Eliza Doolittle (singer)

Eliza Sophie Caird (born 15 April 1988), better known by her stage name Eliza (formerly Eliza Doolittle), is an English singer and songwriter from Westminster, London. After performing her music in live venues around London from the age of 15, Eliza signed to Parlophone in 2008.

Her debut album was released on 12 July 2010 and went Platinum in the UK. The album produced two UK top 40 hits: " Skinny Genes" and "Pack Up", the latter of which peaked within the top five on the UK Singles Chart.

In 2013, Eliza contributed writing and vocals to " You & Me" a single from British electronic music duo Disclosure's number one debut album ''Settle''.

On 7 June 2013, she premiered a single called " Big When I Was Little", which was released in July 2013. It subsequently joined BBC Radio 1's and Radio 2 playlist. It was later included on her second studio album, titled '' In Your Hands''.

Early life

Eliza was born in Westminster, London. She comes from a family with a successful and varied musical background. Her father is John Caird, a stage director and writer of plays, musicals and operas who is also an honorary associate director of the Royal Shakespeare Company.

Her paternal grandfather G. B. Caird, was the theologian and principal of Mansfield College, Oxford. Her mother is musical theatre actress and model artist Frances Ruffelle, who won a Tony Award for her role of Éponine in the English-language version of ''Les Misérables''. Eliza is the granddaughter of Sylvia Young, founder of the eponymous theatre school. She has a younger brother. Her parents divorced when she was four years old.

Eliza grew up in Highgate and attended Channing School For Girls, Bedales School, and Westminster Kingsway College. She was used to being around stages and seeing her mother singing and had always wanted to become a recording artist. She chose the stage name of Eliza Doolittle, the ''Pygmalion'' and ''My Fair Lady'' character, because it was her nickname as a child.

Eliza had a brief career on stage playing Young Cosette in ''Les Misérables'' in London's West End in 1996–1997. Her parents had met and began their relationship during the original production when her father was the co-director and her mother played Eponine. Eliza went on to play the lead role in Lucy Simon's Tony Award-winning musical version of ''The Secret Garden'' in 2001, when The Royal Shakespeare Company premiered the show in London.

Musical career

Career beginnings

Before entering the charts, Eliza toured the UK with her band. Her first release was an EP featuring the tracks "Rollerblades", "Moneybox", "Police Car" and "Go Home", which came out on 29 November 2009. Tracks from the EP were remixed by Plastic Little ("Rollerblades"), Sam Young and Jamie xx from The xx ("Money Box"). The EP received radio plays from Rob Da Bank, Nick Grimshaw, Fearne Cotton and Jo Whiley.

She recorded a song called 'Running For Life' which featured on the soundtrack of the cult British film ''Adulthood'' in 2008. Later that year, she performed at Glastonbury on the Pussy Parlour stage, her first festival performance.

2010–2013: ''Eliza Doolittle''

In early 2010, she took part in musician Shane MacGowan's charity single "I Put a Spell on You", in aid of the 2010 Haiti earthquake. Her debut single " Skinny Genes" was released on 12 April 2010, reaching No. 22 in the UK Singles Chart. She told BBC
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