heatseekers
chart.
On 9 June 2009, Little Boots released the EP entitled Illuminations
in the United States and Canada. It includes "Stuck on Repeat", "New in Town", "Magical", "Love Kills" (a cover of Freddie Mercury
's 1984 song) and "Not Now" (which is only available on the U.S. edition). Designed to help relaunch Elektra Records
, the EP peaked at number fourteen on the Billboard
Dance/Electronic Albums chart on 27 June 2009.
on 1 March 2010, Little Boots stated that her next album "will be rawer and a bit more down-to-earth. It'll still be magical, but quite dark and spooky at the same time." She added that she has drawn inspiration from the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe
. On 1 May 2011, she performed at China Music Valley Music Festival in Beijing, China, during which she performed a new song called "Crescendo".
In late September 2011, Little Boots performed at the Mondrian Hotel
in Los Angeles
, performing several old and new songs acoustically. One month later on 24 October 2011, she released a mixtape
called Shake Until Your Heart Breaks and announced that she would be beginning an international DJ tour to promote her new material. She would later release the new song "Shake
" digitally and on a limited edition vinyl on 13 November 2011.
in the United States where she was interviewed by Daly
and several clips from a Los Angeles nightclub performance were shown. Little Boots performed "Stuck on Repeat" using the Tenori-on
on the 11 May 2009 edition of BBC Breakfast
. She returned to Later... with Jools Holland on 15 May 2009, becoming the only artist to perform on the show twice prior to having an album released. This was followed by an appearance on the BBC Radio 4
programme Woman's Hour
on 27 May 2009. Also in 2009, the song "Meddle
" was featured in an advertisement
for Victoria's Secret
. On 5 June 2009, she appeared on Bebo
music show Beat, performing "New in Town" live in the studio.
On 3 July 2009 Little Boots closed out Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
. A week later, she performed at Oxegen 2009
on the Hot Press New Bands Stage, her first performance in Ireland. The following weekend she performed at T4 on the Beach
2009 on both the T4
and 4Music
Stages.
Little Boots performed "Remedy" and a cover version
of JLS
' "Beat Again
" as part of the Live Lounge
segment of BBC Radio 1
's The Jo Whiley Show
on 19 August 2009. Later in the month, Little Boots performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals
on the Radio 1/NME Stage. Between those appearances, she also performed at Manchester Pride
2009, an LBGT pride event. In September 2009 she was scheduled to embark on a five-city North American tour to support the Illuminations EP. The following month she performed on the main stage at the Bestival 2009
in Downend
, Isle of Wight
.
Little Boots went on a five-city sold-out U.S. tour in the autumn of 2009 in support of Illuminations. On 26 October 2009 Little Boots performed as the main act at 53 Degrees in Preston, Lancashire. Along with this, Little Boots revisited the Blackpool Sixth Form College to film a 360 Session for Channel 4. The college's media studies, music technology and college magazine all got to work with her and Sixth Sense, the college magazine, managed to get their second exclusive interview with Little Boots, which was published in January 2010. On 7 December Little Boots dueted with Gary Numan
on the 6 Music Live Combos
show, broadcast on 11 December.
because she was not a certified laser operator (which is a legal requirement in the U.S. for certain laser appliances) and therefore she was not allowed to travel with the instrument. However, on 17 March, seven of the planned concerts were cancelled; Little Boots cited this was due to "unforeseen circumstances and commitments in the UK".
The following month, Little Boots performed a set in the Gobi Tent at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
in Indio
, California
. She told the audience that much of her crew and costumes had been stranded in the UK due to the Icelandic volcano
—which had forced some UK artists, such as Gary Numan and Bad Lieutenant
, to cancel their Coachella engagements entirely—and that aspects of her set had to be improvised at the last minute. Two months later, Little Boots performed on the NewNowNext Awards
show on the United State LBGT cable channel Logo
.
"Remedy" was used in the Dollhouse
episode entitled "Belle Chose". It was also used in a scene in the third series of Gavin & Stacey
.
"Meddle" was featured in the ninth episode of the third series of the British teen drama Skins
, entitled "Katie and Emily
" and broadcast 19 March 2009. It also appears in a Victoria's Secret
commercial, along with appearing in the new Channel 4 comedy series, Friday Night Dinner
. The Hands track "Click" was used in the twentieth episode of The Vampire Diaries
, "Blood Brothers", and in the sixteenth episode of Melrose Place
, "Santa Fe", which aired on 30 March 2010.
Little Boots has contributed to a documentary about the Stylophone. She has also collaborated with RjDj, and released a remix app
for the iPhone
entitled The Little Boots – Reactive Remixer, which allows users to remix
"Remedy", "Meddle" and "New in Town" and share it over social networking sites.
Little Boots has joined the War on Want
campaign, part of which supports protests against sweatshop
s in India.
Extended Plays
Mixtapes
Stage name
A stage name, also called a showbiz name or screen name, is a pseudonym used by performers and entertainers such as actors, wrestlers, comedians, and musicians.-Motivation to use a stage name:...
/pseudonym
Pseudonym
A pseudonym is a name that a person assumes for a particular purpose and that differs from his or her original orthonym...
Little Boots, is an English electropop singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...
. Her stage name comes from a nickname given to her by a friend, a reference to her unusually small feet. As a musician Little Boots sings and plays the piano
Piano
The piano is a musical instrument played by means of a keyboard. It is one of the most popular instruments in the world. Widely used in classical and jazz music for solo performances, ensemble use, chamber music and accompaniment, the piano is also very popular as an aid to composing and rehearsal...
, keyboards
Keyboard instrument
A keyboard instrument is a musical instrument which is played using a musical keyboard. The most common of these is the piano. Other widely used keyboard instruments include organs of various types as well as other mechanical, electromechanical and electronic instruments...
, synthesizer
Synthesizer
A synthesizer is an electronic instrument capable of producing sounds by generating electrical signals of different frequencies. These electrical signals are played through a loudspeaker or set of headphones...
, Stylophone and a Japanese electronic instrument called Tenori-on
Tenori-on
Tenori-on is an electronic musical instrument, designed and created by Japanese artist Toshio Iwai and Yu Nishibori of the Music and Human Interface Group, Yamaha Center for Advanced Sound Technology. It consists of a screen, held in the hands, of a sixteen by sixteen grid of LED switches, any of...
