Florence Welch

Florence Leontine Mary Welch
(born 28 August 1986) is an English singer and songwriter. She is the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the indie rock band Florence and the Machine. The band's debut studio album, ''Lungs'' (2009), topped the UK Albums Chart and won the Brit Award for Best British Album. Their next four albums also achieved chart success. In 2018, Welch released a book titled ''Useless Magic'', a collection of lyrics and poems written by her, along with illustrations.

Family and early life

Florence Leontine Mary Welch was born on 28 August 1986 in Camberwell to Nick Russell Welch, an advertising executive and Evelyn Welch (née Samuels), an academic. Through her mother, Welch has both British and American citizenship; her maternal grandfather was lawyer and coal magnate John S. Samuels III. She was raised Catholic.

Welch is the niece of satirist Craig Brown via Brown's wife and Welch's aunt, Frances Welch, and granddaughter of Colin Welch, former deputy editor of ''The Daily Telegraph'' and former ''Daily Mail'' parliamentary sketchwriter. Welch's maternal uncle is actor and filmmaker John Stockwell. She has a younger sister, Grace, who inspired Welch's song by the same name. Welch also has a younger brother named J.J.

During her youth, Welch was encouraged by her Scottish paternal grandmother, Cybil (née Russell), to pursue her performing and singing talents. Welch's deceased grandmothers inspired numerous songs on Florence and the Machine's debut album ''Lungs'' (2009). In her youth, Welch also sang at family weddings and funerals. Aged ten, she performed the song of Yum-Yum ("The sun whose rays are all ablaze") from ''The Mikado'' by Gilbert and Sullivan at Colin Welch's memorial service.

Welch's parents divorced when she was thirteen, and her mother eventually married their next-door neighbour, Professor Peter Openshaw. As a result of the marriage, Welch has three step-siblings: Maddie, Sam, and John. Through her father, Welch also has a stepbrother named Nick. When Welch was 14, her maternal grandmother, who had bipolar disorder, died from suicide by jumping from her New York apartment.

In Florence and the Machine's 2018 single "Hunger", she opened up for the first time about an eating disorder she had as a teenager. She has also spoken of being a highly imaginative and fearful child. "I learned ways to manage that terror–drink, drugs, controlling food..."

Welch was educated at Thomas's London Day School, Battersea and went on to study at Alleyn's School, South East London, where she did well academically. However, Welch often got in trouble in school for impromptu singing and for singing too loudly in the school's choir. While in middle school, Welch and two of her friends started a witch coven, creating spellbooks and attempting to cast spells on classmates. One such spell was to make one of Welch's classmates fall in love with her by putting his name and a drop of blood in a bottle. "I don't know if it ever worked," Welch would joke in 2015.

Despite an early love of reading and literature, she was diagnosed with dyslexia, owing to problems with spelling, alongside dyspraxia, a developmental coordination disorder that does not affect her reading ability, but caused issues with organization. Music and books gave her a reprieve from what she felt made her different from others. "I used reading as a form of escape. I was shy and sensitive, and so reading gave me a safe space."

After leaving secondary school and "just bumming around Camberwell where I lived, working at a bar and thought that I should start doing something with life", Welch studied illustration at Camberwell College of Arts before dropping out to focus on her music. Initially she had intended to take a year out from her studies to "see where the music would go and then it started going somewhere so henever went back".

Career

2006–2010: Florence and the Machine and ''Lungs''

According to Welch, the band name "Florence + the Machine" had "started off as a private joke that got out of hand. I made music with my friend, who we called Isabella Machine, to which I was Florence Robot. When I was about an hour away from my first gig, I still didn't have a name, so I thought 'Okay, I'll be Florence Robot/Isa Machine', before realizing that name was so long it'd drive me mad". In 2006, Welch's performances with Isabella Summers in small London venues under the joint name Florence Robot/Isa Machine began to attract notice. In 2007, Welch recorded with a band named Ashok, who released an album titled ''Plans'' on the Filthy Lucre/About Records label. The album included the earliest version of her later hit " Kiss with a Fist", which at this point was titled "Happy Slap".

