Florence and the Machine biography
Florence and the Machine are a BRIT Award winning group who burst onto the music scene after a series of gigs in London, then at the summer music festivals. 'Florence' is lead singer Florence Welch and 'the Machine,' refers to her ever-changing backing band, who together have already clocked up a number one album and won several major music accolades.
Early Years
Londoner Florence Welch was always interested in music and was apparently constantly told off for singing during lessons at school. As a teenager, she fronted a band called 'Toxic Cockroaches and Ashok,' but after deciding it wasn't for her, quit and formed Florence and the Machine. She says the name started off as a joke with best friend Isabella Summers, who she called Isabella Machine to which she was Florence Robot. They came up with the name 'Florence Robot is a Machine,' but hated it and stuck with the one we know them as today.
Florence's musical influences include Courtney Love's band Hole, her late husband Kurt Cobain's group Nirvana, Green Day, Kate Bush and Annie Lennox. Her 'Machine' is constantly changing, but currently consists of Robert Ackroyd on guitar, Christopher Lloyd Hayden on drums, Isabella Summers otherwise known as 'Isabella Machine,' of course, on keyboards, bassist Mark Saunders and Tom Monger plays the harp.
The band are described as a soul inspired, indie rock group, and garnered attention from both the BBC and NME who spotted their potential, with the latter asking them to perform at the NME Awards tour in 2009. They'd previously released several singles including debut 'Kiss with a Fist,' 'Dog Days Are Over' and the hugely popular 'You've Got the Love,' which hit the shelves in January 2009 and is a cover of The Source's 1986 track 'You Got The Love' featuring Candi Staton.
Florence and the Machine performed 'You've Got The Love' at the BRIT Awards 2010 with rap artist Dizzee Rascal, who mixed in lines from his track 'Dirtee Cash.' The resulting performance, 'You Got The Dirtee Love,' was released as a single and entered the UK charts at number two.
Critics Choice Award
Foretelling their successes, Florence and The Machine picked up the Critics Choice Award at the 2009 BRITs, following this in 2010 with a Best British Album BRIT Award for debut album Lungs. In July 2009, the album peaked at number one and went on to sell over a million copies.
Touring
Besides performing at Glastonbury and being part of the NME tour, Florence and The Machine have played concerts for the Teenage Cancer Trust at The Royal Albert Hall and supported Blur for their massive June comeback performance in London's Hyde Park. They have also supported Duran Duran and have gone on to play their very first gig in New York City in October 2009. During their stay in America, the band appeared on high-profile TV programmes including The Late Show with David Letterman and Jimmy Kimmel Live. Florence is reported to have said she'd really like to tour the States, but fears she'd become too homesick.
Florence and The Machine began work on their second album in January 2010 and say it will have a more 'fuzzy' and 'harder,' sound and announced 'Hurricane Drunk' will be their sixth single from album Lungs.