Dido, whose full name is Dido Florian Cloud de Bounevialle O'Malley Armstrong, was born on Christmas Day 1971 in Kensington, London. Her childhood was strongly influenced by her mother. Dido devoured books all her life, which was not unusual for a literary family. Her father William Armstrong, who died in 2006, was managing director of the renowned publishing house Sidgwick & Jackson, and her mother Clare is a poet. Her mother didn't like Dido and her brother Rollo (who later became a member of the band Faithless) having friends around, and there was no TV or stereo in the house, but plenty of books. They felt like outsiders, but Dido felt that this gave them a rich legacy.
Her new album "Still On My Mind" will be released on March 8. Songs like "Hurricanes" and "Give You Up" are once again melodies full of melancholy - and after more than a decade, Dido is going on tour again and returning to the stage live. The new album was also created together with her longtime songwriting partner and brother, Faithless founder Rollo. - Dido had asked for that. "It was very simple, I only wanted to record another album on one condition: if I could work with him. Everything felt very easy. We recorded the vocals very relaxed on the sofa; a lot of the work was done at home."
She has a special relationship with her brother: "What Rollo and I were taught as children is the ability to be alone with our ideas. We both love to read and create things. So whatever our parents did, it worked, whether it was intentional or not." Dido's background was in classical music. She took lessons at the prestigious Guildhall
School of Music in London, played the violin and piano and toured Europe with a classical music ensemble. She dreamed of becoming a concert pianist until she realized that she would never be good enough.
"I didn't look good - but I thought I was cool!"
"As a child and teenager I was desperate to fit in, I never really felt like I belonged. You have to be a rebel in some way as a teenager, and I was quite a difficult teenager. In the pictures of me from that time I'm a bit scowly, I had really dark, gothy hair. It wasn't about looking good, I didn't look good, but I thought I was cool." She has been married to writer Rohan Gavin since 2010 and together they have a son, Stanley. She is determined to lead a normal life - and says of her life so far: "Whatever has led me to the here and now, I've been lucky. I've always lived like this. I never look back and regret things because I think: Am I happy now, is it good now? Yes, I am! And yes: it is!"
Dido
07.05.2019, Volkshaus Zurich
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