Tanner Elle Schneider (born July 3, 1989), known professionally as Elle King, is an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Her musical style was influenced by

country A country is a distinct part of the world, such as a state, nation, or other political entity. It may be a sovereign state or make up one part of a larger state. For example, the country of Japan is an independent, sovereign state, while the ...

rock Rock most often refers to: * Rock (geology), a naturally occurring solid aggregate of minerals or mineraloids * Rock music, a genre of popular music Rock or Rocks may also refer to: Places United Kingdom * Rock, Caerphilly, a location in Wales ...

and

blues Blues is a music genre and musical form which originated in the Deep South of the United States around the 1860s. Blues incorporated spirituals, work songs, field hollers, shouts, chants, and rhymed simple narrative ballads from the Afr ...

. In 2012, King released her debut EP, '' The Elle King EP'', on

RCA The RCA Corporation was a major American electronics company, which was founded as the Radio Corporation of America in 1919. It was initially a patent trust owned by General Electric (GE), Westinghouse, AT&T Corporation and United Fruit Comp ...

; one track from that EP, "Playing for Keeps", is the theme song for VH1's ''

Mob Wives Chicago ''Mob Wives Chicago'' is an American reality television series that premiered on VH1 on June 10, 2012. Developed as a spin-off of ''Mob Wives'', with a new cast based in Chicago, Illinois. On May 7, 2012, the introduction for the show was filmed ...

'' series. She released her debut album, ''

Love Stuff ''Love Stuff'' is the debut studio album by American singer and songwriter Elle King. It was released physically and digitally in the United States on February 13, 2015, and on vinyl on March 3, 2015, through RCA Records. The album was mastered ...

'', in 2015. It produced the US top ten single " Ex's & Oh's", which earned her two

Grammy Award The Grammy Awards (stylized as GRAMMY), or simply known as the Grammys, are awards presented by the Recording Academy of the United States to recognize "outstanding" achievements in the music industry. They are regarded by many as the most pres ...

nominations. King has also toured with acts such as Of Monsters and Men,

Train In rail transport, a train (from Old French , from Latin , "to pull, to draw") is a series of connected vehicles that run along a railway track and Passenger train, transport people or Rail freight transport, freight. Trains are typically pul ...

James Bay James Bay (french: Baie James; cr, ᐐᓂᐯᒄ, Wînipekw, dirty water) is a large body of water located on the southern end of Hudson Bay in Canada. Both bodies of water extend from the Arctic Ocean, of which James Bay is the southernmost par ...

The Chicks The Chicks (previously known as Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. Since 1995, the band has consisted of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and Em ...

Heart The heart is a muscular organ in most animals. This organ pumps blood through the blood vessels of the circulatory system. The pumped blood carries oxygen and nutrients to the body, while carrying metabolic waste such as carbon dioxide t ...

Joan Jett Joan Jett (born Joan Marie Larkin, September 22, 1958) is an American singer, guitarist, record producer, and actress. Jett is best known for her work as the frontwoman of her band Joan Jett and the Blackhearts, and for earlier founding and per ...

Michael Kiwanuka Michael Samuel Kiwanuka (born 3 May 1987) is a British singer-songwriter and record producer who is signed with Polydor Records. His 2012 debut album, '' Home Again'', went gold in the United Kingdom and his second album, '' Love & Hate'', debu ...

, and

Miranda Lambert Miranda Leigh Lambert (born November 10, 1983) is an American country singer and guitarist. Born in Longview, Texas, she started out in early 2001 when she released her self-titled debut album independently. In 2003, she finished in third place o ...

. She is the daughter of actor and comedian

Rob Schneider Robert Michael Schneider (; born October 31, 1963) is an American actor, comedian, and screenwriter. A stand-up comic and veteran of the NBC sketch comedy series ''Saturday Night Live'', he went on to a career in feature films, including starri ...

and former model London King. King uses her mother's surname to distinguish her career and identity from her father's. "People know who my dad is," she told

ABC News ABC News is the news division of the American broadcast network ABC. Its flagship program is the daily evening newscast ''ABC World News Tonight, ABC World News Tonight with David Muir''; other programs include Breakfast television, morning ...

