Beth Orton
Encyclopedia
Beth Orton is a BRIT Award
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...

–winning English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriter
Singer-songwriters are musicians who write, compose and sing their own musical material including lyrics and melodies. As opposed to contemporary popular music singers who write their own songs, the term singer-songwriter describes a distinct form of artistry, closely associated with the...

, known for her 'folktronica
Folktronica
Folktronica or electrofolk is a genre of music comprising various elements of folk music and electronica, often featuring samplings of acoustic instruments—especially stringed instruments—and incorporating hip hop rhythms...

' sound, which mixes elements of folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 and electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...

. She was initially recognised for her collaborations with William Orbit
William Orbit
William Orbit is an English musician, composer and record producer, perhaps best known to most for his work on Madonna's album Ray of Light. He has also co-produced several unreleased Madonna songs originally recorded for other albums...

 and the Chemical Brothers in the mid 1990s. However, these were not Orton's first recordings. She had released a solo album, Superpinkymandy
Superpinkymandy
SuperpinkyMandy is the debut of British singer Beth Orton. Largely in the style of electronica, and produced closely with then boyfriend William Orbit, it was a limited Japan-only release, with about 5000 copies pressed. As such, it is very much sought after...

, in 1993. Since the album was only released in Japan, it went largely unnoticed by international audiences. Her second solo album, Trailer Park
Trailer Park (album)
Trailer Park is the solo debut of British singer Beth Orton. Combining folk, electronica, and trip-hop elements, it earned Orton two BRIT Award nominations. The only single from the album was the opening track, "She Cries Your Name", which previously appeared in a different form on William...

, garnered much critical acclaim in 1996. Orton developed a devoted audience with the release of the albums Central Reservation (1999) and the 2002 UK top 10 album, Daybreaker
Daybreaker
Daybreaker is an album by singer-songwriter Beth Orton released in 2002 on Heavenly Records and the Astralwerks Records label. The album reached #40 in US and #8 in UK. Mojo Magazine called the album "her best to date...". Q Magazine was not excited about the album: "Tortoise-pace strumming and a...

. In her 2006 release, Comfort of Strangers
Comfort of Strangers
Comfort of Strangers is English singer-songwriter Beth Orton's fourth studio album, the follow-up to 2002's Daybreaker. The album was recorded in just two weeks at New York's Sear Sound studio in the spring of 2005, with the much-acclaimed musician and composer Jim O'Rourke as producer...

,
she moved towards a more folk-based sound and away from the electronic sound of her past albums.

American films and television programmes such as Felicity, How to Deal
How to Deal
How to Deal is a 2003 film directed by Clare Kilner and starring Mandy Moore, Allison Janney and Trent Ford. It is based on two novels by Sarah Dessen, That Summer and Someone Like You.-Plot:...

, Charmed
Charmed
Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...

, Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek
Dawson's Creek is an American teen drama television series which debuted on January 20, 1998, on The WB Television Network and was produced by Sony Pictures Television. The show is set in the fictional seaside town of Capeside, Massachusetts, and in Boston, Massachusetts, during the later seasons...

, Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky
Vanilla Sky is a 2001 American psychological thriller film directed, co-produced and co-written by Cameron Crowe. The film is an English-language remake of the 1997 Spanish movie Abre los ojos , the screenplay for which was written by Alejandro Amenábar and Mateo Gil...

and Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy
Grey's Anatomy is an American medical drama television series created by Shonda Rhimes. The series premiered on March 27, 2005 on ABC; since then, seven seasons have aired. The series follows the lives of interns, residents and their mentors in the fictional Seattle Grace Mercy West Hospital in...

have featured her music and provided her with exposure to a more mainstream American audience.

Early career

Orton was born in East Dereham, Norfolk
Norfolk
Norfolk is a low-lying county in the East of England. It has borders with Lincolnshire to the west, Cambridgeshire to the west and southwest and Suffolk to the south. Its northern and eastern boundaries are the North Sea coast and to the north-west the county is bordered by The Wash. The county...

, but moved to Dalston
Dalston
Dalston is a district of north-east London, England, located in the London Borough of Hackney. It is situated northeast of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London...

, east London at age fourteen. Her father, an architectural draughtsman, left her mother when Beth was eleven, and she lived with her mother, an artist and political activist, and her two brothers, her father dying shortly afterwards. Her mother died from cancer in 1989, when Beth was aged 19, which led to her travelling to Thailand for a short period, residing with Buddhist nuns. Orton found success as a musician relatively late, having first worked at menial jobs such as a waitress at Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut
Pizza Hut is an American restaurant chain and international franchise that offers different styles of pizza along with side dishes including pasta, buffalo wings, breadsticks, and garlic bread....

 and even owning her own catering company. She was also more interested in acting during her early career, having enrolled at the Anna Scher Theatre School
Young Actors Theatre (Islington)
The Young Actors Theatre is a community theatre school for children and young adults in Islington, London, run on a non-profit sustainable-funding basis.-The school:...

, and she spent some time touring Une Saison en Enfer with a fringe theatre company throughout the UK, Russia and Ukraine, playing Rimbaud's lover.

