Keedie

Best-known for her hit duet with <a href="spotify:artist:2yEkZBBjhzKzt6LF5XMaFi">Blue</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:2m0JoCqbe2cnauFT4hEUfR">Duncan James</a>, soprano Keedie emerged from the same mid-noughties classical crossover scene as <a href="spotify:artist:6dkXCmyrSrQteo0gwOGzFl">Katherine Jenkins</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:7Jotu5LupekFt00kZZZ7C6">Hayley Westenra</a>. Born Keedie Babb in Wolverhampton in 1982, she first started performing in a group she formed with her younger sister Nadine, and after leaving school at age 14 to pursue a musical career, she signed her first record deal two years later. Disillusioned with the direction they were taking her, she parted company with the label and spent the next few years singing in various clubs and talent shows. Following a performance in front of a celebrity audience at London's Groucho Club, she was approached by <a href="spotify:artist:4aP1lp10BRYZO658B2NwkG">Andrew Lloyd Webber</a> to sing, "I Believe My Heart," the theme tune to his new musical The Woman in White, alongside <a href="spotify:artist:2yEkZBBjhzKzt6LF5XMaFi">Blue</a>'s <a href="spotify:artist:2m0JoCqbe2cnauFT4hEUfR">Duncan James</a>. Following its surprise number two chart success, she signed a seven-figure deal with <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22EMI+Classics%22">EMI Classics</a> and recorded an album, also titled I Believe My Heart, which featured covers of tracks by <a href="spotify:artist:6tbjWDEIzxoDsBA1FuhfPW">Madonna</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:6uothxMWeLWIhsGeF7cyo4">Enya</a>, several classic arias, and the theme tune to <a href="spotify:artist:5XaRUXHFbgs8LDoYzoPJ1R">Andy Garcia</a> film Modigliani. Due to its disappointing sales, she was dropped from the label in 2005, but later the same year, she scored a second Top 20 hit with her rendition of the hymn "Jerusalem," which was released to celebrate the England cricket team's victory in The Ashes. Keedie continued to perform at events like the Carling Cup Final and David Beckham's first L.A. Galaxy match, and supported <a href="spotify:artist:1zuJe6b1roixEKMOtyrEak">Tina Turner</a> at her one-off gig at The Bedrock Ball. In 2010, she provided vocals for <a href="spotify:artist:7wJ9NwdRWtN92NunmXuwBk">OMD</a>'s comeback single, "Sister Marie Says," and reached the boot-camp stage of the seventh season of The X-Factor. ~ Jon O'Brien, Rovi