As one of British music’s most recognised and distinctive vocalists, the only question must be why the mix of Sophie Ellis-Bextor alongside a sumptuous live orchestra hadn’t happened sooner. The wait is over as she announces a very special show at London’s Royal Festival Hall, her biggest solo headline show to date, on 3rd October 2018 where she will perform live for the first time solo with a full orchestra and band, which coincides with an orchestrated Greatest Hits album due in the autumn.
The renowned singer will perform orchestral versions of her hits as well as songs from the great cannon of disco songs.
Since the release of her debut album ‘Read My Lips’ in 2001, which sold over 2 million copies worldwide, Ellis-Bextor has had six Top 10 singles, including ‘Take Me Home’, ‘Get Over You’, and of course ‘Murder on the Dancefloor’.
For millions though, their first introduction to Sophie was with her collaboration with Spiller creating the No.1 Hit – “Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love). The song catapulted her into the music scene and was the most played record on UK radio between 2000 and 2010.
She has incorporated several genres over the course of her career, from her debut through to 2014’s Wanderlust, which fused elements of folk, baroque and orchestral music. The album was certified Gold and spawned the hit single “Young Blood”, which will be performed at the concert.
Her most recent album, 2016’s ‘Familia’, included disco, dance, sophisti-pop and chamber pop. What has been a constant thread though is her trademark, stunning vocal sound.
Having previously performed with a live orchestra at Royal Festival Hall in 2014 as a special guest of composer Tim Rice (where she performed a show stopping rendition of Another Suitcase in Another Hall), and a year later with Burt Bacharach where she gave her own unique interpretations to I’ll Never Fall In Love Again and Close To You, Ellis-Bextor now prepares to showcase dazzling arrangements of her own material with orchestral backing for the first time.
Sophie comments, “It’s so exciting to be performing hits from my entire career with full orchestral arrangements for the first time! This is a bit of a dream come true. I’m especially delighted that I get to do some proper full-on live disco with strings.. it’s going to be really special!”
The basis for the show will be arrangements stemming from her forthcoming Orchestral Greatest Hits album due this Autumn, on which she is working with long term collaborator and album producer Ed Harcourt with orchestral arrangements by Amy Langley (Dirty Pretty Strings).