Early work

Her first contribution in music came after she met William Orbit
William Orbit
William Orbit is an English musician, composer and record producer, perhaps best known to most for his work on Madonna's album Ray of Light. He has also co-produced several unreleased Madonna songs originally recorded for other albums...

 at a party and tried to borrow a cigarette from him. They began a relationship shortly after, and he encouraged her to do some spoken word for his Strange Cargo project and to sing. Possibly the best-known work from that time is "Water from a Vine Leaf", which she co-wrote and which was released as a limited-edition single. It was also at this time that Orbit and Orton covered John Martyn's "Don't Wanna Know 'Bout Evil", which was not only the first song that they recorded together, but also the first release as a duet called Spill
Spill (band)
Spill were a dance duo, whose members were William Orbit and Beth Orton. They released one single under the moniker, Don't Wanna Know About Evil in 1993, on the Virgin record label, to the Japanese market. It was released in the UK, several years later....

 in Japan, which was also re-released in 1997 in the UK. She regarded Orbit's influence as very positive, commenting "I think William pulled me out of the crowd and pulled me out of the gutter, in a way. Because I don't know where my enthusiasm was going to take me, because it was pretty raw to say the least."

SuperPinkyMandy

Shortly after, Orton and Orbit began experimenting to pull an L.P. together. "Don't Wanna Know 'Bout Evil" was the first track on that album, called SuperPinkyMandy
Superpinkymandy
SuperpinkyMandy is the debut of British singer Beth Orton. Largely in the style of electronica, and produced closely with then boyfriend William Orbit, it was a limited Japan-only release, with about 5000 copies pressed. As such, it is very much sought after...

, named after a rag doll which she bought at a jumble sale
Jumble sale
A jumble sale or rummage sale is an event at which second hand goods are sold, usually by an institution such as a local Scout group or church, as a fundraising or charitable effort...

 at the age of six. This rare album was released in Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

 alone, in extremely limited numbers (popularly quoted as between 1000 and 5000 copies pressed). The sound is very much Orbit's, but several songs were co-written, and some tracks were later recycled, in very different versions). "She Cries Your Name" later appeared on what she now considers her debut album (Trailer Park). "Yesterday's Gone" became "Montok Point" for the fourth Strange Cargo release Hinterland
Strange Cargo Hinterland
Strange Cargo Hinterland is the fifth album by electronic instrumentalist William Orbit. It is the fourth in a series similarly titled albums: Strange Cargo, Strange Cargo II, and Strange Cargo III.-Track listing:# "Million Town"...

in 1995. That album featured Beth on several tracks as vocalist, and also included an alternative version of "She Cries Your Name".

It was roughly at this time that she met Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands of the Chemical Brothers and began the first in a series of collaborations, supplying vocals to the tracks "Alive Alone" and "One Too Many Mornings" on 1995's Exit Planet Dust
Exit Planet Dust
Exit Planet Dust is the debut album by British electronica duo The Chemical Brothers, released in the UK on 26 June 26 1995 and the US on 15 August 1995. The title is a reference to their departure from their earlier name "The Dust Brothers"....

.

Trailer Park

Her first solo release, a cover of The Ronettes
The Ronettes
The Ronettes were a 1960s girl group from New York City, best known for their work with producer Phil Spector. The group consisted of lead singer Veronica Bennett ; her older sister, Estelle Bennett; and their cousin Nedra Talley...

' "I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine" was released, again in extremely limited numbers, in mid 1996, and was followed by "She Cries Your Name", shortly before the release of what she herself considers to be her début L.P. Trailer Park
Trailer Park (album)
Trailer Park is the solo debut of British singer Beth Orton. Combining folk, electronica, and trip-hop elements, it earned Orton two BRIT Award nominations. The only single from the album was the opening track, "She Cries Your Name", which previously appeared in a different form on William...

, released on Heavenly Records
Heavenly Records
Heavenly Records, aka Heavenly Recordings, is a London-based record label, distributed by EMI. Founded by Jeff Barrett, a former press officer for Creation Records and many successful indie bands of the time including Happy Mondays, Heavenly Recordings' first releases were 7" and 12" singles for...

 on 19 October 1996. This release earned her nominations for two BRIT Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...

 (best British newcomer, best British female), and the Mercury Music Prize in 1997, was well received by critics, and sold modestly well, shifting 300,000 copies and peaking at #68 in the UK. The album was produced by Andrew Weatherall
Andrew Weatherall
Andrew Weatherall is a DJ, producer, and remixer.Andrew, Terry Farley, Cymon Eckel and Steve Mayes started Boy's Own initially as a fanzine commenting on fashion, records, football, and other issues...

, whom she selected based on his production of one of her favourite records at the time, Primal Scream's Screamadelica. The album was far removed from her previous work, with a lot more pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

/folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 tunes present, although there were more than a few hints of her electronic roots. She began to tour this record, first supporting acts such as The Beautiful South
The Beautiful South
The Beautiful South were an English alternative rock group formed at the end of the 1980s by two former members of Hull group The Housemartins, Paul Heaton and Dave Hemingway. The duo were initially joined by Sean Welch , Dave Stead and Dave Rotheray , all of whom stayed with the group throughout...

, and appearing with Ron Sexsmith
Ron Sexsmith
Ronald Eldon "Ron" Sexsmith is a Canadian singer-songwriter from St. Catharines, Ontario, currently based in Toronto. He started his own band when he was fourteen years old, and released the first recordings of his own material seven years later, in 1985...

