Rose Elinor Dougall

English singer/songwriter Rose Elinor Dougall hit the jackpot with her first band, the girl group-fixated <a href="spotify:artist:1xS9wRaWvtlxsmERNuNJF2">Pipettes</a>, who signed to a major label and toured the world in the late 2000s. After striking out on her own, she recorded a handful of singles and an album before being swept up in <a href="spotify:artist:3hv9jJF3adDNsBSIQDqcjp">Mark Ronson</a>'s world, first as a contributor to 2010's Record Collection, then for a couple years as a member of his live band. After this almost decade-long whirlwind, Dougall settled down to crafting a solo career based on her emotionally powerful songs and haunting vocals, making a strong second impression with her synth-based Stellular in 2017, then expanding her sound in more traditional adult pop realms on 2019's A New Illusion.

Dougall was born in 1986 in London and grew up in Kent with a musical family. Her father, Alastair, is a singer/songwriter on the Brighton scene, and her brother Tom is a skilled guitarist. She developed a love of music at a young age, raptly listening to her parents' folk and reggae records, then falling under the spell of bands like <a href="spotify:artist:3l14gV4hIMAjmo7KUvEWTx">Elastica</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:36E7oYfz3LLRto6l2WmDcD">Pulp</a>. While attending Camberwell College of Arts, she began writing her own songs. In 2003, she joined the '60s-inspired girl group <a href="spotify:artist:1xS9wRaWvtlxsmERNuNJF2">the Pipettes</a>, who went on to score two U.K. Top 40 singles -- "Pull Shapes" and "Your Kisses Are Wasted on Me" -- and released an album, We Are the Pipettes, in 2006. After five years with the group, she left the band to embark on a solo career.

Dougall had helped write many of <a href="spotify:artist:1xS9wRaWvtlxsmERNuNJF2">the Pipettes</a>' songs, and once on her own, she began writing songs that were inspired by British folk-rock, psychedelia, and the Brit-pop she had loved as a child. She worked with producer Lee Baker on recording them, while also putting together a backing band called the Distractions. The group featured her guitar-playing brother Tom, who was also playing with <a href="spotify:artist:22lcA8Nrz6BQ98IisRDFcm">Joe Lean & the Jing Jang Jong</a> at the time. Dougall's first solo single, "Another Version of Pop Song," was released in 2008 on her own <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Scarlett+Records%22">Scarlett Records</a>. The next year, she issued the singles "Start/Stop/Synchro" on Spanish label <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Elefant%22">Elefant</a> and "Fallen Over" on <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Scarlett%22">Scarlett</a> while working on her debut album. Without Why was released in 2010 and showed the influence of jangly bands like <a href="spotify:artist:3yY2gUcIsjMr8hjo51PoJ8">the Smiths</a> and icy-cold groups like <a href="spotify:artist:5Wabl1lPdNOeIn0SQ5A1mp">Cocteau Twins</a> while maintaining just a touch of her former band's bounciness.

Dougall's voice and songs caught the attention of <a href="spotify:artist:3hv9jJF3adDNsBSIQDqcjp">Mark Ronson</a>, famous for his work with <a href="spotify:artist:6Q192DXotxtaysaqNPy5yR">Amy Winehouse</a>. He invited her to help work on his 2010 album Record Collection; she ended up co-writing one song and singing on a handful. This led to Dougall joining <a href="spotify:artist:3hv9jJF3adDNsBSIQDqcjp">Ronson</a>'s live band the Business International, which kept her busy over the next couple of years. She did find time in 2012 to sing a song on <a href="spotify:artist:2PfBzriIMRsCXPDtSy9vg8">Rufus Wainwright</a>'s Out of the Game album, then she appeared the next year on <a href="spotify:artist:35YNL4wwv11ZkmeWWL51y7">We Are Scientists</a>' TV en Français. She also released two EPs in 2013 -- The Distractions and Future Vanishes -- while continuing to write songs at a steady clip.

When she began work on her second album, Dougall turned to <a href="spotify:artist:6bxYUbMVzrPTOmzwey8Hgh">Boxed In</a>'s Oli Bayston for production help. Together they crafted a pristinely arranged, layered-in-synths album that left behind psychedelia and folk in favor of space age pop. Stellular was released in 2017 by Dougall's new label, <a href="spotify:search:label%3A%22Vermillion+Records%22">Vermillion Records</a>. Her next album took a stylistic left turn. Inspired by British folk singers like <a href="spotify:artist:1kYd37riIExqdm9g0juqGJ">Sandy Denny</a> and <a href="spotify:artist:3lBdOoLNX9NzPPEexlrmdg">Anne Briggs</a>, and mostly composed on piano, 2019's A New Illusion relied on arrangements full of said piano (as played by Dougall), strings, horns, and far less synthesizer. The record was co-produced by Dougall and Matthew Twaites. It featured contributions from Dougall's brother Tom, his <a href="spotify:artist:0b0uhvUEeiD6y0XHVw3mRA">Toy</a> bandmates Max Claps and Maxim Barron, and Euan Hinshelwood and Joe Chilton of <a href="spotify:artist:0JeTciBMSRBCfav7xyUy8u">Younghusband</a>. ~ Tim Sendra & Jon O'Brien, Rovi