Worst Singers Of All Time
These people just cannot sing that good. They can't hit the right notes and some sound better in the studio than live (so they may NOT be that BAD).
This list isn't meant to be offend. I only 'attack' their voices, not their personality.
This list isn't meant to be offend. I only 'attack' their voices, not their personality.
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Ke$ha was born on March 1, 1987, in Los Angeles, California. Her big break came from cameo on rapper Flo Rida's 2009 No. 1 hit "Flo Rida Feat. Ke$ha: Right Round (2009)." Soon after, she landed a record contact with RCA and released her first single, Ke$ha: TiK ToK (2009). The party anthem developed quite a following. Her debut album, Animal, reached the top of the charts after its release in January 2010. Her second album, Warrior, was released in 2012. Ke$ha was exposed to music at an early age through her mother Pebe Sebert, a songwriter.The first few years of Ke$ha's life were a struggle for her family. Her mother had difficulty earning enough to support Ke$ha and her older brother. "We were on welfare and food stamps," the artist explained on her website. "One of my first memories is my mom telling me, 'If you want something, just take it.'" When she was 4, Ke$ha moved to Nashville with her family, where her mother had landed a songwriting contract. Sometimes tagging along with her mother, Ke$ha spent a lot of time in recording studios during her early adolescence. Her mother encouraged her interest in singing, allowing Ke$ha to work on some of her song demos. Ke$ha also went to a music school, where she learned about songwriting. Deep in the heart of the country music scene, she was inspired by the likes of Johnny Cash and Patsy Cline. At 17, Ke$ha left high school to pursue a music career. She changed her name to Ke$ha and moved to Los Angeles to work with producer Dr. Luke, who had worked on hit singles for Katy Perry and Kelly Clarkson among others. Ke$ha was determined to break into the business. According to one story, she paid off a gardener to get inside music legend Prince's house to leave one of her demos for him. She landed a few gigs as a back-up vocalist as well, performing on songs by Britney Spears and Paris Hilton. Soon after her work with Flo Rida, Ke$ha landed a record contact with RCA. She released her first single, "Ke$ha: TiK ToK (2009)" later that year. The party anthem developed quite a following, soon becoming one of the most downloaded songs in America, and then reaching the top of the Billboard pop charts in January 2010. Her debut album, Animal, reached the top of the charts after its release in January 2010. In addition to [ink=tt6942460], Ke$ha scored two more Top 10 hits: "Ke$ha: Blah Blah Blah (Feat. 3Oh!3) (2010)" and "Ke$ha: Your Love Is My Drug (2010)". Accompany this work was the extended play release Cannibal. She followed up her initial success with 2012's Warrior, which featured the single "Ke$ha: Die Young (2012)." A companion extended work, Deconstructed, was released in 2013.Her voice is disgustingly horrible. She sounds like a robot. She is way too autotuned. Her live voice is inexcusable.- Director
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Yoko Ono was born on Saturday, February 18th, 1933, in her ancestral estate in Tokyo, Japan. Her father, Eisuke Ono, was the descendant of a 9th Century Emperor of Japan. Her mother, Isoko Yasuda Ono, was the granddaughter of Zenijiro Yasuda, the founder of Yasuda Bank. Yoko was two years old when she was brought to California, and joined her father for the first time. She returned to Japan before WWII and survived the bombings of Tokyo in 1945. Yoko went to school with Emperor Hirohito's two sons. Though boys and girls were separated, Yoko was visited by Emperor's son Yoshi, and in turn she visited the boy's school in defiance of the rules. In the early 50s she and her parents moved to New York. She went to Sarah Lawrence College, where she was particularly adept in music, with her perfect pitch and untamed creativity. She married a Julliard student, Toshi Ichiyanagi, and moved to Manhattan. Her admiration with Franz Kafka, Vincent van Gogh, and Arnold Schönberg gave root and was fertilized by the New York avant-garde scene. In 1960, Yoko Ono & her friend La Monte Young staged the legendary loft events on Chambers Street. She also provided the loft for John Cage and his ground-braking classes of experimental music. She collaborated with Karlheinz Stockhausen, Nam June Paik, George Maciunas and Fluxus. Yoko cut herself from her parents and was on her own, working as a waitress, an apartment manager, and a music teacher in New York's public schools.