, before breaking out on her own. In June 1997, she had her first UK Top 40 hit single with a reissue of "She Cries Your Name".

Central Reservation

She toured that summer with Lilith Fair
Lilith Fair
Lilith Fair was a concert tour and travelling music festival, founded by Canadian musician Sarah McLachlan, Nettwerk Music Group's Dan Fraser and Terry McBride, and New York talent agent Marty Diamond. It took place during the summers of 1997 to 1999, and was revived in the summer of 2010. It...

, as well as releasing the Best Bit
Best Bit
Best Bit was released by Beth Orton, prior to her 1999 release Central Reservation. It contains two songs performed with Terry Callier, which are covers of Fred Neil's "Dolphins", and Callier's own "Lean on me". The title track appears in an alternative version on Orton's own single, "She Cries...

EP, improving on her previous best chart position, reaching #38 in the UK. Central Reservation, her second album (proper), helped Orton build on the success of her début. Although retaining the electronic edge of the former, this record showed a notably more acoustic side with several tracks consisting purely of Beth's vocal accompanied by a solitary acoustic guitar, with subject matters becoming more introspective, including "Pass in Time", a song about the death of her mother. Despite this style, the album still provided more polished moments such as lead single "Stolen Car" and the electro melancholy of "Stars All Seem to Weep" (with the haunting vocal allegedly recorded in a single take) or the jazz-and-strings-tinged "Sweetest Decline", songs which cut a much deeper mark than the more glossy feel of her debut. The album also featured notable contributions from folk
Folk music
Folk music is an English term encompassing both traditional folk music and contemporary folk music. The term originated in the 19th century. Traditional folk music has been defined in several ways: as music transmitted by mouth, as music of the lower classes, and as music with unknown composers....

 musician Terry Callier
Terry Callier
Terrence O. Callier, known as Terry Callier is an American jazz, soul and folk guitarist and singer-songwriter.-Life and career:...

, Dr. Robert and Ben Harper
Ben Harper
Benjamin Chase "Ben" Harper is an American singer-songwriter and musician. Harper plays an eclectic mix of blues, folk, soul, reggae and rock music and is known for his guitar-playing skills, vocals, live performances and activism. Harper's fan base spans several continents...

. Two tracks were also produced by Ben Watt
Ben Watt
Benjamin Brian Thomas Watt is a British musician, DJ, and record producer, best known as one half of the duo, Everything but the Girl.-Family:...

 of Everything But The Girl
Everything but the Girl
Everything but the Girl was a two-person English band, formed in Hull during 1981, consisting of lead singer and occasional guitarist Tracey Thorn and guitarist, keyboardist, and singer Ben Watt . They are currently inactive although vocalist Tracey Thorn hinted that they may reform someday...

.

The album earned Orton a second Mercury Music Prize nomination and won the Best Female Artist award at the 2000 BRIT Awards
Brit Awards
The Brit Awards are the British Phonographic Industry's annual pop music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain" or "Britannia", but subsequently became a backronym for British Record Industry Trust...

.

Daybreaker

In July 2002 she released the album Daybreaker
Daybreaker
Daybreaker is an album by singer-songwriter Beth Orton released in 2002 on Heavenly Records and the Astralwerks Records label. The album reached #40 in US and #8 in UK. Mojo Magazine called the album "her best to date...". Q Magazine was not excited about the album: "Tortoise-pace strumming and a...

, which again blended the early electronica style, with up tempo pop
Pop music
Pop music is usually understood to be commercially recorded music, often oriented toward a youth market, usually consisting of relatively short, simple songs utilizing technological innovations to produce new variations on existing themes.- Definitions :David Hatch and Stephen Millward define pop...

 songs and acoustic ballads. It featured guest appearances from musicians such as The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers
The Chemical Brothers are a British electronic music duo comprising Tom Rowlands and Ed Simons. Originating in Manchester in 1991, along with The Prodigy, Fatboy Slim, The Crystal Method, and fellow acts, they were pioneers at bringing the big beat genre to the forefront of pop culture.- Background...

, Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris
Emmylou Harris is an American singer-songwriter and musician. In addition to her work as a solo artist and bandleader, both as an interpreter of other composers' works and as a singer-songwriter, she is a sought-after backing vocalist and duet partner, working with numerous other artists including...

, whom she met at Lilith Fair, Ryan Adams
Ryan Adams
David Ryan Adams is an American alt-country/rock singer-songwriter, from Jacksonville, North Carolina. Initially part of the group Whiskeytown, Adams left the band and released his first solo album Heartbreaker in 2000...

 and Four Tet
Four Tet
Kieran Hebden is a post-rock and electronic musician. Hebden first came to prominence as a member of the band Fridge before establishing himself as a solo artist under the moniker of Four Tet....

. It was a great commercial success, reaching the top 8 of the UK album chart, and received largely positive from the press, ranging from "Her best work yet" from Mojo
Mojo (magazine)
MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...

magazine, the NME
NME
The New Musical Express is a popular music publication in the United Kingdom, published weekly since March 1952. It started as a music newspaper, and gradually moved toward a magazine format during the 1980s, changing from newsprint in 1998. It was the first British paper to include a singles...

