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The Ting Tings

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The Ting Tings

The Ting Tings are an English pop duo of Jules De Martino (drums, lead guitar, vocals, piano) and Katie White (vocals, guitar, bass drums and bass guitar). Originally from Hackney, London, they formed in December 2007 while based at Islington Mill, Artist Studios in Salford. They have released four singles on their current label Columbia Records UK, including the single "That's Not My Name" which charted straight at Number 1 in the UK Singles Chart on 18 May 2008.[2] The album We Started Nothing was released on 19 May 2008 and charted at Number 1 in the UK.[3]

Career

Background

Katie White started her music career in a girl group punk trio TKO - short for Total Knock Out - with two friends from Lowton school, Marion Grethe Seaman and Emma Lally. The band had some success and supported Steps and Atomic Kitten. In March 2001, the bands manager (and Katie's father), David White brought in songwriter Jules De Martino who wrote four songs for TKO.[4] While De Martino was in Manchester a few months later, the pair bumped into each other and discovered they had a mutual love of Portishead. De Martino relocated to Manchester, based at the alternative musician-commune the Islington Mill in Salford.[5] The pair and a friend went on to form the Portishead-influenced trio Dear Eskiimo who were signed to Mercury Records. However, due to a change of directors and managers, the management style of the record label caused them to split.[6][7] The experience left White and De Martino with a distrust of the music industry.

Formation

Retreating to The Mill, while White served behind the bar, de Martino produced tracks for various artistes located at The Mill. Developing their sound while listening to performances at The Mill, they formed The Ting Tings. The name comes from the first name of a Chinese colleague of White at a shop who told her the name sounds like the pronunciation of "an old bandstand" in Mandarin.[6] The name endeared them to Asian music fans, and the group has experienced much success in Japan.[8]

Having created three songs, the bands first gig was a free-beer invite all at The Mill. Subsequent gigs were funded on donations, and after their third gig they were name checked on XFM.[5] The subsequent Islington Mill gigs ended up as some of the most sought after tickets on the Manchester party scene - with various A&R reps and record producers, such as Rick Rubin, asking for tickets.[7]

Exposure

Performing at the Variety Playhouse in Atlanta, Georgia on 23 October 2008
Performing at ULU London, 16 April 2008

Their first double-A side single "That's Not My Name/Great DJ" was released on local label Switchflicker Records, and together with their second single "Fruit Machine", they were on heavy rotation in British radio (amongst others BBC 6 Music, played regularly by many DJs including a session for Marc Riley who was first to have them in session on 6 Music and first to play their record on the station). "Fruit Machine" was a limited-edition, 500-only seven-inch single on Legendre Starkie Records, which was only available at the group's gigs at Islington Mill in Salford, Electrowerkz in Islington, Berlin in Germany and at Glasslands in Brooklyn, New York City.[9] They had a notable performance at Glastonbury Festival 2007, and after an October 2007 tour of universities in the UK with Reverend and the Makers, signed for Columbia Records.[10] On 14 December 2007 they appeared on Later with Jools Holland. In May 2008 the band credited BBC Introducing for giving them their 'life changing' break after BBC Radio Manchester's Introducing show spotted the band and put them forward for inclusion in the Glastonbury running order.

Although during their performances Jules mostly stays sitting at his drumkit, only occasionally playing a guitar, Katie plays a variety of instruments (for example, keyboard, guitars and drums) as well as moving and dancing around the whole stage, which makes for a very dynamic performance (as shown in the photographs taken at the Variety Playhouse and ULU).

In January 2008 they were voted third in the annual BBC 6 Music poll of industry experts Sound of 2008, for acts to emerge in the coming year.[11] In February 2008 they were the opening slot act on the 2008 Shockwaves NME Awards Tour, performing with The Cribs, Joe Lean And The Jing Jang Jong and Does It Offend You, Yeah?.[12] In conjunction with the NME and HMV the band contributed a demo version of "Great DJ" to a limited, 5000 copies only 10" vinyl release of all the artists on the NME Awards Tour.