.
After a return to college to focus on her studies, Hesketh along with two of her fellow students formed the electronic
Electronic music
Electronic music is music that employs electronic musical instruments and electronic music technology in its production. In general a distinction can be made between sound produced using electromechanical means and that produced using electronic technology. Examples of electromechanical sound...
/indie pop
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
band Dead Disco
Dead Disco
Dead Disco were an English electronic/indie pop musical group formed in 2005 by Lucy Catherwood, Marie France and Victoria Hesketh .-Biography:The trio met in August 2005 at the University of Leeds...
. The band had limited releases of their four singles but due to increasingly different ideas about the band's musical direction Hesketh left to pursue a solo career. Hesketh has cited as influences The Human League
The Human League
The Human League are an English electronic New Wave band formed in Sheffield in 1977. They achieved popularity after a key change in line-up in the early 1980s and have continued recording and performing with moderate commercial success throughout the 1980s up to the present day.The only constant...
, Gary Numan
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
, Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk
Kraftwerk is an influential electronic music band from Düsseldorf, Germany. The group was formed by Ralf Hütter and Florian Schneider in 1970, and was fronted by them until Schneider's departure in 2008...
, Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
, Kylie Minogue
Kylie Minogue
Kylie Ann Minogue, OBE - often known simply as Kylie - is an Australian singer, recording artist, songwriter, and actress. After beginning her career as a child actress on Australian television, she achieved recognition through her role in the television soap opera Neighbours, before commencing...
, Britney Spears
Britney Spears
Britney Jean Spears is an American recording artist and entertainer. Born in McComb, Mississippi, and raised in Kentwood, Louisiana, Spears began performing as a child, landing acting roles in stage productions and television shows. She signed with Jive Records in 1997 and released her debut album...
and Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel Jarre
Jean Michel André Jarre is a French composer, performer and music producer. He is a pioneer in the electronic, ambient and New Age genres, and known as an organiser of outdoor spectacles of his music featuring lights, laser displays, and fireworks.Jarre was raised in Lyon by his mother and...
.
Hesketh began writing her own songs and posting covers on the social networking sites such as YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
. After appearing on several shows including Later... with Jools Holland and Last Call with Carson Daly
Last Call with Carson Daly
Last Call with Carson Daly is an American late night talk show that is broadcast on NBC. The show is hosted by Carson Daly, the half-hour show featuring celebrity interviews, documentary-style coverage of a topic, and musical performances. Last Call airs weeknights at 1:35 a.m. Eastern / 12:35 a.m....
, Hesketh entered production on her debut album Hands
Hands (Little Boots album)
Hands is the debut studio album by English recording artist Little Boots. It was released in the United Kingdom on 8 June 2009 by 679 Recordings to generally positive reviews. Many critics complimented its "well-crafted" pop songs and "diverse" production...
. With increasing media attention regarding her then-yet-to-be-released debut album, Hesketh topped the BBC Sound of 2009
Sound of... (BBC poll)
Sound of... is an annual poll of music critics and industry figures to find the most promising new music talent. It was first conducted by the BBC News website in 2003. A top 10 list is published each January.-Winners:-Sound of 2009:...
poll and received a BRIT Critics Choice nomination. With the release of her debut she has been linked to a recent wave of breakthrough female artists in their twenties playing 1980s-influenced music, including Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
, Ladyhawke, Florence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine is the recording name of English musician Florence Welch and a collaboration of other artists who provide music for her voice. Florence and the Machine's sound has been described as a combination of various genres, including rock and soul...
and Elly Jackson
Elly Jackson
Eleanor Kate "Elly" Jackson is an English singer-songwriter and the lead singer of the electropop duo La Roux. She is well known for her red hair and androgynous style.-Biography:...
of La Roux
La Roux
La Roux are an English electropop duo made up of singer, keyboardist, co-writer and co-producer Eleanor Kate Jackson, and co-writer and co-producer Ben Langmaid. Jackson describes their relationship as "very much a half and half sharing situation... not like a singer producer outfit", but also...
.
Her debut album, Hands
Hands (Little Boots album)
Hands is the debut studio album by English recording artist Little Boots. It was released in the United Kingdom on 8 June 2009 by 679 Recordings to generally positive reviews. Many critics complimented its "well-crafted" pop songs and "diverse" production...
, released on 8 June 2009, peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
and at number twenty on the Irish Albums Chart
Irish Albums Chart
The Irish Albums Chart is the Irish music industry standard albums popularity chart issued weekly by the Irish Recorded Music Association and compiled on its behalf by Chart-Track. Chart rankings are based on sales, which are compiled through over-the-counter retail data captured electronically...
. The first single off the album "New in Town
New in Town (song)
"New in Town" is a song by English recording artist Little Boots from her debut album, Hands. Written by Boots and Greg Kurstin and produced by Kurstin, the track was released as the album's lead single on 25 May 2009 in the United Kingdom. The song was inspired by the nights Boots spent in Los...
" became a top twenty hit, while the next single "Remedy
Remedy (Little Boots song)
"Remedy" is a song by English recording artist Little Boots from her debut album, Hands. Written by Boots and RedOne, the song was released as the album's second single on 17 August 2009 in the United Kingdom, becoming her most successful single on the UK Singles Chart to date. A remix EP of the...
", produced by RedOne
RedOne
Nadir Khayat , known by the stage name RedOne, is a Moroccan producer and songwriter. Renowned for co-producing hit singles such as "Just Dance", "Poker Face", "LoveGame", "Bad Romance", "Alejandro" and "Judas", he is attributed by some as the key to Lady Gaga's success...
, reached the top ten. She has also released the EP Illuminations
Illuminations (EP)
Illuminations is the fourth extended play by English recording artist Little Boots, released in North America on 9 June 2009 by Elektra Records. Released as a digital download, the extended play was accompanied by a digital booklet and music video for the song "New in Town"...
in the United States.
Her second album is scheduled to be released in sometime during 2012.