(8/10),Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone is a US-based magazine devoted to music, liberal politics, and popular culture that is published every two weeks. Rolling Stone was founded in San Francisco in 1967 by Jann Wenner and music critic Ralph J...

and The Guardian
The Guardian
The Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...

, but receiving a more lukewarm reception from Q (Despite this she was nominated for the Q award for best album). This was followed in 2003 by an US only release on American label Astralwerks, The Other Side of Daybreak
The Other Side of Daybreak
The Other Side of Daybreak is a compilation released by Astralwerks in 2003 by Beth Orton. It is mainly a collection of b-sides from the singles found on 2002's Daybreaker, together with some unused remixes of tracks from the album.-Track listing:...

, an album consisting mainly of b-sides and remixes of songs from Daybreaker, created by artists such as Roots Manuva. She also contributed a song to the War Child
War Child (charity)
War Child is a non-governmental organisation founded in the UK 1993, which focuses on providing assistance to children in areas of conflict and post-conflict. They use their film and entertainment background to raise money for aid agencies operating in former Yugoslavia...

 charity, for their Hope compilation album that year.

A "best of" double album, entitled Pass In Time
Pass In Time
Pass in Time: The Definitive Collection is the first "Greatest Hits" album release by English singer songwriter Beth Orton. It contains one new song, "The Same Day"' and hits like: "Stolen Car", "She Cries Your Name, "Sweetest Decline" and the title-track "Pass In Time".-Track listing:DISC 1:#"She...

, was released in 2003. It represented Orton's extensive and diverse musical career through previously unreleased songs, b-sides, and rarities (such as "Where Do You Go" from Superpinkymandy), as well as collaborations with William Orbit
William Orbit
William Orbit is an English musician, composer and record producer, perhaps best known to most for his work on Madonna's album Ray of Light. He has also co-produced several unreleased Madonna songs originally recorded for other albums...

 and the Chemical Brothers. The highlight of her career arguably came on 31 March 2003, when she played to a packed Royal Albert Hall
Royal Albert Hall
The Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....

 in London on the last date of her worldwide Daybreaker tour. In addition, she played a tribute concert to Elliott Smith
Elliott Smith
Steven Paul "Elliott" Smith was an American singer-songwriter and musician. Smith was born in Omaha, Nebraska, raised primarily in Texas, and resided for a significant portion of his life in Portland, Oregon, where he first gained popularity...

 in November.

Comfort of Strangers

Orton's fourth studio album Comfort of Strangers
Comfort of Strangers
Comfort of Strangers is English singer-songwriter Beth Orton's fourth studio album, the follow-up to 2002's Daybreaker. The album was recorded in just two weeks at New York's Sear Sound studio in the spring of 2005, with the much-acclaimed musician and composer Jim O'Rourke as producer...

was released in February 2006. The North American release was through Astralwerks
Astralwerks
Astralwerks is a New York-based record label that releases primarily electronic music. It is owned by Virgin Records/EMI and distributed by Caroline Distribution in the United States....

, and the UK release was through EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...

-UK. The release saw her move away from the electronica element that she is usually associated with, to a more stripped down traditional alt-folk album. This album followed an extended absence since her previous release, partially a result of several failed production attempts, and the parting of ways between her and Heavenly Records
Heavenly Records
Heavenly Records, aka Heavenly Recordings, is a London-based record label, distributed by EMI. Founded by Jeff Barrett, a former press officer for Creation Records and many successful indie bands of the time including Happy Mondays, Heavenly Recordings' first releases were 7" and 12" singles for...

. The album was produced by the musician Jim O'Rourke
Jim O'Rourke (musician)
Jim O'Rourke is an Irish-American musician and record producer. He was long associated with the Chicago experimental and improv scene...

.

Band

Her consistent band from 1999's Central Reservation until around 2006 was guitarist Ted Barnes, keyboardist Sean Read, ex-Sandals drummer Will Blanchard and former Red Snapper
Red Snapper (band)
Red Snapper are a British instrumental band founded in London in 1993 by Ali Friend , Richard Thair , and David Ayers . The three core members are also joined by various guest musicians and vocalists on different records...

 member Ali Friend on bass. However, this had changed by 2008, with Ali and Ted having moved on to form their own band Clayhill
Clayhill
Clayhill are a British 3-piece folk band comprising Ali Friend, Ted Barnes and vocalist Gavin Clark. They released their debut album, Small Circle in 2004, and have released 2 E.P.s and a further L.P. Mine at Last in 2006...

, and Ted having pursued his own projects, with Beth guesting on his solo debut album, Short Scenes. Only Sean remained in her current live band as of 2008, although Clayhill
Clayhill
Clayhill are a British 3-piece folk band comprising Ali Friend, Ted Barnes and vocalist Gavin Clark. They released their debut album, Small Circle in 2004, and have released 2 E.P.s and a further L.P. Mine at Last in 2006...

 have played as the support act on both her UK and US tours to promote Comfort of Strangers. Her current band (2008) consists of Leroy Bach
Leroy Bach
LeRoy Bach is an American musician, composer, and music producer. Bach is perhaps best known for his work as a multi-instrumentalist in the band Wilco from 1997 through 2004. He has also worked as a touring and/or studio musician for such notable acts as Liz Phair, Beth Orton, Iron & Wine, Andrew...