In 1962, after separating from Toshi, she gave in to her parents and returned to Japan. There, she heavily suffered from a clinical depression, and was locked up in a mental hospital. Anthony Cox went to Japan and managed to release Yoko Ono from captivity. She married Cox in Tokyo, later in the year, and their daughter, (as she became a mother), Kyoko, was born on Saturday, August 3rd, 1963. Cox became her artistic assistant. But in 1964 they separated and Cox returned to New York. Yoko joined him later in 1964 with Kyoko. She dreamed up the concept for 'Bottoms' (1966), completed only after 365 friends and volunteers provided their naked buttocks for close-ups. Her ad was "Intelligent-looking bottoms wanted for filming. Possessors of unintelligent-looking ones need not apply." Yoko promoted 'Bottoms' (1966) by being tied to a bronze lion in London's Trafalgar Square. While there, she first met her future husband-to-be (also 3rd & last), John Lennon at her art show in London on Wednesday evening, November 9th, 1966. At first they were very impressed with each other's intellect, personalities & everything else followed later. They married. John was lambasted by the British public. Yoko lost her daughter Kyoko (second ex-husband Cox kidnapped Kyoko in 1971 & hid her with an alias name Rosemary in the cult The Walk) for 27 years. Finally in 1998, Yoko and Kyoko reunited. John and Yoko were together 24/7 for six years until their fifteen-month break in 1973-74. Back together again, they sustained attacks from the media, politicians and all kinds of harassment. John and Yoko created art, music & had a son, Sean Lennon, on Wednesday, October 9th, 1975. They nourished each other's artistic nature with enough humor to survive through almost everything. Until Yoko Ono became a widow!I like this woman, actually, she is very down to earth in her interviews. But her voice - she yells and screams in her songs quite hoarsely. She sounds like a badly drunk karaoke singer in pubs. She should stick with her art or something.- Music Artist
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Actress and singer Selena Gomez was born on July 22, 1992 in Grand Prairie, Texas. She is the daughter of Mandy Teefey and Ricardo Gomez. Her mother is of part Italian ancestry, and her father is of Mexican descent. She was named after Tejano singer Selena, who died in 1995.
Her first acting role was as "Gianna" in the popular '90s children's television show Barney & Friends (1992), alongside Demi Lovato from 2002-2004. Gomez also had roles in Spy Kids 3: Game Over (2003), Walker, Texas Ranger: Trial by Fire (2005), and House Broken (2006).
Gomez moved to Los Angeles, California when she booked the lead role of "Alex Russo" and rose to fame in the Disney Channel series Wizards of Waverly Place (2007). She then starred in Another Cinderella Story (2008) on ABC Family, had her first voice-role in the animated film Horton Hears a Who! (2008), and co-starred with childhood friend, Demi Lovato, in Princess Protection Program (2009).
In 2009, Gomez released her first album with her band called "Selena Gomez & the Scene," which ranked #9 on the Billboard 200 album charts. Gomez later released two other albums with her band and starred in Monte Carlo (2011), Spring Breakers (2012), and Hotel Transylvania (2012).
In 2013, she released her first solo album "Stars Dance" and the lead single "Come & Get It" from the album, became Gomez's first top ten entry on the Billboard Hot 100 list. She starred in Getaway (2013), Rudderless (2014), and Behaving Badly (2014).
In 2015, she released her second solo album "Revival," which debuted #1 on the Billboard 200 list, and starred in Hotel Transylvania 2 (2015), The Fundamentals of Caring (2016), In Dubious Battle (2016), and Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising (2016). She made her third solo album "Rare" in 2020.- Music Artist
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Nicki Minaj was born Onika Tanya Maraj on December 8, 1982 in St. James, Port of Spain, Trinidad & Tobago and raised in Queens, New York City, New York. She grew up in a troubled family with a father that was a drug addict who later changed after he checked into rehab and started going to church. Minaj went to LaGaurdia High School and studied singing and acting.