1984-2005: Early life and career beginnings
Hesketh was born in Blackpool, LancashireLancashire
Lancashire is a non-metropolitan county of historic origin in the North West of England. It takes its name from the city of Lancaster, and is sometimes known as the County of Lancaster. Although Lancaster is still considered to be the county town, Lancashire County Council is based in Preston...
to English
English people
The English are a nation and ethnic group native to England, who speak English. The English identity is of early mediaeval origin, when they were known in Old English as the Anglecynn. England is now a country of the United Kingdom, and the majority of English people in England are British Citizens...
parents; her father has a car sales business and her mother is a writer. The eldest sibling with three brothers, she was raised in the area of Thornton
Thornton, Lancashire
Thornton is a village on the Fylde, in Lancashire, England, about four miles north of Blackpool and two miles south of Fleetwood. It is in the Borough of Wyre...
, between Blackpool and Fleetwood
Fleetwood
Fleetwood is a town within the Wyre district of Lancashire, England, lying at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 26,840 people at the 2001 Census. It forms part of the Greater Blackpool conurbation. The town was the first planned community of the Victorian era...
, Lancashire.
From the age of five Hesketh played the piano and began lessons at six, later taking lessons from Arthur Lingings and eventually winning a music scholarship. During this time she was taught how to play the flute
Flute
The flute is a musical instrument of the woodwind family. Unlike woodwind instruments with reeds, a flute is an aerophone or reedless wind instrument that produces its sound from the flow of air across an opening...
, was a member of the school choir and travelled regularly to Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
to take lessons on her harp. Trained initially in classical singing by Janet Wunderley, by the age of thirteen Hesketh was writing her own songs.
Hesketh attended the Rossall School
Rossall School
Rossall School is a British, co-educational, independent school, between Cleveleys and Fleetwood, Lancashire. Rossall was founded in 1844 by St. Vincent Beechey as a sister school to Marlborough College which had been founded the previous year...
in Fleetwood, and then Blackpool Sixth Form College
Blackpool Sixth Form College
The Blackpool Sixth Form College serves the Fylde and surrounding areas of the county of Lancashire, England. The college has around 1,900 full-time students. The college offers academic and applied programmes to a wide range of students aged between 16 and 19....
; it was around this time that she entered the ITV
ITV
ITV is the major commercial public service TV network in the United Kingdom. Launched in 1955 under the auspices of the Independent Television Authority to provide competition to the BBC, it is also the oldest commercial network in the UK...
talent competition search Pop Idol
Pop Idol
Pop Idol is a British television series which debuted on ITV on 6 October 2001. The show was a talent contest to decide the best new young pop singer in the United Kingdom, based on viewer voting and participation. Two series were broadcast - one in 2001-02 and a second in 2003...
aged sixteen. Reaching the third round, she was eliminated by the producers of the show and did not reach the panel of judges. She stated that "[i]t gave me a thicker skin and it made me realise that it wasn't a short cut to getting where I wanted to be".
After singing with the Lancashire Youth Jazz Orchestra and performing with a jazz trio for some time Hesketh decided to prioritise her education and studied cultural studies
Cultural studies
Cultural studies is an academic field grounded in critical theory and literary criticism. It generally concerns the political nature of contemporary culture, as well as its historical foundations, conflicts, and defining traits. It is, to this extent, largely distinguished from cultural...
at the University of Leeds
University of Leeds
The University of Leeds is a British Redbrick university located in the city of Leeds, West Yorkshire, England...
, attaining a first-class honours degree. She subsidised her course by playing "awful, schmoozy lounge versions of Norah Jones songs" in hotels around the north-west. "It paid me loads of money, but it's not what I wanted to be doing" she said. It was during her time at Leeds University that Hesketh, along with two of her fellow students, formed the all girl band Dead Disco
Dead Disco
Dead Disco were an English electronic/indie pop musical group formed in 2005 by Lucy Catherwood, Marie France and Victoria Hesketh .-Biography:The trio met in August 2005 at the University of Leeds...
, Hesketh herself eventually becoming the lead singer.
2005-2008: Dead Disco
While studying at the University of Leeds, Hesketh answered an online advertisement posted by Lucy Catherwood and Marie France looking for a lead singer in order to start a band. Sharing an interest and love of The Killers, LadytronLadytron
Ladytron are an English electronic band formed in 1999 in Liverpool, Merseyside. The group consists of Helen Marnie , Mira Aroyo , Daniel Hunt and Reuben Wu .Their sound blends electropop with New Wave and shoegazing elements. Ladytron described their sound as "electronic pop"...
, The Rapture
The Rapture (band)
The Rapture is an Indie rock band based in New York City. The band mixes influences from many genres including post-punk, acid house, disco, electronica and rock, pioneering the post-punk revival genre...
and Siouxsie & the Banshees
Siouxsie & the Banshees
Siouxsie and the Banshees were a British rock band formed in 1976 by vocalist Siouxsie Sioux and bassist Steven Severin. Initially associated with the English punk rock scene, the band rapidly evolved to create "a form of post-punk discord full of daring rhythmic and sonic experimentation"...
, they formed the electro/indie pop
Indie pop
Indie pop is a genre of alternative rock music that originated in the United Kingdom in the mid 1980s, with its roots in the Scottish post-punk bands on the Postcard Records label in the early '80s, such as Orange Juice, Josef K and Aztec Camera, and the dominant UK independent band of the mid...
band Dead Disco
Dead Disco
Dead Disco were an English electronic/indie pop musical group formed in 2005 by Lucy Catherwood, Marie France and Victoria Hesketh .-Biography:The trio met in August 2005 at the University of Leeds...
in August 2005, The band got their name through randomly picking words from a hat. With Dead Disco, Hesketh sang lead vocals and played synth, with Catherwood on guitar, and France providing bass and backing vocals.
With only a few songs written, Dead Disco began playing gigs around the north of England; their live gig in the headline slot at the "In the City" event in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
gained them enough recognition to get a recording stint with James Ford
James Ford (musician)
James Ford is an English musical composer, record producer and musician.-Biography:Ford was a founding member of the group Simian and currently a member of their spin-off duo Simian Mobile Disco...
. Working with Ford in his London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
attic studio, the band issued a limited release of their debut single "The Treatment" in April 2006 on the record label High Voltage. Their second release "City Place" was a digital-only release through Playlouder Records.
With the success of several sell out gigs and an appearance at the Leeds Festival
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm...
, the band moved to Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
to begin recording their debut album with Greg Kurstin
Greg Kurstin
Gregory Allen "Greg" Kurstin is an award-winning American songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. In 2009 Kurstin received a Grammy Award nomination for Producer of the Year. That same year he won three Ivor Novello awards for his work with Lily Allen, including Songwriters of the Year for "The Fear"...