, drummer Matt Johnson and upcoming guitarist Emmett Kelly.

SING with Annie Lennox

Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox
Annie Lennox, OBE , born Ann Lennox, is a Scottish singer-songwriter, political activist and philanthropist. After achieving minor success in the late 1970s with The Tourists, with fellow musician David A...

 joined forces with Beth Orton and 22 other female artists to raise awareness of mother-to-child transmission of HIV
HIV
Human immunodeficiency virus is a lentivirus that causes acquired immunodeficiency syndrome , a condition in humans in which progressive failure of the immune system allows life-threatening opportunistic infections and cancers to thrive...

 to unborn children in Africa. The single "Sing
Sing (Annie Lennox song)
"Sing" is a song by Annie Lennox, released as the second single from her fourth solo studio album, Songs of Mass Destruction . The single was originally released as a digital download only single in late 2007. A limited 3 track edition was made available exclusively from The Body Shop from 10...

" was first released on World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day
World AIDS Day, observed December 1 every year, is dedicated to raising awareness of the AIDS pandemic caused by the spread of HIV infection. Government and health officials observe the day, often with speeches or forums on the AIDS topics. Since 1995, the President of the United States has made an...

 on 1 December 2007, in conjunction with Annie Lennox's appearance at the Nelson Mandela
Nelson Mandela
Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela served as President of South Africa from 1994 to 1999, and was the first South African president to be elected in a fully representative democratic election. Before his presidency, Mandela was an anti-apartheid activist, and the leader of Umkhonto we Sizwe, the armed wing...

 46664 concert in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...

. http://www.annielennoxsing.com http://www.myspace.com/annielennoxsing

New album

Orton has left her longtime record label and will begin work on a follow up album to Comfort Of Strangers which will be released sometime in 2012 on ANTI-
ANTI-
ANTI- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label of Epitaph Records.While Epitaph's focus has shifted over the last decade from mostly punk rock, nowadays ANTI- has a more diverse roster, ranging from country , hip hop , reggae , Soul , folk , rap-rock , indie rock...

. Some new material has been written and performed already.

Personal life

Orton gave birth to a daughter, Nancy, in mid-December 2006. She cancelled her September 2006 UK tour because of her pregnancy.

She is a well known opponent of the "War on Terror", and played at the One Big No concert in March 2003 at the Shepherd's Bush Empire in London, organised by Emily Eavis
Emily Eavis
Emily Eavis is co-organiser of the annual Glastonbury Festival. She is the youngest daughter of the festival's founder and organiser Michael Eavis and his second wife Jean....

.

In the Telegraph interview she revealed that in the past she had shunned several opportunities to raise her public profile, on ethical grounds. Such opportunities included becoming the face of Calvin Klein
Calvin Klein
Calvin Richard Klein is an American fashion designer who launched the company that would later become Calvin Klein Inc. in 1968. In addition to clothing, Klein has also given his name to a range of perfumes, watches, and jewelry....

 and promoting the sales of her records at Starbucks
Starbucks
Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...

 coffee outlets. While she is a supporter of Fairtrade, she has subsequently relented on this last stance.

All of her recent releases are "carbon neutral
Carbon neutral
Carbon neutrality, or having a net zero carbon footprint, refers to achieving net zero carbon emissions by balancing a measured amount of carbon released with an equivalent amount sequestered or offset, or buying enough carbon credits to make up the difference...

", whereby a tree is planted in a poor area of Mexico for every certain amount of units produced, to offset the emissions generated when pressing the CDs and other marketing paraphernalia.

She has also been offered the opportunity to return to her first love, acting. Having played the lead female in the independent film Southlander
Southlander
Southlander is an American independent film by Steve Hanft and Ross Harris.Originally titled Recycler after the Los Angeles magazine of the same name, the filmwriters changed the name of the movie—and a central plot device—to Southlander to avoid trademark issues.- Plot :Down-and-out...

, she was offered to audition for the role of John Cusack's girlfriend in the film High Fidelity
High Fidelity (film)
High Fidelity is a 2000 American comedy-drama film directed by Stephen Frears and starring John Cusack and the Danish actress Iben Hjejle. The film is based on the 1995 British novel of the same name by Nick Hornby, with the setting moved from London to Chicago and the name of the lead character...

. She states that she would act, if an appropriate part came up for her.

Albums

  • SuperPinkyMandy
    Superpinkymandy
    SuperpinkyMandy is the debut of British singer Beth Orton. Largely in the style of electronica, and produced closely with then boyfriend William Orbit, it was a limited Japan-only release, with about 5000 copies pressed. As such, it is very much sought after...

    (Japan
    Japan
    Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

     only - 1993)
  • Trailer Park
    Trailer Park (album)
    Trailer Park is the solo debut of British singer Beth Orton. Combining folk, electronica, and trip-hop elements, it earned Orton two BRIT Award nominations. The only single from the album was the opening track, "She Cries Your Name", which previously appeared in a different form on William...

