Sophie Ellis-Bextor (born 10 April 1979) is an English singer, songwriter, model and occasional DJ. Working since 1997, has three children with her bassist husband since 2005. Her music is a mixture of mainstream pop, disco, nu-disco, and 1980s electronic influences.
She came into prominence after leaving her band, Theaudience, and collaborated on a song called "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)" with Spiller. She went onto record the album Read My Lips in late 2001. This album went double platinum and sold 2 million world wide. In 2003, Read My Lips won the Edison Award for "Best Dance Album" later on that year she released Shoot From The Hip an album with two top ten singles ("Mixed Up World", "I Won't Change You").
Trip The Light Fantastic came out in May 2007 and featured the song "If I Can't Dance" which was used in the St Trinians movie of that same year. Other hit songs included "Me and My Imagination" and "Catch Me".
In May 2008 she was hired by cosmetics brand Rimmel as one of their new faces. A new song performed by Ellis-Bextor ("Sophia Loren") is featured in one of the Rimmel London' spot for the line "Sexy Curves". Ellis-Bextor is appearing as an advocate for Verdi on BBC World News classical music programme Visionaries in August 2008. Ellis-Bextor performed live at Manchester's Gay Pride, on 23 August 2008, having just arrived back from Moscow.
She then started work on her fourth album, after a long creative process she released Make a Scene in mid 2011 with hit singles "Can't Fight This Feeling" and "Heartbreak (Make Me a Dancer)" in this album she worked with Cathy Dennis (Britney Spears, Kylie Minogue), Calvin Harris (Rihanna), Freemasons (Shakira, Beyoncé, Whitney Houston) and Nervo (Britney Spears, Kesha). This album started her Career Resurrection and she is working on album number 5 as of early 2012.
Her hit songs include "Murder On The Dancefloor", "Music Gets The Best Of Me", "Can't Fight This Feeling", and "Catch You".
Discography
- Read My Lips (2001)
- Read My Lips tour (2002-2003)
- Watch My Lips DVD (2003)
- Shoot From The Hip (2003)
- Trip the Light Fantastic (2007)
- iTunes Live in London (2009)
- Make a Scene (2011)
- Wanderlust (2014)
- Familia (2016)
- The Song Diaries (2019) (orchestral Greatest Hits Album)
- Songs From the Kitchen Disco (2020) (inspired by the kitchen discos she hosted during the COVID-19 lockdown; a mixture of singles from previous albums and covers)
- Hana (2023)
Tropes
- Album Title Drop: "The Universe Is You" on Read My Lips.
- Cover Version: "Jolene" by Dolly Parton, "Take Me Home" by Cher, "Physical" by Olivia Newton-John, and "Crying at the Discotheque" by Alcazar.
- Dancing Is Serious Business: The video for "Murder On The Dancefloor" involves a dancing contest, with Ellis-Bextor herself playing as an unscrupulously competitive contestant.
- Leg Focus: Being a Statuesque Stunner, she has long gorgeous legs that she would happily show off in her performances. Especially apparent for the music video for "Me and My Imagination," where she's gallivanting around wearing an emerald green minidress, and the camera spends time focusing on her legs.
- Lyrical Dissonance: "Murder On the Dancefloor"
- New Sound Album: Wanderlust.
- Older Than They Look: She looks to be in her 20s when she's in fact 40.
- Especially considering she's had five kids and still looks like she's in her 20s.
- Phrase Catcher: She took part in Strictly Come Dancing 2013. Guess which four words came up in every pre-show article...
- Stalker with a Crush: "Catch You", in which the verses consist of Ellis-Bextor listing all the ways in which she's apparently spying on the target of her affections, and the chorus consists of her warning said target they they'll never be able to escape her.Run to where you want, run to where you want
I am gonna find you
There ain't no distance far enough
My love's gonna find you
Run to where you want, run to where you want
But may I remind you
There ain't no engine fast enough
My love's gonna catch you - Statuesque Stunner: She stands at a fairly tall 5'8".
- Villain Protagonist: Playing a dance contest contestant in "Murder on the Dancefloor" music video. Ellis-Bextor portrays a good, but not great dancer, and in the course of the video she trips, causes slips, causes wardrobe malfunctions, and drugs the stronger dancers in the contest to eliminate her stronger competition, chloroforms the only female judge, and strongly flirts with the head male judge to get him to award her the win. It works.