She was first spotted by the CEO of Young Money, and was later recruited for The Carter Edition of Young Money's own "The Come Up" DVD series. Her rapping skills caught the eyes of Lil Wayne who later worked with her for many collaborations with his mixtapes.
In April 2007, Minaj released her first mixtape "Playtime Is Over". One year later she made another mixtape "Sucka Free" which made her Female Artist of the Year at the Underground Music Awards. In 2009 she made her third mixtape "Beam Me Up Scotty" which got positive reviews from BET and MTV.
To date, Nicki has released 3 platinum selling studio albums, Pink Friday, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, and the most recent The PinkprintHer rapping may be good, but her singing is awful. Someone else should do the singing for her songs really.- Music Artist
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Will.i.am was born on 15 March 1975 in Los Angeles, California, USA. He is a music artist and actor, known for X-Men Origins: Wolverine (2009), Rio (2011) and Rio 2 (2014).You already said you can't sing. Stick to rapping, producing or playing the piano.- Music Artist
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Britney Jean Spears was born on December 2, 1981 in McComb, Mississippi & raised in Kentwood, Louisiana. As a child, Britney attended dance classes, and she was great at gymnastics, winning many competitions and the like. But, most of all, Britney loved to sing. At age 8, Britney tried out for The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1989), but was turned down due to her young age. This directed her to an off-Broadway show, "Ruthless", for a 2-year run as the title character. At age 11, she again tried for The All New Mickey Mouse Club (1989) and, this time, made it as a mouseketeer alongside many stars of today (Justin Timberlake and JC Chasez of *NSYNC and Ryan Gosling). Her big break, however, came when she was signed as a Jive Recording Artist in the late 90s. With the release of her debut album, "...Baby One More Time" in early 1999, Britney became an international success, selling 13 million copies of "Baby" and 9 million (as of July 2001) of her sophomore album, "Oops!...I Did It Again", released in May of 2000.I respect her, as most mainstream artists just come and go. She did her best to keep on singing for over 15 years. But I have to say that her voice is very bad. It's squeaky, quiet and cracky.- Actress
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Rebecca Black is best known for her song "Friday" which became an Internet sensation in March 2011. According to Billboard.com, she is just one of the pop stars coming from a production company called Ark Music Factory.During live singing, while I admit she sounds better, she is still very plain and amateur.- Music Artist
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Cyndi Lauper was born on 22 June 1953 in Ozone Park, Queens, New York City, New York, USA. She is a music artist and actress, known for Cyndi Lauper: Girls Just Want to Have Fun (1983), Vibes (1988) and Mad About You (1992). She has been married to David Thornton since 24 November 1991. They have one child.She has the voice of a fly. It's very screechy and monotonic.- Music Artist
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Akon, born Aliaune Thiam, grew up in Senegal before he and his family (including his father, jazz percussionist Mor Thiam) eventually settled in the USA, in the state of New Jersey. There he discovered hip-hop and R&B music as well as crime. He was eventually jailed, but he used the time to work on his musical ideas. Upon release, Akon began writing and recording tracks in a home studio. The tapes found their way to SRC/Universal, which eventually released "Trouble," Akon's debut LP, in June 2004. The album was an interesting hybrid of Akon's hip-hop-influenced sung lyrics and silky, West African-styled vocals with East Coast- and Southern-styled beats.He should have a rapping career. Dunno why prefers to sing because he CAN'T. In live shows, his voice just wrecks at certain notes.- Music Artist
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Jennifer Lynn Lopez was born on July 24, 1969 in The Bronx, New York City, New York to teacher Lupe López and computer specialist David López. The two Puerto Ricans were brought to the continental United States during their childhoods and eventually met while living in New York City. Their daughters would have a stable, middle-class upbringing.
