Dido Armstrong

Nmae: Dido
Real Name: Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong
Height: 5 feet, 8 inches (1.73 m)
Sex: Female
Birth Date: December 25, 1971
Birth Place: London, England
Nationality: British
Education: London's Guildhall School of Music, Birkbeck University (took up Law)
Father: A publisher in London
Mother: A Poet
Brother: Rollo, from the music group “Faithless”
Claim to Fame: Best known for her 2001 hit song "Thank You," which was the basis of rapper Eminem for one of his own hit singles, "Stan."

Discography: Studio Albums

• No Angel - June 1999 - highest chart position 1
• Life For Rent - September 2003 - highest chart position 1


Biography

Born Dido (pronounced as DYE-DOE) Florian Cloud de Bounevialle Armstrong, she was raised by her parents in London England but considered herself as Irish. She felt a little confused and annoyed with her name because she admitted that the “Florian” in her name was actually a German man’s name.

She was known as Dido and was considered as a British Pop Artist. When she was six, she entered London's Guildhall School of Music and there she was taught and encouraged by excellent teachers to write songs and learn an instrument. Her first instrument was a recorder. She also attended Thornhill Primary, City of London Girls', and Westminster Schools

According to Dido, it's about the little things, the detail, always has been, always will be. In life, she concentrated on that, leaving the big stuff to just taking care of itself. In 1999 she released her debut album, captivating the hearts of the listening public and achieved sales in excess of 12 million copies. Dido is recognized and considered as one of only a handful of British artists capable of breaking through to a global audience in the new millennium. It just proved that even the small-scale and specific can strike a universal chord with a voice that is artlessly and unaffectedly beautiful. And because of her success, the listening public especially fans demanded for more, thus “Life for Rent” was completed.

Dido explained that the title and the song from which it was taken represented how she felt about her life right now, and how she wanted to live it in the future. “It’s not a matter of being scared to take chances or to live life to its fullest because it’s easy to slip into satisfaction or to disentangle from the world,” Dido stated. Her album worked as constant reminder to herself not to do that.

No one expected the north London girl that Dido will conquer success if not worldwide, a multi-platinum. She recalled those days when she was struggling to come up with the goods and for her, simply getting an album and released was a satisfaction…if not fulfillment.

Dido was the sister of Rollo from the music group “Faithless” where some of the lyrics on the groups’ recordings and shows were provided by her. In fact, this is the point where she grabbed the chance on creating her stuff with no limits or boundaries imposed on her. Sad bad true, no one really cared about what she’s been doing considering the fact that they are busy doing other things. Thanks because it worked to her advantage with a feeling of being an underdog, her first album became a hit and people won’t dare to interfere or feel superstitious about that.

It seemed that Dido was more comfortable of being treated as the underdog coming from behind and it suited her a lot. Talks about the Difficult Second Album Syndrome gave Dido a slight pressure comparing it to the success of her recent achievement. But it’s always like that and pressure is part of work so Dido revealed that she’ll be trying her best to be a better singer or songwriter or producer or player or whatever.

Dido was so maddened about rumors claiming that the “No Angel’s success” was simply put down on luck when rapper Eminem used the “Thank You” song in his own deeply malevolent and disturbing 'Stan' (from “The Marshall Mathers LP” album). Thanks but no thanks, Dido was in New York in the spring of 2000 when the CD arrived together with a covering letter and it was a bolt from the blue getting a word of interest from the rapper. Honestly, she liked his music and his style but she was completely blown away the moment she played the CD. She didn’t predict the effect it would have on her career, and not long after, the collaboration brought her to the far wider listening public, particularly in the UK, where the album “No Angel” had not yet been available.

Her No Angel album received recognition and achieved sales selling over a million units since it was released in June of 1999 and just hearing the 6 lines of it in “Stan” made people decide to investigate or buy her record. But in spite of that, she had been already promoting her album for a whole year in the US and in fact before the time it went suddenly crazy everywhere else, Dido had a great team and experienced band and together, they played around America for 18 months. It was no doubt that the whole music-conscious world became aware of her when she continued to tour and promoted 'No Angel' until May 2002.

Dido likes adventures and in fact her ultimate treat was to be able to get on a plane at a moment's notice and just take off. She likes to write songs in unfamiliar places and there was a time that she rented a house out of nowhere just to write a new material which she considered a serious one. There she installed a home studio and decamped but just days after settling in there, her father was taken seriously ill and went back rushing to her home. Fortunately, her father made a full recovery, and this scenario made a productive time for her when most of the ideas included in the songs of the second album were born.
The 11 new tracks on the “Life for Rent” album were built up on piano and guitar with collaborations with her brother Rollo, studio assistant Pnut and co-producer of “No Album” Rick Nowels.

Dido admitted that she pushed the boundaries and incorporated more influences so that the music is diverse enough to draw in new listeners. From the opening single “White Flag” to the closing single “See the Sun,” Dido and Rollo had created a sound-scape that one can imagine right away to become a soundtrack to life in millions of homes around the world.