    (1996) - UK #68
  • Central Reservation (1999) - US #110, UK #17
  • Daybreaker
    Daybreaker
    Daybreaker is an album by singer-songwriter Beth Orton released in 2002 on Heavenly Records and the Astralwerks Records label. The album reached #40 in US and #8 in UK. Mojo Magazine called the album "her best to date...". Q Magazine was not excited about the album: "Tortoise-pace strumming and a...

    (2002) - US #40, UK #8
  • The Other Side of Daybreak
    The Other Side of Daybreak
    The Other Side of Daybreak is a compilation released by Astralwerks in 2003 by Beth Orton. It is mainly a collection of b-sides from the singles found on 2002's Daybreaker, together with some unused remixes of tracks from the album.-Track listing:...

    (2003)
  • Pass In Time: The Definitive Collection
    Pass In Time
    Pass in Time: The Definitive Collection is the first "Greatest Hits" album release by English singer songwriter Beth Orton. It contains one new song, "The Same Day"' and hits like: "Stolen Car", "She Cries Your Name, "Sweetest Decline" and the title-track "Pass In Time".-Track listing:DISC 1:#"She...

    (2003) UK #45
  • Comfort of Strangers
    Comfort of Strangers
    Comfort of Strangers is English singer-songwriter Beth Orton's fourth studio album, the follow-up to 2002's Daybreaker. The album was recorded in just two weeks at New York's Sear Sound studio in the spring of 2005, with the much-acclaimed musician and composer Jim O'Rourke as producer...

    (February 2006) - US #92, CAN #89, UK #24
  • TBA (2011) - ANTI-
    ANTI-
    ANTI- is an American record label founded in 1999 as a sister label of Epitaph Records.While Epitaph's focus has shifted over the last decade from mostly punk rock, nowadays ANTI- has a more diverse roster, ranging from country , hip hop , reggae , Soul , folk , rap-rock , indie rock...



EPs

  • Best Bit EP
    Best Bit
    Best Bit was released by Beth Orton, prior to her 1999 release Central Reservation. It contains two songs performed with Terry Callier, which are covers of Fred Neil's "Dolphins", and Callier's own "Lean on me". The title track appears in an alternative version on Orton's own single, "She Cries...

    (14 December 1997) #36 UK
  • Concrete Sky EP
    Concrete Sky EP
    "Concrete Sky" was the first single released by Beth Orton, found on her 2002 release Daybreaker. It contains four songs, and was released on CD. The single also features vocals from Ryan Adams.-Track listing:# "Concrete Sky"# "Ali's Waltz"...

     (15 July 2002)


Singles

  • "Don't Wanna Know 'Bout Evil" (as Spill) (1992)
  • "I Wish I Never Saw the Sunshine" (1997)
  • "She Cries Your Name
    She Cries Your Name
    "She Cries Your Name" is a song by Beth Orton, released as her third single and found on her 1996 release Trailer Park. It was re-released in 1997, with a different set of b-sides. Both releases contain 4 songs, and were released on CD and vinyl...

    " (26 September 1996)
  • "Touch Me with Your Love
    Touch Me With Your Love
    "Touch Me With Your Love" is a song by Beth Orton, released as the fourth single from 1996 album Trailer Park. It contains 4 songs, and was released on C.D. and vinyl. The release peaked at #60 in the UK official singles chart...

    " (1997) #60 UK
  • "Someone's Daughter
    Someone's Daughter
    "Someone's Daughter" is a song by Beth Orton, released as her fourth single, found on her 1996 release Trailer Park. It contains 3 songs, and was released on C.D. and vinyl. The release peaked at #49 in the UK official singles chart....

    " (24 March 1997) #49 UK
  • "She Cries Your Name
    She Cries Your Name
    "She Cries Your Name" is a song by Beth Orton, released as her third single and found on her 1996 release Trailer Park. It was re-released in 1997, with a different set of b-sides. Both releases contain 4 songs, and were released on CD and vinyl...

    " (re-issue) (2 June 1997) #40 UK
  • "Stolen Car" (22 February 1999) #34 UK, #32 US Modern Rock
  • "Central Reservation" (13 September 1999) #37 UK
  • "Anywhere
    Anywhere (Beth Orton Single)
    "Anywhere" was a 2002 single by English songwriter Beth Orton. It was released both as a CD, and as a DVD and peaked at #55 in the UK charts...

    " (2002) #55 UK
  • "Thinking About Tomorrow
    Thinking About Tomorrow
    "Thinking About Tomorrow" was a 2002 single by English songwriter Beth Orton. It was released on CD, and peaked at #57 in the UK charts. The song appears on the album Daybreaker and the Best Of, Pass In Time....

    " (2003) #57 UK
  • "Conceived
    Conceived
    "Conceived" is the first single released by Beth Orton from her album Comfort of Strangers. It was released as a download single via iTunes on 29 November 2005, and then on CD and vinyl on 30 January 2006. It peaked at #44 in the UK official singles chart. It also peaked at #6 on the US's Triple A...

    " (29 November 2005 - Digital download, 30 January 2006) #44 UK
  • "Shopping Trolley
    Shopping Trolley
    "Shopping Trolley" was a 2006 single by English songwriter Beth Orton. It was released as a 2 CD single set and 12 inch vinyl , and an early version of the title song can be purchased from iTunes.-CD: EMI / CDEMS 694 United Kingdom :# "Shopping Trolley"...

