Sophie Ellis-Bextor

Sophie Ellis-Bextor had her first breakouts as the frontwoman for the ’90s Britpop act TheAudience and as a duet partner for Manic Street Preachers. Yet the English singer—who was born in a London suburb in 1979—found her true calling as a dance-pop diva when she contributed vocals to “Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love),” an ebullient house track by DJ Spiller that became a No. 1 single in the UK in 2000. Ellis-Bextor continued her momentum with her 2001 solo debut, Read My Lips, which showcased her irresistible blend of wit, effervescence, and vulnerability, along with her unabashed love of disco, on cuts like the glossy “Music Gets the Best of Me” and the winking “Murder on the Dancefloor.” In the years that followed, she broadened her horizons, working with singer-songwriter Ed Harcourt on 2014’s ambitious, folk-tinged Wanderlust, incorporating elements of Latin music on 2016’s Familia, and arranging her biggest hits for orchestra on 2019’s The Song Diaries. Ellis-Bextor broke into the U.S. in the early 2020s when “Murder” was included in a pivotal moment of the black sex comedy Saltburn; her first North American tour followed in 2024.