Florence and the Machine released their debut studio album ''Lungs'' in the United Kingdom on 6 July 2009. The album was officially launched with a set at the Rivoli Ballroom in Brockley, south-east London. It peaked at number one in the UK and number two in Ireland. As of 6 August 2009, the album had sold over 100,000 copies in the UK and by 10 August it had been at number two for five consecutive weeks. After its 25 July 2009 release for download in the United States, the album debuted at number seventeen on the ''Billboard'' Heatseekers Albums chart, ultimately peaking at number one. The album was released physically in the US on 20 October by Universal Republic. The album was produced by James Ford, Paul Epworth, Steve Mackey, and Charlie Hugall.

Welch contributed vocals to David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's 2010 album ''Here Lies Love'', an album about Imelda Marcos. As of January 2011, Welch was working with Drake on material slated for his upcoming album. On 27 February 2011, Welch replaced pregnant Dido and sang her portion of Best Original Song nominee " If I Rise" (from ''127 Hours'') with A. R. Rahman at the 83rd Academy Awards.

2011–2014: ''Ceremonials'' and solo endeavours

The band's second studio album, ''Ceremonials'', was released on 31 October 2011. In the album, Florence's "obsession with drowning" is represented through the use of repeated water imagery. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and number six on the US ''Billboard'' 200. On 12 January 2012, Florence and the Machine were nominated for two Brit Awards, with the awards ceremony taking place on 21 February 2012 at the O2 Arena, London. On 26 April 2012, the band released " Breath of Life", a song which was recorded as the official theme song for the fantasy film ''Snow White and the Huntsman''. On 5 July 2012, a remix of "Spectrum" by Scottish musician Calvin Harris was released as the fourth single from ''Ceremonials'', becoming the band's first UK number-one hit. Welch expressed excitement about putting new material together for a third album once the band finished touring at the end of September 2012.

Welch led a tribute to Amy Winehouse by performing Winehouse's song "Back to Black" and the Annie Lennox-classic " Walking on Broken Glass" during the '' VH1 Divas Celebrates Soul'' concert held in December 2011. The group performed in Times Square on 31 December 2011 for the 40th annual ''Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve'' special.

In October 2012, Welch was featured on Scottish singer-songwriter and producer Calvin Harris' song " Sweet Nothing", which debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, marking Welch's second number one. The song was taken from Harris' third studio album '' 18 Months'' and is the fifth single from the album. "Sweet Nothing" also peaked at number one in Ireland and number two in Australia and New Zealand. "Sweet Nothing" was certified Platinum in Australia.
"Sweet Nothing" received a nomination for Best Dance Recording at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards.

On 29 November 2012, Welch joined the Rolling Stones at the O2 Arena in London to sing "Gimme Shelter". Her performance with Mick Jagger was described as "sexy" and "electrifying."

2015–2021: Collaborations

In February 2015, Florence and the Machine announced their third album, ''How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful'', which was released on 1 June 2015. The album reached #1 in many markets including the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada. The record spawned two top 40 UK hits, and earned three Grammy nominations.

During June 2015, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters broke his leg on stage prior to his band's upcoming Glastonbury Festival headline performance, causing Florence and the Machine to be the headline band. They headlined the festival for the first time on 26 June 2015.

In September 2016, during an interview with Heat Radio, American singer Lady Gaga revealed that she and Florence had recorded a song together. The track, titled "Hey Girl", was later featured on Gaga's fifth album '' Joanne''. Footage of their studio session was featured in Gaga's Netflix documentary '' Gaga: Five Foot Two'' (2017).

In March 2017, Welch appeared in '' Song to Song'' directed by Terrence Malick. In May 2017, Welch contributed a song titled " To Be Human" to the ''Wonder Woman'' soundtrack. Co-written with Rick Nowels

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