    " (26 June 2006) #87 UK


Soundtrack and compilation appearances

  • "Frankie" - live recording of the Mississippi John Hurt
    Mississippi John Hurt
    John Smith Hurt, better known as Mississippi John Hurt was an American country blues singer and guitarist.Raised in Avalon, Mississippi, Hurt taught himself how to play the guitar around age nine...

     folk ballad on the The Harry Smith Project: The Anthology of American Folk Music Revisited compilation.
  • "Ooh Child" - a cover of the Five Stairsteps' song contributed to the Warchild
    War Child (charity)
    War Child is a non-governmental organisation founded in the UK 1993, which focuses on providing assistance to children in areas of conflict and post-conflict. They use their film and entertainment background to raise money for aid agencies operating in former Yugoslavia...

     charity's
    Hope compilation album.
  • "Sisters of Mercy" - a cover of the Leonard Cohen
    Leonard Cohen
    Leonard Norman Cohen, is a Canadian singer-songwriter, musician, poet and novelist. Cohen published his first book of poetry in Montreal in 1956 and his first novel in 1963. His work often explores religion, isolation, sexuality and interpersonal relationships...

     song, for the
    Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man
    Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man
    Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man is a 2005 film by Lian Lunson about the life and career of Leonard Cohen. It is based on a January 2005 tribute show at the Sydney Opera House titled "Came So Far for Beauty", which was produced by Hal Willner...

    soundtrack.
  • "What A Wonderful World
    What a Wonderful World
    "What a Wonderful World" is a song written by Bob Thiele and George David Weiss. It was first recorded by Louis Armstrong and released as a single in 1968. Thiele and Weiss were both prominent in the music world . Armstrong's recording was inducted in the Grammy Hall of Fame in 1999...

    " - a cover of the Louis Armstrong
    Louis Armstrong
    Louis Armstrong , nicknamed Satchmo or Pops, was an American jazz trumpeter and singer from New Orleans, Louisiana....

     song, for the
    Starbucks
    Starbucks
    Starbucks Corporation is an international coffee and coffeehouse chain based in Seattle, Washington. Starbucks is the largest coffeehouse company in the world, with 17,009 stores in 55 countries, including over 11,000 in the United States, over 1,000 in Canada, over 700 in the United Kingdom, and...

     Winter Wonderland Christmas 2008 Album.
  • "Wild World" - a cover of the Cat Stevens
    Cat Stevens
    Yusuf Islam , commonly known by his former stage name Cat Stevens, is an English singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist, and prominent convert to Islam....

    ' song, for the How To Deal soundtrack.
  • "I Me Mine
    I Me Mine
    "I Me Mine" is a song by The Beatles, written and sung by George Harrison. I Me Mine is also the title of Harrison's autobiography. The song traces its origins to the January 1969 Get Back/Let It Be sessions, when it was rehearsed by the band at Twickenham Film Studios.-Origin:The set of pronouns...

    /Dig It" - a cover of the Beatles song, for the Mojo
    Mojo (magazine)
    MOJO is a popular music magazine published initially by Emap, and since January 2008 by Bauer, monthly in the United Kingdom. Following the success of the magazine Q, publishers Emap were looking for a title which would cater for the burgeoning interest in classic rock music...

     magazine coverdisc Let It Be Revisted. Also available as a limited cover mounted vinyl.
  • A remix of "Carmella" was featured in a Adult Swim bump.

with Chemical Brothers

  • vocalist for "Alive Alone", on Exit Planet Dust
    Exit Planet Dust
    Exit Planet Dust is the debut album by British electronica duo The Chemical Brothers, released in the UK on 26 June 26 1995 and the US on 15 August 1995. The title is a reference to their departure from their earlier name "The Dust Brothers"....

    (1995).
  • vocalist for "Where Do I Begin
    Where Do I Begin (The Chemical Brothers song)
    "Where Do I Begin" is a song by English big beat musical duo The Chemical Brothers, released as a promotional single in 1997 from their second album, Dig Your Own Hole. As a promo release, copies are difficult to get hold of. The version appearing on the single is the radio edit and is shorter than...

    " on Dig Your Own Hole
    Dig Your Own Hole
    Dig Your Own Hole is the second studio album by British electronica duo The Chemical Brothers, released on 7 April 1997. It features Noel Gallagher of Oasis and Beth Orton as guest vocalists...

    (1997).
  • vocalist for "The State We're In" on Come With Us
    Come with Us
    Come with Us is the fourth studio album by British big beat duo The Chemical Brothers, released on 28 January 2002. It features Richard Ashcroft and Beth Orton as guest vocalists. The album debuted at number 1 on the UK Albums Chart...

    (2002).

with William Orbit

  • vocalist for "Water From a Vine Leaf" on Strange Cargo III
    Strange Cargo III
    Strange Cargo III is the fourth album by electronic instrumentalist William Orbit. It is the third in a series of similarly titled albums: Strange Cargo , Strange Cargo II, and Strange Cargo Hinterland....

    (1993).
  • vocalist for "Million Town", "Kiss of the Bee" and "She Cries Your Name" on Strange Cargo Hinterland
    Strange Cargo Hinterland
    Strange Cargo Hinterland is the fifth album by electronic instrumentalist William Orbit. It is the fourth in a series similarly titled albums: Strange Cargo, Strange Cargo II, and Strange Cargo III.-Track listing:# "Million Town"...