. However, it was around this time that Hesketh herself began to write songs not in keeping with the band's "indie" style. Choosing a new musical direction, Hesketh left Dead Disco; they officially revealed their disbandment on their MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
blog in December 2008. In an interview with The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
, Hesketh spoke about her gradual shift away from the band: "All the time I'd been hiding my own songs and finally I had to make the sort of music I actually wanted to listen to. [...] Before I used to always think, 'What would a jazz performer do?' or 'What would the band do?'—Now it's so easy because it's 'What would I do?' It's just me." In a later interview Hesketh noted that the bands' label was pressuring the group to have a certain style and that her fellow band mates lost confidence in her because she wanted to write "cheesy" songs.
2008-2010: Mainstream success, Hands and Illuminations
With her departure from Dead Disco in August 2007, Hesketh decided to begin a new solo career in pop. She returned to her parents' house to begin recording various covers of pop songs by artists which included Girls AloudGirls Aloud
Girls Aloud are a British and Irish pop girl group based in London. They were created through the ITV1 talent show Popstars The Rivals in 2002. The group consists of Cheryl Cole , Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. They are signed to Fascination Records, a Polydor...
, Kate Bush
Kate Bush
Kate Bush is an English singer-songwriter, musician and record producer. Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the United Kingdom's most successful solo female performers of the past 30 years.In 1978, at the age of 19, Bush topped the UK Singles Chart...
, MGMT
MGMT
MGMT is an American alternative rock band founded by Benjamin Goldwasser and Andrew VanWyngarden. After the release of their first album, the members of their live band, Matthew Asti, James Richardson and Will Berman, joined the core band in the studio...
, Hot Chip
Hot Chip
Hot Chip are an English electronic indie band. They have released four studio albums—Coming on Strong, The Warning, Made in the Dark and One Life Stand.-Formation:...
, Madonna
Madonna (entertainer)
Madonna is an American singer-songwriter, actress and entrepreneur. Born in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York City in 1977 to pursue a career in modern dance. After performing in the music groups Breakfast Club and Emmy, she released her debut album in 1983...
, Blur
Blur (band)
Blur is an English alternative rock band. Formed in London in 1989 as Seymour, the group consists of singer Damon Albarn, guitarist Graham Coxon, bassist Alex James and drummer Dave Rowntree. Blur's debut album Leisure incorporated the sounds of Madchester and shoegazing...
, Estelle
Estelle (musician)
Estelle Fanta Swaray commonly known as Estelle, and formerly as Est'elle, is an English R&B singer-songwriter, rapper and record producer.-Early Life:Estelle was born 18 January 1980 in Hammersmith, London, England...
, Alphabeat
Alphabeat
Alphabeat are a Danish pop band from Silkeborg, fronted by singers Stine Bramsen and Anders SG and signed to Polydor Records. Their single "Fascination" was a major hit in Denmark during the summer of 2007 and a significant hit in the United Kingdom in 2008...
, Wham!
WHAM!
Wham! were a short-lived British musical duo formed by George Michael and Andrew Ridgeley in the early 1980s. They were briefly known in the United States as Wham! UK due to a naming conflict with an American band....
and Miley Cyrus
Miley Cyrus
Miley Ray Cyrus is an American actress and pop singer-songwriter. She achieved wide fame for her role as Miley Stewart/Hannah Montana on the Disney Channel sitcom Hannah Montana....
and posted them on social networking websites YouTube
YouTube
YouTube is a video-sharing website, created by three former PayPal employees in February 2005, on which users can upload, view and share videos....
and MySpace
MySpace
Myspace is a social networking service owned by Specific Media LLC and pop star Justin Timberlake. Myspace launched in August 2003 and is headquartered in Beverly Hills, California. In August 2011, Myspace had 33.1 million unique U.S. visitors....
. Within a year she had narrowed down a list of her songs to create an album and by getting in touch with Greg Kurstin,, with whom she had previously worked with Dead Disco, Hesketh started production on her debut album Hands
Hands (Little Boots album)
Hands is the debut studio album by English recording artist Little Boots. It was released in the United Kingdom on 8 June 2009 by 679 Recordings to generally positive reviews. Many critics complimented its "well-crafted" pop songs and "diverse" production...
. In early 2008 she began using the stage name Little Boots. Hands was recorded in Los Angeles with Greg Kurstin and Joe Goddard
Hot Chip
Hot Chip are an English electronic indie band. They have released four studio albums—Coming on Strong, The Warning, Made in the Dark and One Life Stand.-Formation:...
, and by January 2009 she had begun to compile the album's track listings. During this period Hesketh topped the BBC Sound of 2009
Sound of... (BBC poll)
Sound of... is an annual poll of music critics and industry figures to find the most promising new music talent. It was first conducted by the BBC News website in 2003. A top 10 list is published each January.-Winners:-Sound of 2009:...
poll ahead of the likes of White Lies
White Lies (band)
White Lies is an English indie rock band from Ealing, London. Formerly known as Fear of Flying, the band consists primarily of Harry McVeigh , Charles Cave , and Jack Lawrence-Brown...
, Florence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine
Florence and the Machine is the recording name of English musician Florence Welch and a collaboration of other artists who provide music for her voice. Florence and the Machine's sound has been described as a combination of various genres, including rock and soul...
and Empire of the Sun
Empire of the Sun (band)
Empire of the Sun is an Australian electronic music duo that formed in 2008. The duo is composed of Luke Steele of The Sleepy Jackson and Nick Littlemore of Pnau. The two met in 2000 after both being signed to the same record label. Luke and Nick knew that they instantly had a chemistry like no other...
, leading to surge of media attention regarding her then-yet-to-be-released album.
Hands was released on 8 June 2009. A limited edition 12-inch vinyl
LP album
The LP, or long-playing microgroove record, is a format for phonograph records, an analog sound storage medium. Introduced by Columbia Records in 1948, it was soon adopted as a new standard by the entire record industry...
of the album was also released on 10 June, which was limited to 1000 copies. The album peaked at number five on the UK Albums Chart
UK Albums Chart
The UK Albums Chart is a list of albums ranked by physical and digital sales in the United Kingdom. It is compiled every week by The Official Charts Company and broadcast on a Sunday on BBC Radio 1 , and published in Music Week magazine and on the OCC website .To qualify for the UK albums chart...
and has produced the top twenty hit "New in Town
New in Town (song)
"New in Town" is a song by English recording artist Little Boots from her debut album, Hands. Written by Boots and Greg Kurstin and produced by Kurstin, the track was released as the album's lead single on 25 May 2009 in the United Kingdom. The song was inspired by the nights Boots spent in Los...
