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Birdy (singer)

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Birdy
A picture of Birdy (Jasmine van den Bogaerde) with brown hair, smiling, in October 2012.
Birdy (Jasmine van den Bogaerde) in October 2012
Background information
Birth nameJasmine van den Bogaerde
Born (1996-05-15) 15 May 1996 (age 28)
Lymington, Hampshire, England, UK[1]
Genres Folk, indie folk, indie pop, indie rock
Instrument(s)Piano, vocals, guitar
Years active2008–present
LabelsLady of The Lake, 14th Floor,[2] Warner Bros.,[3] Warner
WebsiteBirdyMusic.co.UK

Jasmine van den Bogaerde (born 15 May 1996 in Lymington, Hampshire, UK), also known by her stage name Birdy, is an English musician and singer. She won the music competition Open Mic UK in 2008, at the age of 12. Her début single, a version of Bon Iver's "Skinny Love", was her breakthrough, charting all across Europe and being certified six times platinum in Australia. Her self-titled début album Birdy was released on 7 November 2011 to similar success, peaking at number 1 in Australia, Belgium and the Netherlands. Her second studio album Fire Within was released 23 September 2013 in the UK and other surrounding countries.

Biography

Early life and career

Birdy was born on 15 May 1996, in Lymington, Hampshire. Her mother is a concert pianist, and Birdy learned to play the piano at the age of seven, and began writing her own music at the age of eight.[4] Birdy studied at Brockenhurst College in Brockenhurst, a sixth form college in the New Forest, as of 2013. She sings and plays the piano. Her great uncle was the actor Sir Dirk Bogarde. She is of mixed English, Belgian (Flemish), and Dutch ancestry.[1][5]

Her stage name comes from the nickname her parents gave her as a baby, because she opened her mouth like a little bird when fed. Her family calls her Birdy while friends call her Jasmine, her given name.

Open Mic UK

In 2008, as a 12-year-old, Birdy won the UK talent contest Open Mic UK, a spinoff of the Live and Unsigned competition. She won both the under-18s category and the Grand Prize, against 10,000 other competitors.[6][7] She performed her own song at the competition called "So Be Free" in front of 2,000 people.[8]

Birdy reminisced in an interview with BBC Radio 1 about the experience of the Open Mic UK Grand Final as “such a cool experience”. She explained that it showed her what she wanted to do when she was still very young.[9][10]

Birdy described her memories and thoughts on her experience with Open Mic UK in an interview with The Telegraph in September 2012.[11] Regarding her desire to enter the competition, Birdy said it was "...the excitement, really"[11] that drove her to enter. Birdy goes on to reminisce that "when I performed [at Open Mic UK] I had this connection with the audience that I'd never felt before, and I loved it. It was my first big thing, and looking out into the crowd...was just amazing."[11]

In response to whether Birdy thought she could make a career out of music after winning Open Mic UK, she explains: "It was just something I loved doing – I never really thought I could do it. It was just my dreams. It wasn’t until [Open Mic UK] that I thought I was good enough to do it. Before that I’d only been doing it for my family. But winning [Open Mic UK] gave me a confidence boost."[11]

First singles

In 2009, Birdy performed live on piano for BBC Radio 3's Pianothon in London.[12]

In January 2011, at the age of 14, Birdy released a cover version of Bon Iver's song "Skinny Love."[13] The song became her first hit on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at 17. The single was chosen as "Record of The Week"[14] by UK radio DJ Fearne Cotton,[8] resulting in it being added to BBC Radio 1's B‑list playlist[2] as soon as it was released in March 2011.[3] The official music video for the song was directed by Sophie Muller.[15] The song was also featured on The Vampire Diaries episode "The Sun Also Rises", which aired on 5 May 2011. "Skinny Love" peaked at number 1 in the Netherlands. This song was sung by Birdy at the Ellen DeGeneres Show that was aired last 20 March 2012.

Since then, Birdy has covered a number of songs, including "The A Team" by Ed Sheeran and The xx's "Shelter". On 19 July 2011, Birdy performed in BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. In the session, she performed both "Shelter" and "The A Team". Her cover of "Shelter" was also featured on The Vampire Diaries episode "The End of the Affair", which aired on 29 September 2011.[16]

Début album

Her eponymous début album of covers (although one track is an original) was released on 7 November 2011; the album peaked at No. 13 in the UK, No. 40 in Ireland and number 1 in Belgium, the Netherlands, and Australia. On 21 December 2011, Birdy received a Golden Single from 3FM during Serious Request in the Netherlands for selling more than 25,000 copies from her début album. She promptly donated it to be auctioned online. A day later, Birdy received a Golden Single from Studio Brussel during Music for Life in Belgium for selling more than 15,000 copies from her début album. She also donated it to be auctioned online, it was sold for €1,980.[citation needed] In August 2012 her début album peaked at number one in Australia, while the singles "Skinny Love" and "People Help the People" peaked at numbers 2 and 10 respectively.