    (1995).

with Red Snapper

  • vocalist for "Snapper" on Snapper EP (1994).
  • vocalist for "In Deep" on The Swank EP (1994).
Both collected on Reeled and Skinned (1995).

with Bert Jansch

  • vocalist for "Watch the Stars", "Katie Cruel
    Katie Cruel
    Katie Cruel is a traditional American folksong, likely of Scottish origin. As a traditional song, it has been recorded by many performers, but the best known recording of the song is by Karen Dalton on the album In My Own Time...

    " and "When the Sun Comes Up" on The Black Swan
    The Black Swan (Bert Jansch album)
    The Black Swan is the twenty-third album by Scottish folk singer Bert Jansch. It was released in 2006 through Drag City. Jansch described the album: "It's been fantastic working with everyone who's been involved on the record...

    (2006).

Other collaborations

  • "Beautiful Way" - a duet found on Beck
    Beck
    Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...

    's Midnite Vultures
    Midnite Vultures
    Midnite Vultures is the seventh studio album by American alternative rock artist Beck, released in November 1999 by Geffen Records...

    .
  • "Brown Sugar" - a duet with Ryan Adams
    Ryan Adams
    David Ryan Adams is an American alt-country/rock singer-songwriter, from Jacksonville, North Carolina. Initially part of the group Whiskeytown, Adams left the band and released his first solo album Heartbreaker in 2000...

    , featured in a free CD from Uncut.
  • "Dice
    Dice (Finley Quaye)
    "Dice" is a single released by Finley Quaye. It was written with Beth Orton and recorded by William Orbit.-Single use:The single was used in the American Fox network TV series The OC in episode 14 of season one, entitled "The Countdown". The song was a minor hit, helped in part by its inclusion on ...

    " - a Finley Quaye
    Finley Quaye
    Finley Quaye is a British musician. He won the 1997 Mobo Award for best reggae act, and the 1998 BRIT Award for Best British Male Solo Artist.-Life:...

     song sampling Beth's vocals from 'Roll The Dice,' originally from her album SuperPinkyMandy.
  • "Inside" - guesting on New Buffalo
    New Buffalo (band)
    Sally Seltmann is a Melbourne-based singer-songwriter. Until 2009, she performed under the alias New Buffalo.-Biography:...

    's album The Last Beautiful Day.
  • "Love Can Do" - found on Terry Callier
    Terry Callier
    Terrence O. Callier, known as Terry Callier is an American jazz, soul and folk guitarist and singer-songwriter.-Life and career:...

    's Lifetime.
  • "No Expectations
    No Expectations
    "No Expectations" is a song by the British rock and roll band The Rolling Stones featured on their 1968 album Beggars Banquet. It was first released as the B-side of the "Street Fighting Man" single in August 1968...

    " - recorded with Beck
    Beck
    Beck Hansen is an American musician, singer-songwriter and multi-instrumentalist, known by the stage name Beck...

    , unreleased.
  • "Ted's Waltz" (remaster) - an alternative version of her own song, appearing on her guitarist Ted Barnes' album, Short Scenes.
  • "Untouchable (Part 2)" - a duet with Princess Superstar
    Princess Superstar
    Princess Superstar is an American emcee and DJ.Her musical style, as she describes it, is flip-flop — a mixture of 'hip hop, electroclash and electronica'.-Background:...

     on her album Princess Superstar Is
    Princess Superstar Is
    Princess Superstar Is is a hip-hop album released by Princess Superstar. It is her fourth LP.Producers include Princess Superstar , Herbaliser, Curtis Curtis, DJ Mighty Mi of High and Mighty, Lenny Lacem, Chops, Sinista, Dart LA, and Big Jim Slade.-Track listing:#"Super Fantasy"#"Bad Babysitter"...

    .
  • "You Better Mind" - a duet with Sam Amidon
    Sam Amidon
    Sam Amidon is an American independent folk artist born in Brattleboro, Vermont, June 3, 1981. His parents are folk artists Peter and Mary Alice Amidon. His younger brother, Stefan Amidon, is a professional drummer who performs with The Sweetback Sisters among other groups. Sam attended The Putney...

     on his album I See The Sign.
  • "Superstar/Diamonds And Rust" - guesting on Justin Vivian Bond's album "Dendrophilia"

Filmography

  • Southlander
    Southlander
    Southlander is an American independent film by Steve Hanft and Ross Harris.Originally titled Recycler after the Los Angeles magazine of the same name, the filmwriters changed the name of the movie—and a central plot device—to Southlander to avoid trademark issues.- Plot :Down-and-out...

  • Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man
    Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man
    Leonard Cohen: I'm Your Man is a 2005 film by Lian Lunson about the life and career of Leonard Cohen. It is based on a January 2005 tribute show at the Sydney Opera House titled "Came So Far for Beauty", which was produced by Hal Willner...

  • Charmed
    Charmed
    Charmed is an American television series that originally aired from October 7, 1998, until May 21, 2006, on the now defunct The WB Television Network. The series was created in 1998 by writer Constance M...

    : 9 February 2003 'Sand Francisco Dreamin' (Season 5, Episode 14)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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