" and top ten hit "Remedy
Remedy (Little Boots song)
"Remedy" is a song by English recording artist Little Boots from her debut album, Hands. Written by Boots and RedOne, the song was released as the album's second single on 17 August 2009 in the United Kingdom, becoming her most successful single on the UK Singles Chart to date. A remix EP of the...
". The album is also doing well in Europe and Japan.
Critical response to the album was generally favourable, generating a score of 70 on Metacritic
Metacritic
Metacritic.com is a website that collates reviews of music albums, games, movies, TV shows and DVDs. For each product, a numerical score from each review is obtained and the total is averaged. An excerpt of each review is provided along with a hyperlink to the source. Three colour codes of Green,...
. In a review for MusicOMH.com, Michael Cragg called it "a well-crafted, glorious pop record." ClashMusic.com reviewer Joe Zadeh disagreed, writing that the album "falls victim to attempts to reach beyond more boundaries than necessary, and thus ironically loses the concentration of the more earnest listener." David Renshaw of Gigwise.com
Gigwise.com
Gigwise.com is an online music magazine that features music news, photos, album reviews, music festivals, concert tickets, and a community forum. Founded in 2001, the magazine is based in the United Kingdom....
described Hands as "a big pop album" that "rival[s] Lady Gaga
Lady GaGa
Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta , better known by her stage name Lady Gaga, is an American singer and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, she primarily studied at the Convent of the Sacred Heart and briefly attended New York University's Tisch School of the Arts before withdrawing to...
, Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud
Girls Aloud are a British and Irish pop girl group based in London. They were created through the ITV1 talent show Popstars The Rivals in 2002. The group consists of Cheryl Cole , Nadine Coyle, Sarah Harding, Nicola Roberts and Kimberley Walsh. They are signed to Fascination Records, a Polydor...
or Lily Allen
Lily Allen
Lily Rose Beatrice Cooper , better known as Lily Allen, is an English recording artist and fashion designer. She is the daughter of actor and musician Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. In her teenage years, her musical tastes evolved from glam rock to alternative...
." Ben Thompson of The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
wrote that the album's production was "diverse" and called the song "Symmetry", a duet with Philip Oakey
Philip Oakey
Philip Oakey is an English composer, singer, songwriter and producer.He is best known as the lead singer, frontman and co-founder of the famous English synthpop band The Human League. He has also had an extensive solo music career and collaborated with numerous other artists and producers...
, a "joyous cross-generational head-to-head." NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...
reviewer Emily Mackay wrote that "Little Boots gives us an inspiring story of self-realization" and called the album "brilliant." Pete Paphides of The Times
The Times
The Times is a British daily national newspaper, first published in London in 1785 under the title The Daily Universal Register . The Times and its sister paper The Sunday Times are published by Times Newspapers Limited, a subsidiary since 1981 of News International...
named "Stuck on Repeat
Stuck on Repeat
"Stuck on Repeat" is an electropop song by English singer-songwriter Little Boots from her debut EP, Arecibo . Written by Little Boots, Greg Kurstin and Joe Goddard, the song was released as a promotional single in the United Kingdom in February 2008.-Background and writing:"Stuck on Repeat" was...
" the album's "best moment" due to its "exquisite vulnerability."
Hesketh was also nominated for BRIT critics choice in 2009. Little Boots was on Esquire
Esquire (magazine)
Esquire is a men's magazine, published in the U.S. by the Hearst Corporation. Founded in 1932, it flourished during the Great Depression under the guidance of founder and editor Arnold Gingrich.-History:...
magazine's list of sixty "Brilliant Brits 2009". Little Boots was named a 2009 artist to watch by American publication Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...
.
Hesketh collaborated with illustrator/artist Chrissie Abbott for the artwork of the album. The artwork for the album has been compared to Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd
Pink Floyd were an English rock band that achieved worldwide success with their progressive and psychedelic rock music. Their work is marked by the use of philosophical lyrics, sonic experimentation, innovative album art, and elaborate live shows. Pink Floyd are one of the most commercially...
's 1973 album The Dark Side of the Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon
The Dark Side of the Moon is the eighth studio album by English progressive rock band Pink Floyd, released in March 1973. It built on ideas explored in the band's earlier recordings and live shows, but lacks the extended instrumental excursions that characterised their work following the departure...
because of its geometric design and fairytale imagery. The album was released in the United States on 2 March 2010, debuting at number seven in the Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers
Top Heatseekers refers to either of two separate "Breaking and Entering" music charts issued weekly by Billboard Magazine: the Heatseekers Albums chart or the Heatseekers Songs chart. They were introduced by Billboard in 1993 with the purpose of highlighting the sales by new and developing musical...
chart.
On 9 June 2009, Little Boots released the EP entitled Illuminations
Illuminations (EP)
Illuminations is the fourth extended play by English recording artist Little Boots, released in North America on 9 June 2009 by Elektra Records. Released as a digital download, the extended play was accompanied by a digital booklet and music video for the song "New in Town"...
in the United States and Canada. It includes "Stuck on Repeat", "New in Town", "Magical", "Love Kills" (a cover of Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury
Freddie Mercury was a British musician, singer and songwriter, best known as the lead vocalist of the rock band Queen. As a performer, he was known for his flamboyant stage persona and powerful vocals over a four-octave range...
's 1984 song) and "Not Now" (which is only available on the U.S. edition). Designed to help relaunch Elektra Records
Elektra Records
Elektra Records is an American record label owned by Warner Music Group. In 2004, it was consolidated into WMG's Atlantic Records Group. After five years of dormancy, the label was revived by Atlantic in 2009....
, the EP peaked at number fourteen on the Billboard
Billboard (magazine)
Billboard is a weekly American magazine devoted to the music industry, and is one of the oldest trade magazines in the world. It maintains several internationally recognized music charts that track the most popular songs and albums in various categories on a weekly basis...
Dance/Electronic Albums chart on 27 June 2009.
