Biography

Amidst a world of calculating contest winners, manufactured show ponies and cheap knock offs - Lorde is a true original. Born Ella Yelich-O'Connor on 7 November 1996 in Auckland's North Shore, Lorde listened to the likes Neil Young, Fleetwood Mac, The Smiths and Nick Drake, alongside soul artists such as Etta James and Otis Redding when she's growing up. With a mother who is a celebrated poet herself, she became quite familiar with the likes of T.S.Eliot, Ezra Pound, Allan Ginsberg, Raymond Carver and Sylvia Plath. 

Lorde spent much of her early life working with Universal to develop her sound and artistic vision. She was spotted at the age of 12 by A&R scout Scott Maclachlan and later signed to Universal at the age of 13 and began working with songwriters at 14. "I started writing songs when I was 13 or 14 because I've always been a huge reader. My mum's a poet and we've always had so many books, and that's always been a big thing for me, arguably more so than music," she said. 

The combination of nutritious musical diet and the essential poetic influence helped shape her into an artist with a strong melodic and lyrical footing. A diva in training, she enriched her musical influence through the years by embracing contemporary music coming from James Blake, Bon Iver, Burial, Animal Collective, SBTRKT and Drake. 

Her first EP "The Love Club EP" was released in March 2013 with no major marketing or publicity, but it managed to land her at #1 on the New Zealand Album Chart. Single "Royals" simultaneously occupied the top spot in the singles chart - without so much as a video on YouTube. In August 2013, she became the first woman to top the Billboard Alternative Songs chart in the United States since Tracy Bonham did so in 1996. 

While still riding high on the success of her extended play, Lorde is gearing up to release her first-ever full-length album "Pure Heroine". If the impressive chart performance of her EP is any indication of how the upcoming album will do, she is expected to make a notable debut on the album chart when the CD is released in September. 

[h/t: aceshowbiz]