Birdy

Early life

Birdy was born on 15 May 1996, in Lymington, England. Her father is Rupert Oliver Benjamin van den Bogaerde, a writer; her mother is Sophie Patricia (née Roper-Curzon). She stated that the classical music and songs her mother played when she was Birdy was growing up influenced her sound. Her parents were married in 1995 and have two other children: Jake (born 1997) and Caitlin (born 1999). She also has two elder half-brothers, Moses and Sam, from her father's first marriage.

Birdy studied at Durlston Court Prep School in Barton on Sea, at Priestlands School, and at Brockenhurst College, a sixth form college in the New Forest. Her maternal grandfather was Captain John Christopher Ingram Roper-Curzon, the 20th Baron Teynham. Birdy grew up at Pylewell Park, the family estate near Lymington, Hampshire. Her great-uncle was the actor Sir Dirk Bogarde. Birdy has English, Belgian (Flemish), Dutch, and Scottish ancestry.

Birdy's second given name, Lucilla, was the name of her father's stepmother.

Birdy's stage name comes from the nickname her parents gave her as a baby because she opened her mouth like a little bird when being fed.

Career

2008–2012: Early career

In 2008, while still a 12-year-old pupil at Durlston Court Preparatory School, Birdy won the UK talent contest Open Mic UK, a spinoff of the Live and Unsigned competition. She won both the under-18s category and the Grand Prize against 10,000 other competitors. She performed her own song called "So Be Free" at the competition in front of 2,000 people.

In 2009, Birdy performed live on piano for BBC Radio 3's Pianothon in London. In January 2011, at the age of 14, Birdy released a cover version of Bon Iver's song "Skinny Love". The song became her first hit on the UK Singles Chart, peaking at #17. The single was chosen as "Record of the Week" by radio DJ Fearne Cotton, resulting in it being added to BBC Radio 1's B‑list playlist upon release in March 2011. The official music video for the song was directed by Sophie Muller. The song was also featured in The Vampire Diaries episode "The Sun Also Rises", which aired on 5 May 2011. "Skinny Love" peaked at #1 in the Netherlands.

Birdy went on to cover further songs, including "The A Team" by Ed Sheeran and the xx's "Shelter". On 19 July 2011, she performed both for BBC Radio 1's Live Lounge. The latter featured in The Vampire Diaries episode "The End of the Affair", which aired on 29 September 2011.

Birdy's eponymous debut album of cover versions (plus one original song written by her) was released on 7 November 2011; the album peaked at #13 in the UK, #40 in Ireland and #1 in Belgium, the Netherlands and Australia. In August 2012 her début album peaked at #1 in Australia, while the singles "Skinny Love" and "People Help the People" peaked at #2 and #10 respectively.

In June 2012, Birdy contributed the song "Learn Me Right" with Mumford & Sons to the Pixar film Brave; she received her first Grammy Award nomination for the track.

On 7 August 2012, Birdy released her "Live in London" EP, which contained eight songs. This included her cover of Ed Sheeran's "The A Team" and her song from The Hunger Games soundtrack, "Just a Game". On 29 August 2012, Birdy performed the Anohni and the Johnsons's song "Bird Gerhl" (from the album I Am a Bird Now) during the opening ceremony of the London Paralympic Games. In October 2012, Birdy sang live on the French TV music program Taratata, performing "Call Me Maybe" by Carly Rae Jepsen.

2013–2015: Fire Within and touring

On 16 February 2013, Birdy sang at Sanremo Music Festival 2013. She then announced the release of her second studio album Fire Within via a YouTube video on 10 July 2013. The video included footage of Birdy in the studio along with a preview of two of the album's songs "Wings" and "No Angel". The former was released as a single on 22 July 2013; a second song "All You Never Say" was sent to subscribers of Birdy's mailing list and uploaded to YouTube on 15 August 2013. "Wings" featured in The Vampire Diaries episode "Home", which aired on 15 May 2014 (her eighteenth birthday). Birdy's album was released in the UK and other surrounding countries on 23 September 2013 and received mostly positive reviews. In North America, the album was released on 3 June 2014. A subsequent EP titled Breathe was released on 24 September.

Birdy toured America and Australia in 2013. After her concert in the Palais Theatre in Melbourne, Australia, a reviewer described her as a sensational pianist who appears to be shy and timid, but whose voice "rings throughout the theatre." The only criticism was that what was "severely lacking" was any sense of crowd interaction. The tour also included appearances on TV shows like Sunrise, on which she sang "Wings." While in Melbourne, Birdy also sang "Skinny Love" at the Logie Awards in April 2013.

