Electro Velvet are a

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

vocal duo that represented the United Kingdom in the

Eurovision Song Contest 2015 The Eurovision Song Contest 2015 was the 60th edition of the Eurovision Song Contest. It took place in Vienna, Austria, following the country's victory at the with the song "Rise Like a Phoenix" by Conchita Wurst. Organised by the European Broa ...

with the song " Still in Love with You" finishing 24th. The duo consist of

Alex Larke Alex Larke (born Alexis Kenneth Larke; 25 May 1979) (also known as Larkey Larke or Larkey) is a British singer/songwriter that represented the United Kingdom as part of the duo Electro Velvet, in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with the song ...

and Bianca Nicholas.

Career

Early beginnings

Nicholas has appeared both on ''

The X Factor ''The X Factor'' is a television music competition franchise created by British producer Simon Cowell and his company Syco Entertainment. It originated in the United Kingdom, where it was devised as a replacement for ''Pop Idol'' (2001–2003 ...

'' and ''

The Voice UK ''The Voice UK'' is a British singing competition television series. Created by John de Mol, it premiered on BBC One during the spring television cycle on 24 March 2012. Based on the original ''The Voice of Holland'', and part of ''The Voice ...

''. She has also sung a duet with

Will Young William Robert Young (born 20 January 1979) is a British singer-songwriter and actor who came to prominence after winning the 2002 inaugural series of the ITV talent contest '' Pop Idol'', making him the first winner of the worldwide '' Idol ...

and performed in front of

Prince William William, Prince of Wales, (William Arthur Philip Louis; born 21 June 1982) is the heir apparent to the British throne. He is the elder son of King Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. Born in London, William was educa ...

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge Catherine, Princess of Wales, (born Catherine Elizabeth Middleton; 9 January 1982) is a member of the British royal family. She is married to William, Prince of Wales, heir apparent to the British throne, making Catherine the likely next ...

, and

Prince Harry Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, (Henry Charles Albert David; born 15 September 1984) is a member of the British royal family. He is the younger son of Charles III and his first wife Diana, Princess of Wales. He is fifth in the line of succ ...

. In 2011, Nicholas released a single "Hold On To Your Dreams", which entered the UK Top 100 singles chart. She also had a small role in the 1999 American film '' Sleepy Hollow'' with

Johnny Depp John Christopher Depp II (born June 9, 1963) is an American actor and musician. He is the recipient of multiple accolades, including a Golden Globe Award and a Screen Actors Guild Award, in addition to nominations for three Academy Award ...

. She suffers from

cystic fibrosis Cystic fibrosis (CF) is a rare genetic disorder that affects mostly the lungs, but also the pancreas, liver, kidneys, and intestine. Long-term issues include difficulty breathing and coughing up mucus as a result of frequent lung infections. O ...

. Born in

Welwyn Garden City Welwyn Garden City ( ) is a town in Hertfordshire, England, north of London. It was the second garden city in England (founded 1920) and one of the first new towns (designated 1948). It is unique in being both a garden city and a new town and ...

, Larke is currently lead singer for

The Rolling Stones The Rolling Stones are an English rock band formed in London in 1962. Active for six decades, they are one of the most popular and enduring bands of the rock era. In the early 1960s, the Rolling Stones pioneered the gritty, rhythmically d ...

tribute group The Rolling Clones, and has toured the UK and internationally with the band. He has recently worked with Big Beat pioneer

Cut La Roc Lee Potter (born 4 January 1972), known by his stage name Cut La Roc, is a British electronic musician, considered as a pioneer of big beat, a genre fusing elements of hip hop, house and rock. Biography Potter grew up in Brighton, England, ...

on his album ''Larger Than Life'', which also features Ice-T collaborator, Donald D and

Snow Patrol Snow Patrol are a Northern Irish–Scottish Rock music, rock band formed in 1994 in Dundee, Scotland. They consist of Gary Lightbody (vocals, guitar), Nathan Connolly (guitar, backing vocals), Paul Wilson (musician), Paul Wilson (bass guitar, ...

frontman

Gary Lightbody Gareth John Lightbody (born 15 June 1976) is a Northern Irish singer, songwriter, and musician. He is best known as the lead singer and rhythm guitarist of the alternative rock band Snow Patrol. He has also founded the musical supergroups The ...

. Larke works part-time in a primary school, and also teaches

ukulele The ukulele ( ; from haw, ukulele , approximately ), also called Uke, is a member of the lute family of instruments of Portuguese origin and popularized in Hawaii. It generally employs four nylon strings. The tone and volume of the instrumen ...

and

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. In 2014 he worked in a

special needs school Special education (known as special-needs education, aided education, exceptional education, alternative provision, exceptional student education, special ed., SDC, or SPED) is the practice of educating students in a way that accommodates th ...

with children and young adults with profound to severe learning difficulties. On their official Facebook page, the duo thanked their fans for all their support during their time at Eurovision, as well as announcing "we'll be in touch soon about what we are up to next."

2015: Eurovision Song Contest

Electro Velvet were selected by the BBC to represent the United Kingdom in the Eurovision Song Contest 2015 with their song " Still in Love with You". The entry was presented on 7 March 2015 via the

BBC Red Button BBC Red Button is a brand used for digital interactive television services provided by the BBC, and broadcast in the United Kingdom. The services replaced Ceefax, the BBC's analogue teletext service. BBC Red Button's text services were due to cl ...

service. The song received a mixed to negative reception upon its announcement. In the Eurovision final they received 5 points and were placed 24th out of 27. The staging of the song included two pairs of additional dancers, two of whom performed

breakdance Breakdancing, also called breaking or b-boying/b-girling, is an athletic style of street dance originating from the African American and Puerto Rican communities in the United States. While diverse in the amount of variation available in ...

and acrobatic moves. The television production involved some

Busby Berkeley Busby Berkeley (born Berkeley William Enos; November 29, 1895 – March 14, 1976) was an American film director and musical choreographer. Berkeley devised elaborate musical production numbers that often involved complex geometric patterns. Berke ...

-style shots from above and darkened sequences during which the performers' costumes were illuminated with integral

LED strip light An LED strip light (also known as an LED tape or ribbon light) is a flexible circuit board populated by surface mounted light-emitting diodes (SMD LEDs) and other components that usually comes with an adhesive backing. Traditionally, strip light ...

. On 22 June, their debut EP was launched on

PledgeMusic PledgeMusic was an online direct-to-fan music platform, launched in August 2009. It was started to facilitate musicians looking to pre-sell, market, and distribute projects; such as recordings and concerts. It bore similarities to other artist p ...

where it was available to pre-order, along with many other exclusives. It was cancelled due to Nicholas' continued ill-health.

Discography

Singles

References

External links

Official PledgeMusic pageOfficial Facebook page
{{Use dmy dates, date=November 2016 Eurovision Song Contest entrants for the United Kingdom Eurovision Song Contest entrants of 2015 English pop music duos English electronic music duos Electro swing musicians