Performing at South by Southwest in 2008

The first single released on Columbia was "Great DJ", which received considerable airplay on BBC Radio 1 and Xfm in the UK; and hyped by magazines such as the NME. The band performed a live set on the In New Music We Trust stage at Radio 1's Big Weekend in Maidstone, Kent, which was made available by the BBC's online video player application iPlayer. The single "Shut Up and Let Me Go" appeared in an iPod commercial in late April 2008, peaking at #55 on the Billboard Hot 100.[9]

2008-2009: We Started Nothing

The band's debut album, We Started Nothing, was released on 19 May 2008. It was leaked onto the internet on 13 May 2008. Shortly after the release of the album, the band released a statement on the social network service MySpace which explained to fans that their single "That's Not My Name" had reached number 1 in the UK Singles Charts, the statement went on to encourage fans to purchase legal copies of the single in order to keep it at the top position for the official Sunday Chart release on 18 May. The band went on to secure Number 1 in the UK Singles chart on 18 May.

The Ting Tings performed at the iTunes Live London Festival in the KOKO nightclub on 9 July 2008, and the performance was released as a downloadable EP in the iTunes store under the title iTunes Live: London Festival ‘08. Their singles "Shut Up and Let Me Go" and "We Started Nothing" were featured in the Gossip Girl series, while the song "Be the One" was featured in One Tree Hill. Their single "Great DJ" was featured in the theatrical trailers for the Anna Faris comedy "The House Bunny" and the Oscar-winning "Slumdog Millionaire." The Ting Tings were one of four performers who played small interludes consisting of remixes of past hits throughout the 2008 MTV Video Music Awards. They played a section from "Shut Up and Let Me Go" with Blink-182 drummer Travis Barker and DJ AM. They also won Best UK Video for their single "Shut Up and Let Me Go". On 22 November 2008 started a tour with Overflow Crowds Band in the US. On 31 December 2008 they performed on Jools Holland's Hootenanny show to a prerecorded backing track, to bring in the new year on BBC2 in the UK along with numerous other singers and bands.

The band toured Australia and New Zealand in early 2009 as part of the Big Day Out Festival lineup. They also toured in Singapore as part of that festival's night counterpart, Big Night Out.[13] Columbia Records announced on 16 January 2009 the US release of the single, "That's Not My Name" for 27 January 2009 and a March/April US concert tour by the group. In May 2009, the album won an Ivor Novello Award. In June 2009 they returned to the Glastonbury Festival playing The Other stage on Friday night; on Saturday, British Hip-Hop artist Dizzee Rascal opened his set on the Pyramid Stage with a cover of That's Not My Name.

They are currently touring the US, supporting Pink on her Funhouse Tour.

Next studio album

The band began writing their second album in Paris, France,[14] and will record the album in a converted jazz-club in Berlin after the Pink tour, from October.[15] Although they have not completed writing any tracks yet, White says that the new album would show some subtle changes to their sound.[14]

Musical style

Katie White states that:

A few people have mentioned the childlike, singalong quality in our songs. I think it's because my voice isn't too high or too low, and the lyrics have that chanty quality, so anyone can sing along to them. Or maybe we've just got the brains of four-year-olds![16]

Members

Katie White

Katherine Rebecca White (born 1983[17] in Lowton, near Leigh, Greater Manchester) was raised in a small house in Lowton, [18] part of the Metropolitan Borough of Wigan, in Greater Manchester, England with her father David White, mother Lynne and sister Helena. White went to Lowton High School in Lowton, near Warrington which has a large performing arts department.[19] In 1995, White's grandfather Ken White won £6.6 million on the National Lottery and gave each of his three sons £1 million [20]. David used his share of the money to start a music management company, which would later sign Katie's act TKO [21].

Jules De Martino

Julian "Jules" De Martino (born in 1967 in West Ham, London [22]) began playing drums at the age of 13.[23] When he was 17, De Martino was drummer and song writer in a band called Babakoto (Babakoto is a rare lemur from Madagascar)[24] who once played as a backing group for Bros[25] and released a single at the end of 1987 called "Just to Get By" which was in the charts for seven weeks in 1988.[26] After Babakoto broke up, De Martino became the lead singer in another indie band called "Mojo Pin", named after the first song on Jeff Buckley's 1994 album Grace. Mojo Pin released two singles, "You" in 1995 and "My Imagination" in 1996.