Jennifer always dreamed of being a multi-tasking superstar. As a child, she enjoyed a variety of musical genres, mainly Afro-Caribbean rhythms like salsa, merengue, and bachata, and mainstream music like pop, hip-hop, and R&B. Although she loved music, the film industry also intrigued her. Her biggest influence was the Rita Moreno musical, West Side Story (1961). At 5, Jennifer began taking singing and dancing lessons. Aside from being a budding entertainer, Jennifer was also a Catholic schoolgirl, attending eight years at a Catholic elementary school named Holy Family, located in The Bronx, before graduating from all-girls prep school Preston High School after a four-year stay. At school, Jennifer was an amazing athlete and participated in track and field and tennis. She spent most of her upbringing in a two-story house in the Castle Hill neighborhood.
At 18, Jennifer moved out of her parents' home. After high school, she briefly worked in a law office and took dance classes at night. During this time, she continued dance classes at night. Her big break came when she was offered a job as a fly girl on Fox's hit comedy In Living Color (1990). After a two-year stay at In Living Color (1990) where actress Rosie Perez served as choreographer, Lopez then went on to dance for famed singer-actress Janet Jackson. Her first major film was Gregory Nava's My Family/Mi familia (1995), and her career went into overdrive when she portrayed late Tejana singer Selena in Selena (1997).Dull at best.- Music Artist
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Lily Rose Beatrice Allen is an English singer-songwriter and actress. She is the daughter of actor Keith Allen and film producer Alison Owen. Her music career began in 2005 when she made some of her vocal recordings public on Myspace and the publicity resulted in airplay on BBC Radio 1 and a contract with Regal Recordings. Her first mainstream single, "Smile", reached number one on the UK Singles Chart in July 2006. Her debut record, Alright, Still, was well received, selling over 2.6 million copies worldwide and bringing Allen nominations at the Grammy Awards, the Brit Awards, and the MTV Video Music Awards.She has that I'm-Whispering-Because-I-Can't-Sing thing going on with her. She talks and whispers throughout her songs.- Music Artist
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Taio Cruz is a British song writer, producer and performer coming up to the international scene in early 2009. His first international hit, "Break Your Heart" has sold millions of copies worldwide. Other hits include, "Dynamite" and recently released hit "Higher" featuring Kylie Minogue is already topping charts worldwide. Taio Cruz also has his own brand of glasses, the rockstarr glasses and plans to branch out into more accessories in the future. He still resides in the UK, and travels to Los Angeles for projects for months at a time.Though is much better than the above 'rapper singers', he still has a very lackluster singing voice. He is like those Idol auditioners that don't make to the top 40.- Actress
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Paula Abdul grew up in the San Fernando Valley, California. She began taking dance lessons when she was eight. She attended Van Nuys High School, where she was senior class president and head cheerleader. After graduating in 1980, she started college at Cal State-Northridge, majoring in TV and radio. After joining the L.A. Lakers cheerleaders, she became head cheerleader/choreographer after only a few months, eventually dropping out of college to dance and choreograph full-time. She was recruited by The Jacksons to choreograph their 1984 "Torture" video, the first in a long list of videos and movies she would choreograph. She branched out into singing with her first CD, "Forever Your Girl", which had lackluster sales until the single "Straight Up" exploded onto the charts in December 1988 and she has been a popular singer/dancer ever since, enhanced by her stint as a judge on the hit series American Idol (2002).Has a voice in the likes of Cyndi Lauper - screechy, dull and lifeless.- Music Artist
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Rihanna was born Robyn Rihanna Fenty on February 20, 1988 in Bridgetown, St. Michael, Barbados to Monica Braithwaite, an accountant & Ronald Fenty, a warehouse supervisor. Her mother is Afro-Guyanese and her father is of Afro-Barbadian and British Isles ancestry. Rihanna lived the life of a normal island girl going to Combermere, a top sixth form school. Rihanna won numerous beauty pageants and performed Mariah Carey's single, Hero in a school talent show. Her life changed forever when one of her friends introduced her to Evan Rodgers, a producer from New York who was in Barbados for a vacation with his wife, who is a native. Rodgers arranged for her to go to New York to meet Jay-Z, CEO of Def Jam Records. He heard her sing and knew she was going to be incredibly successful. She was age 16 when she was signed to Def Jam. Since then, she's amassed phenomenal success.She sounds like she is forced to sing. Now she is gotten way too mainstream and popular, and she is acting so up herself. Her voice is very whiny, it's like she is crying. She also can't hit the high notes. I admit, some of her songs are good though.- Music Artist
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Leonard Cohen was born on 21 September 1934 in Montréal, Québec, Canada. He was a music artist and composer, known for Watchmen (2009), Night Magic (1985) and Natural Born Killers (1994). He died on 7 November 2016 in Los Angeles, California, USA.This guy just talks during his songs. He has a creepy, low talking voice and yet people think he is talented. He is a good songwriter though.- Music Artist
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One of the UK's most distinctive and popular singers and songwriters, Chris Martin was educated at the prestigious Sherborne School in Dorset. As a child he was musically inspired by artists such as a-ha, Echo & The Bunnymen, The Smiths, U2 and Peter Gabriel, who achieved commercial success in the 1980s by melding intelligent songwriting with musical sophistication. Martin then went to University College, London, to study Ancient World Studies, where he also met his future Coldplay bandmates.
