Florence Welch

Florence Welch was famed as the dramatic, powerful-voiced frontwoman of Florence and the Machine. She was born and raised in London; her father was an ad executive and her mother a college professor who'd emigrated from New York. Two pivotal events during her young teens-her parents' divorce and her grandmother's suicide-would affect her worldview in later years. Florence + the Machine (as originally spelled) began in 2006 as a duet of her and childhood friend Isabella Summers, a keyboardist and songwriter (when a pre-teen Summers was Welch's sister's babysitter). The two originally began separate careers, Welch as a singer and Summers as a producer/remixer, until they began writing songs together; their name was based on the original jokey aliases of "Florence Robot" and "Isa Machine." One song was carried over from Welch's previous band Ashok: Taken from that band's one album Plans "Happy Slap" was reworked with the Machine and retitled "Kiss With a Fist." The theme of the song-about a couple whose love is so intense that they cause psychological violence on each other-was typical of the edgy romantic themes that Welch chose to pursue. That song was the first of six singles released from Florence and the Machine's 2009 debut, Lungs, on which they worked with a half-dozen producers and more than 30 guest musicians. (Summers' role in the group gradually lessened and left Welch as the clear leader). The album ruled the UK charts for the next two years, topping out at Number One and also going platinum in the US. This proved a cue for Welch to up the level of drama on the next album, Ceremonials, which was steeped in spiritual themes. Appropriately, it was released on Halloween 2011. It too was a worldwide hit and as part of the promotion, the group appeared on MTV Unplugged in 2012. Along with stripped-down versions of the hits, the show and its accompanying album included covers of Otis Redding's "Try a Little Tenderness" and Johnny Cash/June Carter's "Jackson," with Josh Homme doing the duet honors. She did another notable duet in 2012, singing "Gimme Shelter" with the Rolling Stones at the O2 Arena. Worn out from touring, she took a year's hiatus in 2013-14, and later said she'd had "a bit of a nervous breakdown" during this time. As a result, the new songs she was writing were more directly personal and less based in mystical themes. Following the release of the third Machine album How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, she branched out with a further series of high-profile appearances, writing a song ("Hey Girl") with Lady Gaga and acting in the indie film "Song to Song" (alongside Ryan Gosling and Natalie Portman). During 2018 she published her first book of lyrics and poetry, Useless Magic, and began a stadium tour with the Machine, behind their fourth album High as Hope.