Eliot Paulina Sumner (born 30 July 1990) is an English singer, songwriter and actor.
Career
I Blame Coco
Sumner began writing songs at the age of 15,
and signed a multi-record deal with
Island Records at age 17.
They spent six months writing and recording a debut album, ''The Constant'' (2010), in Sweden with producer
Klas Åhlund
Klas Frans Åhlund (born 11 April 1972) is a Swedish songwriter, record producer, and guitarist. He is the founding member of the Swedish rock band Teddybears. As a songwriter and producer, he has worked with artists such as Robyn, Sugababes, J ...
,
keyboardist Emlyn Maillard, and multi-instrumentalist and producer
Al Shux
Alexander Shuckburgh, who is also known as Al Shux, is a British record producer and songwriter from London, England. Shux has worked with musical artists Jay-Z, Alicia Keys, Snoop Dogg, Nas, Kendrick Lamar, Plan B, Tinie Tempah and Lana Del R ...
under the band name I Blame Coco. The album included elements of pop music,
electronic music
Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroa ...
,
ska
Ska (; ) is a music genre that originated in Jamaica in the late 1950s and was the precursor to rocksteady and reggae. It combined elements of Caribbean mento and calypso with American jazz and rhythm and blues. Ska is characterized by a walki ...
, and
punk
Punk or punks may refer to:
Genres, subculture, and related aspects
* Punk rock, a music genre originating in the 1970s associated with various subgenres
* Punk subculture, a subculture associated with punk rock, or aspects of the subculture s ...
. The first single, "
Caesar
Gaius Julius Caesar (; ; 12 July 100 BC – 15 March 44 BC), was a Roman general and statesman. A member of the First Triumvirate, Caesar led the Roman armies in the Gallic Wars before defeating his political rival Pompey in a civil war, an ...
", featured Swedish pop singer
Robyn
Robin Miriam Carlsson (born 12 June 1979), known as Robyn (), is a Swedish pop singer, songwriter, record producer, and DJ. She arrived on the music scene with her 1995 debut album, ''Robyn Is Here'', which produced two ''Billboard'' Hot 100 t ...
.
The next single, "
Self Machine", was released in July 2010.
According to Christian Wåhlberg, Sumner's manager, Åhlund, had been keen to work with Sumner because she saw the "punk rocker" in them.
Wåhlberg said that the electropop sound of the album was influenced by Darcus Beese, president of Island Records, and that if Sumner had signed to a different record label, the music would have been different.
Solo career
In 2014, Sumner said their music would be released under their birth name, Eliot Sumner. Later that year, they released the EP ''
Information
Information is an abstract concept that refers to that which has the power to inform. At the most fundamental level information pertains to the interpretation of that which may be sensed. Any natural process that is not completely random ...
'', and in 2016 the full album ''Information'' appeared. Sumner's contributions to other musicians' albums include vocals for the song "End of the Road" by
Sway and the single "
Splash" by
Sub Focus.
They sang a cover version of the Radiohead song "
Creep" with
Clint Mansell for the soundtrack to the movie ''
Filth
Filth or The Filth may refer to:
Common uses
* Dirt, unclean matter
* Police officer, a pejorative in British slang
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Filth'' (film), a 2013 film based on the novel
* ''Filth'', an alternative title for ''S ...
'' (2013).
Acting career
Sumner appeared briefly in the films ''
Me Without You'' (2001) and ''
Stardust'' (2007). They made their adult acting debut in
Guy Ritchie
Guy Stuart Ritchie (born 10 September 1968) is an English film director, producer and screenwriter. His work includes British gangster films, and the ''Adaptations of Sherlock Holmes, Sherlock Holmes'' films starring Robert Downey Jr.
Ritchi ...
's ''
The Gentlemen'' in 2020. They appeared in the
James Bond
The ''James Bond'' series focuses on a fictional British Secret Service agent created in 1953 by writer Ian Fleming, who featured him in twelve novels and two short-story collections. Since Fleming's death in 1964, eight other authors have ...
film ''
No Time to Die
''No Time to Die'' is a 2021 spy film and the twenty-fifth in the ''James Bond'' series produced by Eon Productions, starring Daniel Craig in his fifth and final portrayal of fictional British MI6 agent James Bond. It was directed by Cary ...