In September 2013, Birdy covered a song entitled "Let Her Go" by Passenger, live on BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge. This track features on the BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge 2013 album. In December 2013, Birdy performed "Mandela Day" with James Blunt, originally by Simple Minds, at the NRJ Music Awards as a tribute to Nelson Mandela. Also in December 2013, she performed "L'Idole Des Jeunes" with Johnny Hallyday on Le Grand Show.

Birdy won the Best International Rock/Pop Artist award at the Echo Award 2014, held at Messe Berlin on 17 March 2014. She performed "Words As Weapons" during the presentation.

In October 2014, Birdy covered "Lucky Star" by Madonna, appearing on BBC Radio 2's Sounds of the 80s album. In the same year, Birdy was featured on four of the tracks on the Shadows album by Native Roses, in which her elder brother, Moses, is a drummer.

Birdy contributed three songs to the soundtrack for the film The Fault in Our Stars: "Tee Shirt", "Best Shot" (with Jaymes Young), and "Not About Angels". Videos for both were released. Birdy appears on the 2014 David Guetta album Listen, featured on the song "I'll Keep Loving You".

2016–2021: Beautiful Lies and Young Heart

In January 2016, Birdy released "Keeping Your Head Up", the first single from her third album, Beautiful Lies, which she had started writing material for in 2014 while touring in America. "Beautiful Lies", the second single from the album was released in February. "Wild Horses", the third single from the album was released in March. The album itself was released on 25 March 2016. On 20 April 2016, the Japanese Edition of Beautiful Lies was released, containing a bonus track entitled "Lights".

Speaking about Beautiful Lies, Birdy later said this album was what she was most proud of. She added:

"The album is about growing up and not accepting change. It's about not really wanting to grow up; it's about lying to yourself. I'd missed a lot of growing up with my family so it's about that. It's also inspired by 'Memories of a Geisha' so it has an Asian feel to it and it's about feeling a much stronger person."

On 1 April 2016, Birdy performed a cover of 'Adventure of a Lifetime' originally by Coldplay for 3FM. On 16 April 2016, Birdy released a limited edition vinyl for Record Store Day of the songs 'Lost It All' and 'Take You Everywhere I Go'. On 25 April 2016, Birdy performed a cover of "Fast Car" by Tracy Chapman for BBC Radio 1 Live Lounge, and on 27 April she performed a cover of "Sorry" by Justin Bieber at SiriusXM Studios.

On 8 May 2016, Birdy performed 'Wild Horses' at the opening ceremony of the British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) awards night, at the Royal Festival Hall in London. She was also the face of the REDValentino spring/summer campaign for 2016 and 2017.

On 23 September 2016, "Beautiful Birds" was released by Passenger, featuring Birdy. On 4 November 2016, "Find Me" was released by Sigma, featuring Birdy. The song peaked at #36 on the UK Singles Chart and #1 on the Billboard Dance Club Songs chart in its 20 May 2017 issue.

Birdy toured extensively after the release of Beautiful Lies, including a tour of the United States and an Asian tour from Japan to Singapore. By this time, her band had grown from four to five, with an almost completely new lineup. The band members were: Charlotte Hatherley (guitar), Joel Grainger (violin), Richard Evans (bass), Jay Sikora (drums), and Hazel Mills (keyboards). She has said she found Asia like another planet, "such a different world." The audiences were very reserved and quiet, there would be a huge gap after each song, then they would start clapping; it made her wonder if they liked her. She said they don't really clap that much, then after the show they were going crazy and screaming. She found it "really strange."

2023–present: Portraits

On 24 February 2023, Birdy announced she would be releasing the lead single "Raincatchers" on 3 March from her fifth studio album Portraits, released on August 18. Three more singles followed: "Heartbreaker" in April, "Your Arms" in June, and "Paradise Calling" in July 2023.

Films

Birdy's music has appeared in the films and on the soundtracks of The Hunger Games (2012), Brave (2012), The Fault in Our Stars (2014), Beyond the Lights (2014), The Edge of Seventeen (2016), and the Neflix show Persuasion (2022).

Discography

Studio albums

Birdy (2011)

Fire Within (2013)

Beautiful Lies (2016)

Young Heart (2021)

Portraits (2023)