Born in Lyonshall, a village near Kington, Herefordshire, her career began when she met record producer Starsmith and Frankmusik she was later spotted by Jamie Lillywhite who later became her manager and A&R. Ellie GouldingĮlena Jane Goulding (born 30 December 1986) known professionally as Ellie Goulding is an English singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist. It included a few songs already familiar to die-hard Lights fans, as well as plenty of new material including the first single, “Saviour,” a propulsive pop ballad that represents the essence of Lights. Lights’ first full-length studio debut, The Listening, was released in 2009. In addition to touring extensively through the United States, this summer Lights spent five weeks on the 2009 Vans Warped Tour and this fall will join Keane on their Canadian tour. The singer’s rapidly growing fan base was clamoring for live Lights shows so she hit the road, playing countless sold out gigs in her home country, as well as numerous festival dates in the UK. On the strength of her EP alone, Lights won the 2009 Juno (the Canadian equivalent of a Grammy Award) for New Artist of the Year, joining the ranks of Feist and Nelly Furtado. It contained six songs including “February Air,” which reached #3 on the MuchMusic countdown in Canada, as well as the epic “Drive My Soul,” which was an even bigger hit the song was added to radio without being serviced, climbed all the way to #1 on Much Music, and spent over three months in the Top 20 on Hot AC radio. In April 2008 Lights released her eponymous EP. Between the singer’s MySpace page (which to date has over eight million visits and fifteen million plays,) her personal web site and her passion for web-based fantasy games like World of Warcraft, the artist’s online identity is as evolved as your nerdiest teenage boy’s and this is something she’s very proud of. Though her star was clearly on the rise, it was Lights’ online profile that really solidified her fan base. She wrote “February Air,” a poignant ode to the chill of winter love, which became the first of four Lights songs used by Old Navy in the company’s 2008 spring ad campaign. In this state of near-isolation Lights finally found her signature sound- a merging of classic pop songwriting with deeply intimate yet universally appealing lyrics. By eighteen Lights had moved out of her parents’ house and was living in Toronto with only her pet tarantula Lance to keep her company.
Then, at thirteen she turned her attention to production.Īs a teenager Lights spent much of her time writing songs up in her attic bedroom, which she dubbed Starry Night studios after her favorite Van Gogh painting. By eleven she’d learned a handful of chords, which she used to write her first song. In 1997 the family moved back to Canada and almost immediately, nine year-old Lights got her hands on a guitar. Lights’ mother home schooled the kids but, one day a week the singer’s father would take over. Born in Timmins, Ontario, Lights lived in the Philippines and Jamaica during her elementary school years.