Martin achieved fame in 2000 when the band's album, "Parachutes", became a major hit and spawned the popular single "Yellow". Many critics saw Coldplay as the natural heirs to Radiohead but with a more radio-friendly sound. Since the success of "Parachutes", Coldplay have remained one of the biggest bands in the world, a constant presence on radio and one of the few British stadium bands of the 21st century.
In 2003, Martin's celebrity status increased with his marriage to the American actress and Hollywood movie star Gwyneth Paltrow. Martin has become renowned for his political activism and he is a an avowed supporter of the human rights organisation Amnesty International. In 2014, he paid tribute to one of his biggest musical influences when he inducted Peter Gabriel into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame.He sings in such a lazy manner. He has that indie-ish voice where he sounds either low or very high. I cannot stand that type of voice.- Music Artist
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Justin Drew Bieber was born on March 1, 1994 at St. Joseph's Hospital in London, Ontario, Canada and was raised in Stratford, Ontario. He is the son of Pattie Mallette and Jeremy Bieber. He is of French-Canadian, Irish, German, English, and Scottish descent. He has three younger half-siblings via his father.
Growing up, he showed a strong interest in music and taught himself to play many instruments, including, guitar, drums, piano and trumpet. His mother began posting videos of him performing musically on YouTube. The videos soon built up a fan following and caught the attention of talent agent Scooter Braun. Braun was able to secure an impromptu audition with Usher, who was impressed and helped Bieber to sign a record deal.
In 2009, his first single, "One Time", was a worldwide hit and was certified Platinum in Canada and the United States. This was followed by his debut EP album, "My World", which was also an international success. He became the first artist to have seven songs from a debut record chart on the Billboard Hot 100.
In 2010, he released his first full-length studio album, My World 2.0. He also released a successful concert film, Justin Bieber: Never Say Never (2011).
In 2012, he released his third studio album, Believe. In 2015, he released his fourth studio album, Purpose.
He has won a Grammy Award and an American Music Award. He has been listed numerous times by Forbes magazine among the "Top Ten Most Powerful Celebrities in the World."
He has sold an estimated 140 million records, making him one of the world's best-selling music artists.He can't hit high notes. For someone to be as famous as him, he should be a terrific singer. When he sings, it's like he is forcing his way throughout his song. Now, as his voice is breaking, his voice is getting hoarse and dull.- Music Artist
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Katy Perry was born Katheryn Elizabeth Hudson on October 25, 1984 in Santa Barbara, California to Mary Christine Hudson (née Perry) & Maurice Keith Hudson. She has a big sister named Angela & a little brother named David, and has English, Portuguese, German, Irish, and Scottish ancestry. Her mother's half-brother was director Frank Perry.
Raised in a deeply religious family, Perry's first experience of performing was singing in church. A passion for music grew and at the age of 15, Perry began visiting Nashville, gaining experience of song writing and recording demos.
She signed to a Christian record label, Red Hill, and recorded an album, under her birth name of Katy Hudson. The album was not a success. At age 17 she moved to Los Angeles and collaborated with producer Glen Ballard, but was not able to secure a lasting record deal. Perry did sign to Columbia Records in 2004, but again this did not prove a success, and she was dropped.
