Florence Welch

Michael* · September 14, 2009

Florence Welch

Florence

Florence Welch is the daughter of Evelyn Welch, an American art historian and author and formerly a Studio 54 regular, and Nick Welch, who works in advertising. She is the granddaughter of Colin Welch, a former deputy editor of The Irish Times and the niece of parodist Craig Brown.

Welch grew up in South London. When she was 13 years old her mother moved in with her next-door neighbour and his three teenage children. According to Welch "We get on brilliantly now, but it was a nightmare then. I just used to stay in my room and dance around.”

As an infant Welch had difficulty sleeping and her parents tried to get her to go to sleep by pushing her in a pram and playing works by The Smiths, The Soft Machine, REM, and The Go-Go's. As a small girl she sang to her grandmother and in the school choir, attending Thomas's Battersea School in South-West London. She would also dance on top of her father's vinyl wooden chest to gramophone records by Love, The Incredible String Band, The Smiths and The Velvet Underground that were inside the chest. Welch's mother liked Tom Jones and The Monkees and Welch says her singing style resulted from listening to a combination of these acts.

In school Welch was labelled as dyslexic and dyspraxic. She was often admonished by teachers for singing, a habit which she was found difficult to stop.

Welch says she writes metaphorical songs that are "stories with consequences and weird morality issues," She gets her material from a variety of sources and experiences. "Dog Days Are Over" was inspired by an art installation, "Kiss With A Fist" is about "giving as good as you get.”.

Welch, a self described "real geek", is an avid book reader who likes to completely lose herself in weekend "adventures". As of December 2008, she lived in the Camberwell neighbourhood in south London where she was brought up. She is happy with her current life: "'I've got my ideal job. I like to sing, I like to dance, I like to bang drums and dress up, and someone pays me – it's incredible".

The Machine

According to Welch "The name Florence and the Machine 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 is a Machine," before realising that name was so long it'd drive me mad".

The Machine is Florence's backing band and consists of several musicians, which previously included Devonte Hynes from Lightspeed Champion and band Noah and the Whale. The current line-up consists of Robert Ackroyd (guitar), Christopher Lloyd Hayden (drums), Isabella Summers (keyboards) and Tom Monger (harp).

Florence and the Machine are managed by Mairead Nash who is one half of the DJ outfit Queens of Noize. Nash decided to manage the group when at one of Nash's club nights an inebriated Welch dragged Nash into the toilets and sang an Etta James song to her.

Lungs (2009)

Florence and the Machine released their debut album Lungs on 6 July, 2009 in the United Kingdom. The album has peaked at the number 2 position in the United Kingdom and the number 13 position in Europe. As of 6 August the album had sold over 100,000 copies in the United Kingdom and by the 10 August it had been at the number 2 position for 5 straight weeks. Following its 25 July release for download in the United States the album debuted at the number 17 position on the Billboard "Heatseekers" chart. The album will be released physically in the U.S. on 20 October by Island Records. It was rated on New Zealand morning talk show Breakfast as a three-and-a-half star album.

Much of the material on the album was written as reaction to what turned out to be a temporary breakup with Welch's current boyfriend. Welch says "He prefers me not to talk about it. It's funny then singing about it."

The debut single was "Kiss with a Fist". The song will be used in the soundtrack of the upcoming film Jennifer's Body. The follow up single "Dog Days are Over" was recorded with no instruments in a studio the "size of a loo".

Official Site

Myspace Profile

BBC Artist Page