Influence

The songs by Ting Tings were used in different TV shows such as Gossip Girl, 90210, Ugly Betty, Numb3rs, The City, The L Word

[27]

Discography

Main article: The Ting Tings discography
Studio albums

Awards and nominations

  • MTV Video Music Awards 2008
    • Video of the Year - "Shut Up and Let Me Go" - Nominated
    • Best UK Video - "Shut Up and Let Me Go" - Won
  • Vodafone Live Music Awards 2008
    • Xfm Live Breakthrough Act - Won
  • BT Digital Music Awards 2008
    • Best Pop Artist - Nominated
  • Q Awards 2008
    • Best New Act - Nominated
    • Best Track - "That's Not My Name" - Nominated
    • Best Video - "That's Not My Name" - Nominated
  • MTV Europe Music Awards 2008
    • Best UK Act - Nominated
  • UK Festival Awards 2008
    • Festival Pop Act - Won
    • Best Newcomer Awards - Won
    • Anthem of the Summer - Won
  • mtvU Woodie Awards 2008
    • Best Performing Awards - Nominated
  • Nickelodeon UK Kids Choice Awards 2008
    • MTV Hits Favourite Song - Nominated
  • Triple J Hottest 100, 2008
    • "Shut Up and Let Me Go" - position 78
    • "That's Not My Name" - position 9
  • BRIT Awards 2009
    • Best British Breakthrough Act - Nominated
    • Mastercard Best British Album - We Started Nothing - Nominated
  • NME Awards 2009
    • Best Track - "That's Not My Name" - Nominated
  • MTV Australia Awards 2009
    • Best Breakthrough Act - Nominated
  • Ivor Novello Awards 2009
    • Album Awards - Won
    • Best Contemporary Song - Nominated
  • Border Breakers Awards
    • Best Album - We Started Nothing - Won
  • Glamour Women of the Year
    • Best Newcomer - Nominated
    • Best UK Solo Artist - Nominated
  • XFM New Music Awards
    • Ting Tings - We Started Nothing - Nominated

References

  1. ^ Mason, Stewart. "( The Ting Tings > Overview )". allmusic. Retrieved 2009-07-07.
  2. ^ "THE TING TINGS TOP U.K. ALBUM CHART". Retrieved 2008-06-10.
  3. ^ "World Album Charts". aCharts.us. Retrieved 10 June 2008.
  4. ^ "How feud tore Ting Tings star's family apart". Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  5. ^ a b "Tings can only get better for The Ting Ting's". The Independent. 2008-02-29. Retrieved 2009-06-28.
  6. ^ a b "Ting Tings - History". The Ting Tings. Retrieved 2008-06-29.
  7. ^ a b Ting Tings - the hottest party in town Manchester Evening News - 8 June 2007
  8. ^ "Just Doing Their Ting". Retrieved 2008-07-10.
  9. ^ a b The Ting Tings release new single... NME - 28 September 2007 Cite error: The named reference "NME2007" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  10. ^ Liquid Room, Edinburgh, Wed 17 Oct The List (Issue 590) - 15 November 200
  11. ^ "Sound of 2008: The Ting Tings". BBC News Online. 2008-01-02. Retrieved 2009-04-26.
  12. ^ Shockwaves NME Awards Tour 2008
  13. ^ Changi Airport Media Changi Airport Media- 15 April 2009
  14. ^ a b "set to write second album in Paris". NME.com. 2008-02-12. Retrieved 2009-01-02. {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  15. ^ "Ting Tings to do 'Berlin album'". BBC Newsbeat. 2009-07-01. Retrieved 2009-07-01.
  16. ^ Folashade's Page
  17. ^ Craig Mclean (2008-10-05). "Tings can only get better: Why sudden pop success has not been easy on the Ting Tings". The Independent. Retrieved 2009-01-05.
  18. ^ "Katie enjoys the fame game - Leigh Today". Leighreporter.co.uk. Retrieved 2009-07-07.
  19. ^ "December 2008 Newsletter". Retrieved 2009-03-07.
  20. ^ "LOTTERY MILLIONAIRE'S WIFE DIES AFTER STROKE". Retrieved 2009-09-06.
  21. ^ "Teen band member in quit shock". Retrieved 2009-09-06.
  22. ^ "England & Wales, Birth Index: 1916-2005" Retrieved 2009-10-29.
  23. ^ "The Band". Retrieved 2009-03-13.
  24. ^ "Indri, Babakoto". Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  25. ^ McFadden, Danny. "Tings ain't what they used to be". Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  26. ^ "Chart Stats". Retrieved 2009-03-08.
  27. ^ http://heardontv.com
Interviews


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