Molly Smitten-Downes | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Molly Smitten-Downes (2014) | |
| Background information | |
| Born | Molly Alice Smitten-Downes[1] (1985-04-02)2 April 1985 (age 40) Anstey, Leicestershire, England[2] |
| Genres | Folk,pop[3] |
| Occupation(s) | Singer, songwriter |
| Years active | 2005–present |
| Labels | |
| Website | officialmolly |
Molly Alice Smitten-Downes (born 2 April 1985[4]), known by hermononymMolly, is an English singer and songwriter.
Born inAnstey, Leicestershire,[5] Molly grew up inRothley and attendedOur Lady's Convent School (later known as Loughborough Amherst School) inLoughborough. She began starring in stage productions from the age of eight. She studied music atLeicester College and at theAcademy of Contemporary Music in Guildford, Surrey.[6]
Molly was a member of the British dance music projectStunt, who achieved chart success in 2008 with their collaborationmashup track "Raindrops (Encore une fois)" withSash!, combining songs "Raindrops" (2006) and "Encore une fois" (1997). In 2009, Smitten-Downes teamed with Swedish producer and singer/songwriterBasshunter, for the collaboration "I Will Learn to Love Again", which is featured on his second UK albumBass Generation.[7]
An acoustic EPFly Away with Me was released on 18 December 2011.[8] EP track "Shadows" was sampled by grime artist Marger and has been released oniTunes through 360 Records (21 August 2011).[9] "Beneath The Lights", her collaboration with Swedish producerAnders Hansson, was released in April 2013 with Anders' project Dream Beats.[10][11] "Never Forget", her collaboration with producerDarren Styles, was written and recorded in 2012.[12]
After being supported and later put forward byBBC Introducing, Molly was approached by Guy Freeman, the executive producer and head of delegation of Eurovision for the BBC and asked if she would like to compose an entry for that year's contest. After initially saying 'I'm so flattered, but it's not for me’ on the grounds that it was not 'suitable' to her creatively, eventually Smitten-Downes was convinced by the prospect of being able to perform a self-penned work on a global stage.
On 3 March 2014, the BBC announced that Molly would be representing the United Kingdom in theEurovision Song Contest 2014 with the song "Children of the Universe".[13][14][15] Molly wrote "Children of the Universe" herself and has described her ambition to write music that "breaks down political barriers".[16] Prior to the contest, Molly signed a record deal withWarner Music UK on 1 April 2014.[17] On 4 April, Molly announced that she would release her song "Children of the Universe" on 28 April 2014.[18] It was made available for digital download oniTunes from 15 April. The song was recorded inStockholm, Sweden with a 28-piece orchestra and produced byAnders Hansson. The official video for the entry was released on YouTube on 23 April 2014.[19] The following day, Molly appeared on BBC Radio 1's Innuendo Bingo.[20] However at the Eurovision final on 10 May 2014, she was regarded as a front-runner and one of the favourites to win the show. Molly concluded the show performing last and the song was voted 17th (out of 26 entries) gaining 40 points.
On 5 June it was revealed that Molly would perform at theGlastonbury Festival on 27 June 2014.[21]
In 2015 she teamed up with German DJ and producerZwette to make "Rush"[22] which was released bySpinnin' Records and remixed bySam Feldt. In September 2015, Molly performed "Rush" withSam Feldt atV Festival inChelmsford.Kanye West's producerHudson Mohawke sampled a remix of "Beneath the Lights" for "Shadows" from his albumLantern.[23]
Molly was awarded in 2012 the Best Urban/Pop Act atLive and Unsigned and in 2013 won Best Song at the Best of British Unsigned Music Awards.[24] On 1 November 2014, she received an honorary award for her musical achievements at Leicester College where she completed a performing musician course in 2002.[25]
| Title | Album details |
|---|---|
| Fly Away with Me |
|
| Title | Year | Peak chart positions | Album | ||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK [26] | AUT [27] | BEL [28] | DEN [29] | GER [30] | IRE [31] | SCO [32] | SWI [33] | ||||||||||
| "Beneath the Lights" (with Dream Beats) | 2013 | – | — | — | — | — | — | — | — | Non-album singles | |||||||
| "Children of the Universe"[a] | 2014 | 23 | 63 | 139 | 37 | 94 | 36 | 15 | 63 | ||||||||
| "Lock Up Your Daughter"[b] | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | – | |||||||||
| "—" denotes a single that did not chart or was not released. | |||||||||||||||||
| Title | Year | Album |
|---|---|---|
| "Shadows" (Marger featuring Molly) | 2011 | Non-album singles |
| "Never Forget You" (Darren Styles featuring Molly) | 2013 | |
| "Rush" (Zwette featuring Molly) | 2015 | |
| "Breathe" (Si Tew featuring Molly) |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: numeric names: authors list (link)
| Preceded by | UK in the Eurovision Song Contest 2014 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| Artists | |
