Dido

DIDO

Born: Dido Armstrong; London, England, 25 December 1971

Genre: Rock

Best-selling album since 1990: No Angel (1999)

Hit songs since 1990: "Here with Me," "Thank You"

Arriving at the end of the female singer/songwriter commercial explosion in the late 1990s, Dido brought an electronic flavor and sound to the movement.

Dido was born in London, England, on Christmas Day 1971, into a literary family: Her father was a publisher, her mother a poet. Dido entered London's Guildhall School of Music at the age of six. By the time she was a teenager, Dido had command of the piano, recorder, and violin and was touring the United Kingdom as part of a classical ensemble. She took up singing at the age of sixteen after hearing the records of jazz legend Ella Fitzgerald.

Dido's brother Rollo recruited his sister to join his band Faithless in 1995. Faithless, a trip-hop outfit, combined live instrumentation with electronic beats. Faithless's debut album Reverence (1996) was a hit, selling 5 million records worldwide.

Dido's work with Faithless caught the eye of the Arista Records magnate Clive Davis, who signed the young performer to a recording contract in 1997. Two years later, Arista released Dido's debut solo album, No Angel. The brooding lead single "Here with Me" achieved some popularity as the theme song to the hit television series Roswell. "Here with Me" typifies Dido's unique sound: juxtaposing a simple acoustic guitar with swirling electronic strings and crisp drum machine beats while the singer delivers the lyrics in a ghostly, otherworldly voice.

It was not until controversial rapper Eminem sampled Dido's "Thank You" for his song "Stan" that the English diva won global recognition. In "Thank You" Dido reflects on the solace that a picture of a lover provides during their time apart: "My tea's gone cold, I'm wondering why I got out of bed at all / The morning rain clouds up my window and I can't see at all / And even if I could it'd all be grey, but your picture on my wall / It reminds me that it's not so bad, it's not so bad." In "Stan," Eminem sampled Dido's vocals on the aforementioned lyrics, recasting them in his song about an obsessed fan. The success of "Stan" sparked interest in Dido, who also appeared in the video for "Stan" as the narrator's pregnant wife. "Thank You," which had previously been a minor hit for Dido after appearing in the hit movie Sliding Doors, recharted and climbed all the way to number five. No Angel went on to sell 3 million copies.

Part of the late-1990s female singer/songwriter movement, Dido expanded the genre's sound and, by means of her affiliation with Eminem, also extended its reach.

SELECTIVE DISCOGRAPHY:

No Angel (Arista, 1999).

scott tribble