An executive at Columbia recommended Perry to the chairman of Virgin Records, Jason Flom, which resulted in her signing for Capitol Music Group. She recorded her second album, "One of the Boys" and in the Spring of 2008 released the lead single, the controversial "I Kissed a Girl". The song proved a smash, hitting the number one slot in several countries. Other hit singles followed and the album was a commercial success.
Perry was now established as a pop superstar and cemented her position with the release of her next album "Teenage Dreams", which spawned more huge hits including "California Gurls" and "Firework". Many awards and music industry records followed. In 2012 Perry made the move into movies, releasing the documentary feature film Part of Me (2012).
Katy has started her own record label called "Metamorphosis Music" and has signed her very first artist Ferras, who was signed to Capitol Records back in 2007 with Katy Perry. He had released an EP the same day that the record label news was released to the public. There is also a duet with Katy on his new EP; they are expected to be on tour together in North America June 22 in Raleigh, North Carolina-October 11 in Houston, Texas.Her voice is very hoarse and breathy/raspy. When she is not raspy, she is fully on screaming. I admit, she doesn't sound so bad when she is unplugged and live.- Music Artist
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The remarkable, hyper-ambitious Material Girl who never stops re-inventing herself, Madonna has sold over three hundred million records and CDs to adoring fans worldwide. Her film career, however, is another story. Her performances have consistently drawn scathing or laughable reviews from film critics, and the films have usually had tepid, if any, success at the box office. Born Madonna Louise Ciccone in August 1958 in Bay City, Michigan, she moved to New York in 1978 and studied with renowned choreographer Alvin Ailey, joined up with the Patrick Hernandez Revue, formed a pop/dance band called Breakfast Club and began working with then-boyfriend Stephen Bray on recording several disco-oriented songs. New York producer/D.J. Mark Kamins passed her demo tapes to Sire Records in early 1982 and the rest is history. The 1980s was Madonna's boom decade, and she dominated the music charts with a succession of multimillion-selling albums, and her musical and fashion influence on young women was felt around the globe. Madonna first appeared on screen in two low-budget films marketed to an adolescent audience: A Certain Sacrifice (1979) and Vision Quest (1985). However, she scored a minor cult hit with Desperately Seeking Susan (1985) starring alongside spunky Rosanna Arquette. Madonna's next effort with then husband Sean Penn, Shanghai Surprise (1986), was savaged by critics, although the resilient star managed to somewhat improve her standing with her next two films, the offbeat Who's That Girl (1987) (although she did receive decidedly mixed reviews, they weren't as negative as those of her previous effort) and the quirky Damon Runyon-inspired Bloodhounds of Broadway (1989). The big-budget and star-filled Dick Tracy (1990) had her playing bad girl "Breathless Mahoney" flirting with Warren Beatty, but the epic failed to catch fire at the box office. Taking an earthier role, Madonna was much more entertaining alongside Tom Hanks and Geena Davis in A League of Their Own (1992), a story about female baseball players during W.W.II. However, she again drew the wrath of critics with the sexy whodunit Body of Evidence (1992). Several other minor screen roles followed, then Madonna starred as Eva Perón in Evita (1996), a fairly well received screen adaptation of the hugely successful Broadway musical, for which she received a Golden Globe for Best Actress. The Material Girl stayed away from the movie cameras for several years, returning to co-star in the lukewarm romantic comedy The Next Best Thing (2000), followed by the painful Swept Away (2002). If those films weren't bad enough, she was woefully miscast as a vampish fencing instructor in the James Bond adventure Die Another Day (2002). After finally admitting that her acting days were over, Madonna began a directing career in 2008 with the barely remembered Filth and Wisdom (2008) and a year later she reunited with Madonna: Truth or Dare (1991) director Alek Keshishian to develop a script about the relationship between the Duke of Windsor and the Duchess of Windsor that led to his abdication in 1936: the result, a movie named W.E. (2011), starring James D'Arcy and Andrea Riseborough as the infernal but still royal couple, was released in 2011 to lukewarm critics but it gathered one Oscar nomination for costumes and won the Golden Globe for Best Original Song for "Masterpiece".It's like she tries so hard to sing. She puts a lot of effort to say one verse and it just doesn't come out good because she knows singing is too hard for her and that she isn't that much of a good singer. Her voice is too plain.- Music Artist
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Elena Jane "Ellie" Goulding is an English singer-songwriter and record producer who conquered the UK music field at the age of 23 and went on to win over fans all over the world within a year. A determined child, at the age of eight, she told her mother that she would become famous one day. She learned to play musical instruments and began writing songs when she was still a teenager. She won a singing competition while in college, and went on to win the 'Brit Awards' with her signature brand of "folktronica" music following the release of her debut EP 'An Introduction to Ellie Goulding'. She immediately made an impact with her unique soprano voice. She has so far released three studio albums, 'Lights', 'Halcyon' and 'Delirium'. As a music and fashion icon, she has been featured on magazines, such as 'Elle' and 'Glamour' among others, and as a fitness enthusiast, she has appeared on the covers of magazines like 'Shape' and 'Women's Health'. A social activist and philanthropist, she has participated in many charity events, especially to support underprivileged children and homeless people.
