Name |
La Roux |
Height |
|
Naionality |
English |
Date of Birth |
|
Place of Birth |
Brixton, London, England |
Famous for |
Singing |
La Roux are an English synthpop duo composed of singer, keyboardist, co-writer and co-producer Elly Jackson, and co-writer and co-producer Ben Langmaid. Jackson describes their relationship as "very much a half and half sharing situation not like a singer producer outfit", but also recognises that due to her prominence, it may "look like a solo act". The supporting band members to the duo are Michael 'Mikey' Norris (on keyboard), Mickey O'Brien (keyboards and backing vocals) and William Bowerman (on drums).
La Roux's music is influenced by 1980s British synthpop including Yazoo, Erasure, Depeche Mode, OMD, The Human League, Heaven 17 and Eurythmics. The band's name refers to Jackson's red hair and tomboyish appearance, mingling the masculine (le roux) and feminine (la rousse) French terms; she has said:
To me, it means "red-haired one"—and it does, vaguely. It's just a male version of "red-haired one".
At the 53rd Grammy Awards on 13 February 2011, La Roux's eponymous debut album won the Grammy Award for Best Electronic/Dance Album.
In 2006, Jackson and Langmaid were introduced by a mutual friend. Their first project was named "Automan" and they wrote largely acoustic music due to Jackson's great admiration of acts like Nick Drake and Joni Mitchell.La Roux's debut single, "Quicksand", was released by French independent record label Kitsune Music in December 2008. They then signed to Polydor Records in order to release their debut album.