2010-Present: Hiatus and Second album
During an interview with music website ArtistdirectARTISTdirect
Founded in 1994, Artistdirect, Inc. is an online digital media entertainment company. It owns several websites including Artistdirect.com, UBL.com and the Artistdirect Network...
on 1 March 2010, Little Boots stated that her next album "will be rawer and a bit more down-to-earth. It'll still be magical, but quite dark and spooky at the same time." She added that she has drawn inspiration from the poetry of Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe
Edgar Allan Poe was an American author, poet, editor and literary critic, considered part of the American Romantic Movement. Best known for his tales of mystery and the macabre, Poe was one of the earliest American practitioners of the short story and is considered the inventor of the detective...
. On 1 May 2011, she performed at China Music Valley Music Festival in Beijing, China, during which she performed a new song called "Crescendo".
In late September 2011, Little Boots performed at the Mondrian Hotel
Mondrian Hotel
The Mondrian Hotel is the name of three boutique hotels owned and/or operated by the Morgans Hotel Group.-Mondrian Los Angeles:The original Mondrian Hotel is located on Sunset Boulevard in West Hollywood, California. The structure was built in 1959 as an apartment building. It was later renovated...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
, performing several old and new songs acoustically. One month later on 24 October 2011, she released a mixtape
Mixtape
A Mix Tape or Mixed Tape is a compilation of songs recorded in a specific order, traditionally onto an audio Compact Cassette.A Mix Tape, which usually reflects the musical tastes of its compiler, can range from a casually selected list of favorite songs, to a conceptual mix of songs linked by a...
called Shake Until Your Heart Breaks and announced that she would be beginning an international DJ tour to promote her new material. She would later release the new song "Shake
Shake (Little Boots song)
"Shake" is a song by English recording artist Little Boots, released as the lead single from her upcoming second studio album. Produced by James Ford, the song was released in the United Kingdom on 11 November 2011.-Background:...
" digitally and on a limited edition vinyl on 13 November 2011.
2009
Little Boots' first televised appearance was on Later... with Jools Holland on 7 November 2008. She was invited to perform on the show after posting songs on MySpace. On 4 March 2009, Little Boots appeared on late night television show Last Call with Carson DalyLast Call with Carson Daly
Last Call with Carson Daly is an American late night talk show that is broadcast on NBC. The show is hosted by Carson Daly, the half-hour show featuring celebrity interviews, documentary-style coverage of a topic, and musical performances. Last Call airs weeknights at 1:35 a.m. Eastern / 12:35 a.m....
in the United States where she was interviewed by Daly
Carson Daly
Carson Jones Daly is an American television host. He is the host of NBC's Last Call with Carson Daly, a late-night talk show that began airing on January 7, 2002. Before his role as host of that program, Daly was a VJ on MTV's TRL, and a DJ for the Southern California based radio station KROQ-FM...
and several clips from a Los Angeles nightclub performance were shown. Little Boots performed "Stuck on Repeat" using the Tenori-on
Tenori-on
Tenori-on is an electronic musical instrument, designed and created by Japanese artist Toshio Iwai and Yu Nishibori of the Music and Human Interface Group, Yamaha Center for Advanced Sound Technology. It consists of a screen, held in the hands, of a sixteen by sixteen grid of LED switches, any of...
on the 11 May 2009 edition of BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast
BBC Breakfast is the morning television news programme simulcast on BBC One and the BBC News channel. It is presented live from BBC Television Centre in White City, West London, and contains a mixture of news, sport, weather, business and feature items...
. She returned to Later... with Jools Holland on 15 May 2009, becoming the only artist to perform on the show twice prior to having an album released. This was followed by an appearance on the BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4
BBC Radio 4 is a British domestic radio station, operated and owned by the BBC, that broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes, including news, drama, comedy, science and history. It replaced the BBC Home Service in 1967. The station controller is currently Gwyneth Williams, and the...
programme Woman's Hour
Woman's Hour
Woman's Hour is a radio magazine programme broadcast on BBC Radio 4 in the United Kingdom.-History:Created by Norman Collins and originally presented by Alan Ivimey the programme was first broadcast on 7 October 1946 on the BBC's Light Programme . It was transferred to its current home in 1973...
on 27 May 2009. Also in 2009, the song "Meddle
Meddle (song)
"Meddle" is an electropop song performed by English singer Little Boots. The song was written by Victoria Hesketh and Joe Goddard for Little Boots' debut extended play Arecibo , and later appearing on her debut album, Hands...
" was featured in an advertisement
Advertising
Advertising is a form of communication used to persuade an audience to take some action with respect to products, ideas, or services. Most commonly, the desired result is to drive consumer behavior with respect to a commercial offering, although political and ideological advertising is also common...
for Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...
. On 5 June 2009, she appeared on Bebo
Bebo
Bebo is a social networking website launched in July 2005. It is currently owned and operated by Criterion Capital Partners after taking over from AOL in June 2010....
music show Beat, performing "New in Town" live in the studio.
On 3 July 2009 Little Boots closed out Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross
Friday Night with Jonathan Ross was a British comedy chat show presented by Jonathan Ross. It was first broadcast on BBC One on 2 November 2001. The programme featured Ross's take on current topics of conversation, guest interviews and live music from both a guest music group and the house band...
. A week later, she performed at Oxegen 2009
Oxegen 2009
Oxegen 2009 was the sixth Oxegen festival to take place since 2004. It took place on the weekend of Friday 10 July, Saturday, 11 July and Sunday, 12 July at Punchestown Racecourse near Naas in County Kildare, Ireland...
on the Hot Press New Bands Stage, her first performance in Ireland. The following weekend she performed at T4 on the Beach
T4 on the Beach
T4 On The Beach is a British one day music event which is held on the beach at Weston-super-Mare and televised for Channel 4. The event began in 2003 as Pop Beach in Great Yarmouth, changing to the current title and venue in 2005....
2009 on both the T4
T4 (Channel 4)
T4 is a scheduling slot on Channel 4 from about 09:00 until 14:00 on Saturdays and 17:00 on Sundays. It also airs on weekdays in the school holidays. The slot has a separate station identification on screen graphic from Channel 4 and E4. The logo of T4 is noticeably the top right segment of the...
and 4Music
4Music
4Music is a music and entertainment channel in the United Kingdom and available on some digital television providers in the Republic of Ireland - its web component can be found at with its own and pages. It is the only channel within the Box Television Network to be branded under Channel 4 and...
