Biography
Dido Armstrong was born in London (England) on Christmas day in 1971, she was christened Florian Cloud De Bounevialle Armstrong. Dido lived with her poet mother and publisher father in London. One day she looked up the story of her nickname. "I thought it was strange that I was called after a woman who killed herself in ancient literature. It's great for me now but there's no denying that I hated it. That was just another thing that made me stand out". Young Dido enjoyed reading and playing tennis against the garden wall and when she was just 6 she was accepted into the Guildhall School of Music in London and by 10 she could play the piano, violin and recorder. Some of her teenage years were spent touring the UK with a Classical Ensemble and being a waitress at Cafe Flo in Islington. She left school to
pay her way through university, and eventually enrolled as a law student at Birkbeck University. At 16 she became enthralled with the music of jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald and her brother's music collection. Her brother Rollo, plays in the group Faithless and she appeared on the groups five million selling debut album 'Reverence' in 1995 on the tracks 'Flowerstand Man' and 'Salva Mea'. Dido later appeared on another Faithless album 'Sunday 8pm' in 1998 on the tracks 'Postcards' and 'Hem of his Garment'.
In between recording those two albums Dido met producer Clive Davis in 1997 after he had heard some demos of her own tracks. Dido was later signed to the record company Arista and began recording her debut album 'No Angel'.
The album was released in the USA in 1999 and later released in the Uk in October 2000. Two tracks off the album appeared on a TV show, a film and many adverts. 'Thank You' appeared in the film 'Sliding Doors' and 'Here with Me' was the theme to 'Roswell High', a massive TV show in the USA and later success in the UK.
Dido really shot to fame when Eminem incorporated 'Thank You' into the massive number 1 hit 'Stan'. Dido described Eminem as polite, funny and charming.
A special edition of 'No Angel' was released in January 2001 with enhanched videos of 'Here With Me' and 'Thank You'. It also included a bonus track 'Take My Hand' and a picture gallery. The album went to number 1 and stayed there for a number of weeks. It has sold more than 12 million copies worldwide.
Her debut single 'Here With Me' was released in February 2001 and became a hit getting to number 4. The follow up 'Thank You' was released in May 2001 and got to number 3.
The following month Dido appeared on another Faithless album 'Outrospective' on the track 'One Step Too Far'. The third single, 'Hunter' was released in September 2001, which gave Dido another top 20 hit.
A further limited edition of 'No Angel' was released in November 2001 with extra enhanced videos of 'Hunter' and live versions of 'All You Want'' and 'Honestly OK'. It also included mixes of many other of her songs and included an extra track called 'Christmas Day'. Also in November 2001 Dido won the Best New Act Award at the MTV Europe Music Awards.
A fourth and final single for 'No Angel' album, 'All You Want' backed with 'Christmas Day' was released as a limited edition 3" CD single in December 2001, it didn't enter the charts due to it being a limited edition.
'No Angel' was the best selling album of 2001 and sold more than two million copies during the yeat. It got to number 1 in thirteen countries and was the best selling album in the world.
In February 2002 Dido won Best British Female and Best British Album for 'No Angel' at the Brit Awards 2002.
In April 2002 'One Step Too Far' the track done by Dido and Faithless, was released and entered at number 6. Also in April 2002 the track that Dido co-wrote for Britney Spears, 'I'm Not A Girl, Not Yet A Women' was released, it reached number 2. In October 2002 Dido featured on the War Child charity album '1Love'. It featured the track she recorded with Faithless, 'Dub Be Good To Me' and many others.
Her new single 'White Flag' reached number 2 in the UK charts and stayed in the top five for many weeks. The single is taken off her brand new album 'Life for Rent', which quickly became the biggest worldwide selling album of 2003. In December 2003, Dido released 'Life For Rent,' the second single of the same named album. It provided her with another top 10 hit and boosted her album sales.
To add to Dido's success she scooped up 'Best British Female' and 'Best Single' for 'White Flag' in the Brit Awards 2004. No longer than a week later it was proven that her hard work had paid off when she entered the top ten biggest music earners of 2003.
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