DIDO Biography - Musicians

 
 

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DIDO

Name: Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong                                   
Born 25 December 1971 London , England                                                   
                                                                                         
Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong (born 25 December 1971) is an           
English BRIT Award-winning and Grammy Award-nominated singer and songwriter who         
uses the name Dido.                                                                     
                                                                                         
Dido's mother, Claire , is a French poet and her father, William O'Malley               
Armstrong (9 November 1938 - 22 December 2006) was an Irish publisher and               
former managing director of Sidgwick & Jackson.                                         
                                                                                         
Informally named after the mythical Carthaginian queen, Dido was educated at             
Thornhill Primary, City of London Girls' and Westminster School. Because she was         
born on Christmas Day, in childhood she celebrated, rather in the manner of the         
British monarch, an "official" birthday on 25 June.                                     
                                                                                         
After she stole a recorder from school at age five, her parents enrolled                 
her at the Guildhall School of Music in London, England. By the time she reached         
her teens Dido had learned to play the piano, recorder and the violin. After her         
teens and whilst working as a literary agent, Dido studied law at Birkbeck,             
University of London, however, she never completed this course, deciding instead         
to take up music full-time. After learning the guitar, she showcased her skills         
to audiences during her 2004 Life for Rent tour.                                         
                                                                                         
In 1995, Dido began recording demo tracks which were put together on a                   
collection entitled Odds & Ends and sent out by Nettwerk management. Nettwerk           
had signed her after she was brought to their attention by her collaborations           
with Faithless (Dido co-wrote and provided vocals for album tracks, such as "Flowerstand 
Man" and "Hem of His Garment") and the UK dance act spearheaded by her brother,         
Rollo Armstrong. The collection was released by Nettwerk on CD-R acetate in 1995         
and featured a mixture of finished productions and demo versions which she later         
considered for release on her debut album, released in 1999 as No Angel. Odds &         
Ends brought her to the attention of Arista Records, who signed her in the USA,         
striking a deal with her brother's record label, Cheeky Records, to co-sign her.         
Of the tracks included on Odds & Ends, "Take My Hand" was included on all               
editions of No Angel as a bonus track; "Sweet Eyed Baby" was remixed and renamed         
to "Don't Think of Me", while "Worthless" and "Me" were released exclusively on         
the Japanese edition.