Stages.
Little Boots performed "Remedy" and a cover version
Cover version
In popular music, a cover version or cover song, or simply cover, is a new performance or recording of a contemporary or previously recorded, commercially released song or popular song...
of JLS
JLS
- Music :* JLS, an English boyband** JLS , debut album by JLS* JLS a Spanish Rock band based in Zaragoza , Spain formed in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic by lead Leo Susana.- Organizations :...
' "Beat Again
Beat Again
"Beat Again" is the first single by English band JLS, taken from their self-titled debut album.-Background:The song is unusual for being a debut single from reality show contestant that is not a cover version. The song instead was written especially for the group by Wayne Hector and Steve Mac. The...
" as part of the Live Lounge
Live Lounge
The Live Lounge is a segment on the British radio station BBC Radio 1. Originally hosted by Jo Whiley on her mid-morning radio show and now hosted by Fearne Cotton, it exhibits well-known artists usually performing one song of their own and one by another artist, in an acoustic format...
segment of BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station operated by the British Broadcasting Corporation which also broadcasts internationally, specialising in current popular music and chart hits throughout the day. Radio 1 provides alternative genres after 7:00pm including electronic dance, hip hop, rock...
's The Jo Whiley Show
The Jo Whiley Show
The Jo Whiley Show was a British weekday radio show on BBC Radio 1 hosted by Jo Whiley. The programme was on air from February 2001 to September 2009 and was broadcast each morning between 10:00am and 12:45pm. And Bank Holidays And Good Fridays At 10.00-13.00-Show Format:The show began at 10:00am...
on 19 August 2009. Later in the month, Little Boots performed at the Reading and Leeds Festivals
Reading and Leeds Festivals
The Reading and Leeds Festivals are a pair of annual music festivals that take place in Reading and Leeds in England. The events take place simultaneously on the Friday, Saturday and Sunday of the August bank holiday weekend, sharing the same bill. The Reading Festival is held at Little John's Farm...
on the Radio 1/NME Stage. Between those appearances, she also performed at Manchester Pride
Manchester Pride
Manchester Pride is the current name of the annual Gay Pride festival held in the city of Manchester in the North West of England in the United Kingdom....
2009, an LBGT pride event. In September 2009 she was scheduled to embark on a five-city North American tour to support the Illuminations EP. The following month she performed on the main stage at the Bestival 2009
Bestival 2009
The Bestival 2009 was the sixth installment of the Bestival, a boutique music festival held at Robin Hill on the Isle of Wight. The festival was held over the weekend between 11 September and 13 September 2009. Each year a fancy dress theme is announced, this years being outer space with the title...
in Downend
Downend, Isle of Wight
Downend is a settlement on the Isle of Wight, off the south coast of England. It is the location of the Robin Hill adventure park.The hamlet lies to the north of the A3056 road, in the central-eastern district of the island. Downend is approximately south-east of Newport. Public transport is...
, Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
.
Little Boots went on a five-city sold-out U.S. tour in the autumn of 2009 in support of Illuminations. On 26 October 2009 Little Boots performed as the main act at 53 Degrees in Preston, Lancashire. Along with this, Little Boots revisited the Blackpool Sixth Form College to film a 360 Session for Channel 4. The college's media studies, music technology and college magazine all got to work with her and Sixth Sense, the college magazine, managed to get their second exclusive interview with Little Boots, which was published in January 2010. On 7 December Little Boots dueted with Gary Numan
Gary Numan
Gary Numan is an English singer, composer, and musician, most widely known for his chart-topping 1979 hits "Are 'Friends' Electric?" and "Cars". His signature sound consisted of heavy synthesizer hooks fed through guitar effects pedals.Numan is considered a pioneer of commercial electronic music...
on the 6 Music Live Combos
BBC 6 Music
BBC 6 Music is one of the BBC's digital radio stations, was launched on 11 March 2002 and originally codenamed Network Y. It was the first national music radio station to be launched by the BBC in 32 years....
show, broadcast on 11 December.
2010
On 2 March 2010 Little Boots was scheduled to embark on a thirteen-date North American tour to coincide with the release of Hands there. She toured without her laser harpLaser harp
A laser harp is an electronic musical instrument consisting of several laser beams to be blocked, in analogy with the plucking of the strings of a harp, in order to produce sounds. It was invented by Bernard Szajner and popularized by Jean Michel Jarre, and has been a high profile feature of...
because she was not a certified laser operator (which is a legal requirement in the U.S. for certain laser appliances) and therefore she was not allowed to travel with the instrument. However, on 17 March, seven of the planned concerts were cancelled; Little Boots cited this was due to "unforeseen circumstances and commitments in the UK".
The following month, Little Boots performed a set in the Gobi Tent at the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival
The Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival is a three-day annual music and arts festival, organized by Goldenvoice and held at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California, in the Inland Empire's Coachella Valley...
in Indio
Indio, California
Indio is a city in Riverside County, California, United States, located in the Coachella Valley of Southern California's Colorado Desert region. It lies east of Palm Springs, east of Riverside, and east of Los Angeles. It is about north of Mexicali, Baja California on the U.S.-Mexican border...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. She told the audience that much of her crew and costumes had been stranded in the UK due to the Icelandic volcano
2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull
The 2010 eruptions of Eyjafjallajökull were volcanic events at Eyjafjöll in Iceland which, although relatively small for volcanic eruptions, caused enormous disruption to air travel across western and northern Europe over an initial period of six days in April 2010. Additional localised disruption...
—which had forced some UK artists, such as Gary Numan and Bad Lieutenant
Bad Lieutenant
Bad Lieutenant is a 1992 crime-drama film directed by Abel Ferrara and starring Harvey Keitel as the eponymous "bad lieutenant". The screenplay was written by actress-model Zoë Lund. She also played a small role in the film. Lund had been discovered by Ferrara and had starred in his earlier film, Ms...