Her father, Arthur Goulding, belonged to a family of undertakers while her mother, Tracey Goulding-Summers, worked at a supermarket.She is the second child of her parents and has an elder sister named Isabel, a brother named Alex and another sister named Jordan. Her brother, Alex, is a bass player and is part of a band in Hereford. Her father left the family when she was only five years old. Her mother later married a lorry driver, but they eventually separated. Ellie is so furious with her stepfather that she mentioned in an interview that she would punch him in the face if she meets him again. Her mother encouraged her to pursue music as a child. She learned to play the clarinet at the age of nine and started writing her own songs when she was 14. However, she took songwriting seriously only during her college days. While studying at the Lady Hawkins' High School in Kington, she played the role of the Scarecrow in a school production of 'The Wizard of Oz'. She would later pursue courses in drama, politics, and English at the University of Kent.
While studying at the University of Kent, Ellie Goulding became interested in electronic music. She contacted record producer Frankmusik via MySpace and with his help developed her own brand of "folktronica" music through the track 'Wish I Stayed'. During this time, she was discovered at a university talent contest by scout Jamie Lillywhite who started as her manager and later became the A&R. He introduced her to his superior, Sarah Stennett, who advised her to leave university and offered her a house in West London. Jamie soon introduced her to Starsmith, a record producer, who helped release her debut single 'Under the Sheets' on November 15, 2009 and later produced her album 'Lights'. She was already signed to Polydor Records in July, but they decided to release the song from independent label Neon Gold Records to reduce pressure on her. Soon after the release of her debut EP 'An Introduction to Ellie Goulding' on December 20, 2009, she was nominated for the 'Critics' Choice Award' at the 2010 'Brit Awards'. She won the award, as well as the 'BBC Sound of 2010' poll. During this time, she co-wrote three songs for Diana Vickers and one song for Gabriella Cilmi. On February 26, 2010, she released her first full-length album 'Lights', which debuted at number one on the 'UK Albums Chart'. It was followed by her second EP, 'Run into the Light', which contained remix of songs from 'Lights' and was released in August that year. She re-released her album 'Lights' in November 2010 as 'Bright Lights', which contained six new tracks. The album featured a cover version of Elton John: Your Song (1970) which reached number two on the 'UK Singles Chart'.On April 7, 2011, she appeared on American television for the first time on Jimmy Kimmel Live! (2003)' and performed Ellie Goulding: Starry Eyed, UK Version (2010). One month later, she appeared on Tina Fey/Ellie Goulding (2011) hosted by Tina Fey.On April 29, 2011, she performed at the royal wedding of Prince William and Kate Middleton, both of whom were her fans. On December 1, 2011, she performed at the White House during the National Christmas Tree lighting.October 5, 2012, Ellie Goulding released her second studio album 'Halcyon', which debuted at No.2 on the 'UK Albums Chart' and topped the chart in January 2014. She released an expanded version of the album, titled 'Halcyon Days', containing ten new tracks.