'' (2020).
In December 2021, Sumner was cast in Showtime's drama series ''Ripley'' in a recurring role. They played a hiker in the thriller, ''
Infinite Storm
''Infinite Storm'' is a 2022 American drama adventure film directed by Małgorzata Szumowska, co-directed by Michał Englert, and with a screenplay by Josh Rollins, based on the article ''High Places: Footprints in the Snow Lead to an Emotiona ...
'', appearing before Naomi Watts' character begins hiking to the summit of
Mt. Washington.
Personal life
Eliot Paulina Sumner is the child of musician
Sting (Gordon Matthew Thomas Sumner) and actress
Trudie Styler
Trudie Styler (born 6 January 1954) is an English actress and film producer.
Early life and family
Styler was born in Bromsgrove, Worcestershire, the daughter of Pauline and Harry Styler, a farmer and factory worker. When Styler was two years ...
.
Sumner was born in
Pisa, Italy, grew up in
Wiltshire
Wiltshire (; abbreviated Wilts) is a historic and ceremonial county in South West England with an area of . It is landlocked and borders the counties of Dorset to the southwest, Somerset to the west, Hampshire to the southeast, Gloucestershire ...
, England,
and was educated at
Bryanston School
Bryanston School is a public school (English independent day and boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) located next to the village of Bryanston, and near the town of Blandford Forum, in Dorset in South West England. It was founded in 1928. ...
and then the
Fine Arts College
Fine Arts College is an independent college in Hampstead, London, founded in 1978, with an average intake of 200 students aged 13 – 19.
The College offers over 25 A-level subjects in the Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences and 15 subjects ...
in London.
They grew up at
Lake House
Lake House is an Elizabethan architecture, Elizabethan English country house, country house dating from 1578, in Wilsford cum Lake in Wiltshire, England, about seven miles north of Salisbury. It is a Grade I listed building. The gardens are Gra ...
, the family estate near
Stonehenge. Eliot has two brothers (Jake and Giacomo), a sister (Mickey), an older half-brother (
Joe
Joe or JOE may refer to:
Arts
Film and television
* ''Joe'' (1970 film), starring Peter Boyle
* ''Joe'' (2013 film), starring Nicolas Cage
* ''Joe'' (TV series), a British TV series airing from 1966 to 1971
* ''Joe'', a 2002 Canadian animated ...
), and a half-sister (Kate). Their family gave Sumner the nickname "Coco". Drawn to the outdoors, Sumner spent a lot of time alone in the woods. Their family gave Eliot their first guitar at age four or five. They wrote their first song at age 13 and signed a record deal four years later. After recording and touring with I Blame Coco, they lived alone in a cottage in the
Lake District of England and became interested in
house music. Sumner also works as a DJ in European dance clubs under the moniker "Vaal".
Sumner's sense of smell was lost after a brain injury in 2009.
In December 2015, Sumner said that they did not believe in gender labels and did not identify with a particular gender.
They use gender-neutral pronouns.
Awards and honours
* I Blame Coco was nominated for Best Newcomer at the Virgin Media Music Awards in 2010.
Discography
Studio albums
Singles
As lead artist
As featured artist
Other: Remixes
* Eliot Sumner – After Dark (Mr Tophat's Alterned 303 Remix)
* Eliot Sumner – After Dark (Dixon Remix)
* Eliot Sumner – Firewood –
Lakker Remix
Music videos
References
External links
*
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Sumner, Eliot
1990 births
Living people
People from Pisa
People educated at Bryanston School
People educated at Fine Arts College
British indie rock musicians
English electronic musicians
English rock singers
English pop singers
English film actors
LGBT musicians from the United Kingdom
Island Records artists
Sting (musician)
21st-century English musicians
Eliot
LGBT singers from the United Kingdom
Non-binary musicians
British non-binary actors
LGBT actors from England