, to cancel their Coachella engagements entirely—and that aspects of her set had to be improvised at the last minute. Two months later, Little Boots performed on the NewNowNext Awards
NewNowNext Awards
The first NewNowNext-Awards were held in 2008 by the gay and lesbian-themed network Logo.- 2008 :The nominees were announced by Cazwell and Amanda Lepore. Hosts were Candis Cayne and Colman Domingo...
show on the United State LBGT cable channel Logo
Logo (TV channel)
Logo is an American digital cable television channel owned by Viacom's MTV Networks division. Launched in June 2005, the channel's programs are geared towards the gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender community...
.
Other pursuits and appearances
Many of Little Boots' songs have been used on television and film. "New in Town" has appeared numerous times, including in the 2009 American horror film Jennifer's BodyJennifer's Body
Jennifer's Body is a 2009 black comedy horror film written by Diablo Cody and directed by Karyn Kusama. The film stars Megan Fox, Amanda Seyfried, Johnny Simmons, and Adam Brody. Fox portrays a newly-possessed teenage serial killer specializing in killing her male classmates as her best friend...
"Remedy" was used in the Dollhouse
Dollhouse (TV series)
Dollhouse is an American science fiction television series created by writer and director Joss Whedon under Mutant Enemy Productions. It premiered on February 13, 2009, on the Fox network and was officially cancelled on November 11, 2009. The final episode aired on January 29, 2010...
episode entitled "Belle Chose". It was also used in a scene in the third series of Gavin & Stacey
Gavin & Stacey
Gavin & Stacey is a British comedy television series. A romantic comedy-drama, the show follows the long-distance relationship of Gavin from Billericay in Essex, England, and Stacey from Barry in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales. The writers of the show, actors James Corden and Ruth Jones, also...
.
"Meddle" was featured in the ninth episode of the third series of the British teen drama Skins
Skins (TV series)
Skins is a BAFTA award-winning British teen drama that follows a group of teenagers in Bristol, South West England, through the two years of college. The controversial plot line explores issues such as dysfunctional families, mental illness , adolescent sexuality, substance abuse and death...
, entitled "Katie and Emily
Katie and Emily
"Katie and Emily" is the ninth and penultimate episode of the third series of the English teen drama Skins, which first aired on 19 March 2009 on E4 in the United Kingdom and Republic of Ireland. The episode was written by Malcolm Campbell and Bryan Elsley, and was directed by Charles Martin...
" and broadcast 19 March 2009. It also appears in a Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret
Victoria's Secret is an American retailer of women's wear, lingerie and beauty products. It is the largest segment of publicly-traded Limited Brands with sales of over US$5 billion and an operating income of $1 billion in 2006...
commercial, along with appearing in the new Channel 4 comedy series, Friday Night Dinner
Friday Night Dinner
Friday Night Dinner is a British television sitcom written by Robert Popper and starring Tamsin Greig, Paul Ritter, Simon Bird, Tom Rosenthal and Mark Heap. The first series aired from February 2011 on Channel 4. A second series has been commissioned by Channel 4. The series began airing in the U.S...
. The Hands track "Click" was used in the twentieth episode of The Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Diaries
The Vampire Diaries is a young adult vampire horror series of novels written by L. J. Smith. The story centers around Elena Gilbert, a high school girl torn between two vampire brothers. The series was originally a trilogy published in 1991, but pressure from readers led Smith to write a fourth...
, "Blood Brothers", and in the sixteenth episode of Melrose Place
Melrose Place (2009 TV series)
Melrose Place is an American television series broadcast on The CW Television Network from September 8, 2009 to April 13, 2010. The fifth series in the Beverly Hills, 90210 franchise, it is an updated version of the 1990s Fox prime time drama of the same name, featuring a group of young adults...
, "Santa Fe", which aired on 30 March 2010.
Little Boots has contributed to a documentary about the Stylophone. She has also collaborated with RjDj, and released a remix app
Application software
Application software, also known as an application or an "app", is computer software designed to help the user to perform specific tasks. Examples include enterprise software, accounting software, office suites, graphics software and media players. Many application programs deal principally with...
for the iPhone
IPhone
The iPhone is a line of Internet and multimedia-enabled smartphones marketed by Apple Inc. The first iPhone was unveiled by Steve Jobs, then CEO of Apple, on January 9, 2007, and released on June 29, 2007...
entitled The Little Boots – Reactive Remixer, which allows users to remix
Remix
A remix is an alternative version of a recorded song, made from an original version. This term is also used for any alterations of media other than song ....
"Remedy", "Meddle" and "New in Town" and share it over social networking sites.
Little Boots has joined the War on Want
War on Want
War on Want is an anti-poverty charity based in London, England. It seeks to highlight the needs of poverty-stricken areas around the world and lobbies governments and international agencies to tackle problems as well as raising public awareness of the concerns of developing nations while...
campaign, part of which supports protests against sweatshop
Sweatshop
Sweatshop is a negatively connoted term for any working environment considered to be unacceptably difficult or dangerous. Sweatshop workers often work long hours for very low pay, regardless of laws mandating overtime pay or a minimum wage. Child labour laws may be violated. Sweatshops may have...
s in India.
Discography
Albums- 2009: HandsHands (Little Boots album)Hands is the debut studio album by English recording artist Little Boots. It was released in the United Kingdom on 8 June 2009 by 679 Recordings to generally positive reviews. Many critics complimented its "well-crafted" pop songs and "diverse" production...
- 2012: TBC
Extended Plays
- 2008: AreciboArecibo (EP)Arecibo is the debut extended play by English recording artist Little Boots, released in the United States on 18 November 2008 by IAMSOUND Records.-Track listing:All songs written by Victoria Hesketh, Greg Kurstin and Joe Goddard....
- 2009: Little BootsLittle Boots (EP)Little Boots is the eponymous second extended play by English recording artist Little Boots, released in the United Kingdom on 5 January 2009 by Atlantic Records...
- 2009: iTunes Live from LondonITunes Live from London (Little Boots EP)iTunes Live from London is a live extended play by English electropop singer Little Boots. It was released exclusively through iTunes as a digital download by Sixsevenine on 1 June 2009. The album was recorded live at the Apple Store in London, England on 26 May 2009.-Track listing:#"New in Town" –...
- 2009: IlluminationsIlluminations (EP)Illuminations is the fourth extended play by English recording artist Little Boots, released in North America on 9 June 2009 by Elektra Records. Released as a digital download, the extended play was accompanied by a digital booklet and music video for the song "New in Town"...
Mixtapes
- 2011: Shake (Until Your Heart Breaks)