Sophie Ellis-Bextor (born 10 April 1979 in Middlesex, England) is a Multi-Platinum-selling English pop singer. Her music is a mixture of mainstream pop, indie, disco, and '80s electronic influences.

Biography

She is the daughter of Janet Ellis, a former Blue Peter presenter (Sophie appeared on the programme as a child), and Robin Bextor, a distant descendant of the poet Lord Bextor. They divorced when Sophie was four. Her official website hyphenates her surname, which is the joining of her parents' surnames; some other sources separate the names with a space.

Ellis-Bextor started out with theaudience, an indie band; in 1998, while she was a band member, readers of Melody Maker elected her to the Number 1 position among the 'most sexy people in rock'. She recorded a duet with Manic Street Preachers—"Black Holes for the Young"—as a B-side for their 1998 single "The Everlasting".

After theaudience split, she released her first single without the band in 2000, at the age of 20. Entitled "Groovejet (If This Ain't Love)", the track was a collaboration with Italian D.J. Spiller. It entered the U.K. charts at number one, just beating former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham (Posh Spice) after a media frenzy. Since then, the two have been known as rivals to each other. It has won several awards: No. 1, Pop Top 20; No. 1, ILR; No. 1, Radio 1; No. 8, top dance track of 2000. In the Metro Newspaper, it received ninth place in the contest for the Greatest No. 1 of all time, beating the likes of Madonna.[1] In 2000, it was a finalist in The Record of the Year. In that same year, it won the awards for Best Single and Best Ibiza Tune at the Ericsson Muzik Awards.[2]

In 2001, her debut album, Read My Lips was released. It reached No. 2 on the U.K. charts and spawned four top-20 hit singles. "Take Me Home" reached No. 2, as did "Murder on the Dancefloor", which became Sophie's biggest single to date, staying on charts for 23 weeks. [3] "Get Over You" reached No. 3. Her fourth single, "Music Gets the Best of Me" rose to No. 14. In 2002, Read My Lips was re-released, and Ellis-Bextor won the Recording Artiste Award, at that year’s Showbusiness Awards. [4]

Her second album, Shoot from the Hip, was released in 2003. Although it was not as commercially successful as her previous material and reached no higher than 19 in the official charts, it still contained two further top-10 singles: "Mixed Up World" went as high as No. 7, and "I Won't Change You" reached No. 9. Around this time, rivalry against Victoria Beckham was suggested again; Victoria's single "This Groove"/"Let Your Head Go" reached a higher position in the charts than "I Won't Change You".

Beginning in 2002, Ellis-Bextor was nominated, three years in a row, for the "British Female Solo Artist" Brit Award[5][6][7].

Since then, Sophie has taken time out from her musical career to take care of her first-born baby, Sonny, with her husband, Richard Jones, who is bass-player for The Feeling. In 2004, she announced that she was working on a third album. Although its future release date is unclear, she is working with Fred Schneider of The B-52s to create a fun dance/party album, with an expected release date toward the middle of the year. In early 2005, she performed on a track by the duo Busface, entitled "Circles (Just My Good Time)".

She has become a minor icon to the gay community.

Albums and their singles

Album	Information
	Read My Lips Released September 03, 2001 No. 2, U.K.; No. 9 and Platinum, Australia. BPI U.K. Sales Certificate: 2× Platinum (600,000 shipments) [8] IFPI European Sales Certificate: 1× Platinum (1,000,000 shipments in Europe)[9] Singles: "Take Me Home (A Girl Like Me)" (August 2001): No. 2, U.K.; No. 7, Ireland. "Murder on the Dancefloor" (December 2001): No. 2, U.K.; No. 3 and Platinum, Australia; No. 17, United World Chart; No. 26, U.S. (Hot Dance Music/Club Play). "Get Over You"/"Move This Mountain" (June 2002): No. 3, U.K.; No. 3, New Zealand; No. 3 and Platinum, Australia; No. 18, United World Chart. "Music Gets the Best of Me" (November 2002): No. 14, U.K.; No. 28, Australia.
	Shoot from the Hip Released: October 27, 2003 No. 19, U.K. Singles: "Mixed Up World" (October 2003): No. 7, U.K.; No. 32, Australia.[10] "I Won't Change You" (January 2004): No. 9, U.K.