In March 2012, Birdy was one of the artists who contributed to The Hunger Games film soundtrack with her single "Just a Game".[9]

In June 2012, Birdy contributed the song "Learn Me Right" with Mumford & Sons to the Pixar film Brave for which she received her first Grammy Award nomination.[17]

7 August 2012, Birdy released her "Live in London" EP, which contains 8 songs. This includes her cover of Ed Sheeran's "The A Team" and her song from The Hunger Games soundtrack, "Just a Game".

On 29 August 2012 Birdy performed Antony Hegarty's song "Bird Gerhl" (from Antony and the Johnsons' I Am a Bird Now album), in the opening ceremony of the London Paralympic Games.

On 16 February 2013 Birdy sang at Sanremo Music Festival 2013, the most popular Italian music festival broadcast by RAI.

Fire Within

Birdy announced her second studio album, which is entitled "Fire Within", via a YouTube video on 10 July 2013. The video included footage of Birdy in the studio along with a preview of two songs, "Wings" and "No Angel", which are both featured on the album. The first official single, "Wings", was released on 22 July 2013 and a second song, "All You Never Say", was sent to subscribers of Birdy's mailing list and posted on YouTube on 15 August 2013.

The album was released in the UK and other surrounding countries on 23 September 2013 and has so far achieved mostly positive reviews.[18] In the US it was released October 1, 2013.

Discography

Main article: Birdy discography

References

  1. ^ a b Indy Almroth-Wright Twelve year-old 'Birdy' wins UK talent contest. BBC news. December 2008. Retrieved on 2012-01-06.
  2. ^ a b Radio 1 playlist shows 14th Floor as Birdy's record label. Bbc.co.uk (24 February 2007). Retrieved on 2012-01-06.
  3. ^ a b Birdy makes Radio 1 sing. Musicweek.com (9 March 2011). Retrieved on 2012-01-06.
  4. ^ "A new pensioner star is about to go top 1". Global Radio. 6 February 2011. Retrieved 15 April 2011. {{cite news}}: |first= missing |last= (help)CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
  5. ^ Coldstream, John (2004 would open her mouth wide like a little bird, her parents named her this and it has become a nickname.
  6. ^ Hewitt, Phil (29 November 2009). "Review: Open Mic UK national grand final, Guildhall, Portsmouth". Chichester Observer. Retrieved 17 February 2011.
  7. ^ "News | Birdy set to fly high, and take on the UK top 40, after winning singing competition in 2008!". Openmicuk.co.uk. Retrieved 31 December 2011.
  8. ^ a b The Festival. New Forest Fairs news page. Newforestfoodfairs.co.uk. Retrieved on 2012-01-06.
  9. ^ a b Johnston, Gordon (9 May 2012). "Open Mic UK winner Birdy is flying high!". Glasswerk. Retrieved 17 May 2012.
  10. ^ Ellwood, Pip (8 May 2012). "Birdy Paves Way For Future Open Mic UK Winners". Entertainment Focus. Retrieved 7 September 2012.
  11. ^ a b c d Craig McLean (9 September 2012). "Watch the Birdy: pop's new teenage wunderkind". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 September 2012.
  12. ^ BBC Radio 3's Pianothon. BBC 3 Classical Music. Retrieved on 2012-01-06.
  13. ^ Maverick Sabre: Singer/Songwriter/Rapper. Titanium-music.blogspot.com. 1 July 2011. Retrieved on 2012-01-06.
  14. ^ "Birdy Profile". River Studios. Retrieved 7 September 2012. Cite error: The named reference "river" was defined multiple times with different content (see the help page).
  15. ^ Digital Birdy unveils 'Skinny Love' music video. Digital Spy (5 April 2011). Retrieved on 2012-01-06.
  16. ^ Archived Live Lounge recording. Bbc.co.uk. Retrieved on 2012-01-06.
  17. ^ Bryko (1 May 2012). "First Details on 'Brave' Soundtrack! (UPDATE)". Upcoming Pixar. Retrieved 5 May 2012.
  18. ^ http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iB5MLmmgyE&feature=youtu.be Birdy - All You Never Say [Official Lyric Video]
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