Born December 25, 1971 in St. Mary Abbots hospital in Kensington, London, Florian Cloud de Bounvialle O’Malley Armstrong known as “Dido” is an English singer and songwriter. Dido came onto the pop scene in the early 2000s, and by the end of the decade was an Oscar nominee for her song “If I rise,” from the 2010 movie 127 hours.
Dido shot to worldwide success with her debut album, No Angel (1999). The album sold in excess of 21 million copies worldwide, and won several awards; including the MTV Europe Music Award for Best New Act, two NRJ Awards for Best New Act and Best Album, and Two BRIT Awards for Best British Female and Best Album. The album blended her lonesome voice with a lush mix of guitars and electronics, drawing comparisons to Sinead O’Connor and Sarah McLachlan. The single “Here With Me” was chosen as the theme song for the aliens-among-us TV show Roswell, and Dido got another boost when her song “Thank You” was sampled by rapper Eminem on his 2000 song “Stan.”
Her following album, Life for Rent (2003), continued her mainstream success with the help of popular singles “White Flag” and “Life for Rent”. The album went on to sell around 12 million copies worldwide and saw her receive more accolades; including the Ivor Novello Award for Songwriter of the Year for “White Flag”, two further BRIT and NRJ Awards, as well as a Grammy Award nomination. Dido’s first two albums, No Angel and Life for Rent, are among the best-selling albums in UK Chart history, and both are in the top 10 best-selling albums of the 2000s in the UK. Her third and latest studio album, Safe Trip Home (2008), received critical praise to help maintain her success. She was nominated for an Academy Award for the song “If I Rise”. Dido has been ranked #98 of Billboard 200 Artists Music Chart based on the success of her music in the first decade of the 21st century.
Because Dido was born on Christmas Day, she also celebrates an “official birthday” on 25 June, following the example of Paddington Bear. Her mother, Clare is a poet, and her father, William O’Malley Armstrong, was an Irish publisher and former managing director of Sidgwick & Jackson. Her older brother, Rowland Constantine O’Malley Armstrong, is better known as record producer Rollo, part of the British electronica trio Faithless. Despite their impressive birth names, the pair were known from childhood by the names that are famous now — Dido and Rollo. Dido has made it clear that “Dido” is now her real name and not simply a stage name or nickname. Her name derives from that of the mythical Queen of Carthage. As a child, she had to deal with its ambiguous and unusual nature, which led to her being bullied and even to her pretending to have an ordinary name.
Dido was five when she stole her first recorder. This did not lead to prison, but rather to her entrance one year later to the Guildhall School of Music in London. A bit of a child prodigy, by the time she was 10 she played piano, violin, and the aforementioned recorder.
Upon the release of No Angel in 1999, after a long time promoting the album, Dido broke up with her fiancé, entertainment lawyer Bob Page, after a seven-year relationship. In February 2011, Dido posted a message on her official website, explaining to fans that she would not perform at the 83rd Academy Awards because she was pregnant and was expecting a baby with her husband.
Dido Photo Gallery
