Beth Orton and Kenny Stahl

Never under-estimate what can come from trying to cadge a smoke off someone. A ninteen year old Beth Orton tried it at a party to a guy standing next to her who turned out to be William Orbit, and that small interaction led to the beginning of one of the most beloved careers in British alternative music. Born in Norfolk, she moved to Dalston, East London when she was fourteen years old with her mother and two brothers. After finishing her education she was dead set on being an actress, appearing in a couple of fringe plays around the London theatre scene. One of her friends invited her to a party at William Orbit’s place and ended up dating the man himself soon afterwards.

Orbit convinced Orton to sing for her on a couple of his projects, leading to the limited edition single “Water From A Vine Leaf” which they released in early 1993. Orton co-wrote the track with Orbit and inspired by their collaboration, they formed a duo together called Spill. Their first record, a cover of John Martyn’s “Don’t Wanna Know ‘Bout Evil”, was released in Japan in the same year and was received so well that Orbit and Orton started throwing around ideas for an Orton solo L.P. The duo went through with it and in November 1993, between one and five thousand copies of Orton’s solo debut “Superpinkymandy” were pressed and released to glowing critical acclaim.

It was in 1994 that she met Ed Simons and Tom Rowlands of the Chemical Brothers and spent the rest of the year collaborating with them as well as working on her solo debut. It also saw the breakdown of her relationship with Orbit and in 1996, she struck out on her own with her second record “Trailer Park”. To this day Orton considers it to be her debut album, as it was the first time she was presenting herself as herself, rather than filtered through anyone else. It was a critcical and commercial success leading to two BRIT Award nominations for Best British Newcomer and Best British Female, and a Mercury Award nomination. Although it only peaked at number 68 on the charts it would also go on to sell over 300’000 copies.

Ever since then she has enjoyed a career as one of the biggest names in left-field, experimentally minded pop music. She won the BRIT Award for Best British Female in 2000, the same year that her third record “Central Reservation” was nominated for another Mercury Award. By 2002 she’d become a real life pop star, with a top ten album in the form of “Daybreaker” and a sold out show at the Royal Albert Hall to her name. To this day she continues to write, record and release stellar albums, and with over two decades of live experience to her name, few people can perform live with her amount of sheer skill. Because of that, she comes highly recommended.