, "but I think that my voice and my music speaks for itself: that I am my own person." King is a four-time

nominee, two each in the rock and country categories, and received honors from the

Country Music Association Awards The Country Music Association Awards, also known as the CMA Awards or CMAs, are presented to country music artists and broadcasters to recognize outstanding achievement in the country music industry. The televised annual presentation ceremony f ...

and the

Academy of Country Music Awards The Academy of Country Music Awards, also known as the ACM Awards, were first held in 1966, honoring the industry's accomplishments during the previous year. It was the first country music awards program held by a major organization. The academy ...

Early life

King was born on July 3, 1989, in

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

California California is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States, located along the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the List of states and territori ...

, to then-''

Saturday Night Live ''Saturday Night Live'' (often abbreviated to ''SNL'') is an American late-night live television sketch comedy and variety show created by Lorne Michaels and developed by Dick Ebersol that airs on NBC and Peacock. Michaels currently serves a ...

'' cast member

and London King, a former model. Her parents divorced and her mother remarried. She grew up living in Ohio, between Wellston and

Columbus Columbus is a Latinized version of the Italian surname "''Colombo''". It most commonly refers to: * Christopher Columbus (1451-1506), the Italian explorer * Columbus, Ohio, capital of the U.S. state of Ohio Columbus may also refer to: Places ...

. When she was nine, her stepfather, Justin Tesa, gave her a record by all-female hard-rock band

the Donnas The Donnas were an American rock band formed in Palo Alto, California, in 1993. The band consisted of Brett Anderson (lead vocals), Allison Robertson (guitar, backing vocals), Maya Ford (bass guitar, backing vocals) and Torry Castellano (drum ...

; she views this as the pivotal moment when she decided she wanted to be a musician. Around this time, she also started listening to

the Runaways The Runaways were an all-female American rock band who recorded and performed from 1975 to 1979. The band released four studio albums and one live album during its run. Among their best-known songs are " Cherry Bomb", "Hollywood", "Queens of ...

and Blondie, and she made her acting debut alongside her father in the movie '' Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo''. At the age of 13, King started playing guitar, immersing herself in the music of

Otis Redding Otis Ray Redding Jr. (September 9, 1941 – December 10, 1967) was an American singer and songwriter. He is considered one of the greatest singers in the history of American popular music and a seminal artist in soul music and rhythm and blues. ...

, the

Yeah Yeah Yeahs The Yeah Yeah Yeahs are an American indie rock band formed in New York City in 2000. The group is composed of vocalist and pianist Karen O (born Karen Lee Orzolek), guitarist and keyboardist Nick Zinner, and drummer Brian Chase. They are complem ...

Etta James Jamesetta Hawkins (January 25, 1938 – January 20, 2012), known professionally as Etta James, was an American singer who performed in various genres, including gospel, blues, jazz, R&B, rock and roll, and soul. Starting her career in 1954, sh ...

Aretha Franklin Aretha Louise Franklin ( ; March 25, 1942 – August 16, 2018) was an American singer, songwriter and pianist. Referred to as the " Queen of Soul", she has twice been placed ninth in ''Rolling Stone''s "100 Greatest Artists of All Time". With ...

, Al Green,

Hank Williams Hank Williams (born Hiram Williams; September 17, 1923 – January 1, 1953) was an American singer, songwriter, and musician. Regarded as one of the most significant and influential American singers and songwriters of the 20th century, he reco ...

Johnny Cash John R. Cash (born J. R. Cash; February 26, 1932 – September 12, 2003) was an American country singer-songwriter. Much of Cash's music contained themes of sorrow, moral tribulation, and redemption, especially in the later stages of his ca ...

AC/DC AC/DC (stylised as ACϟDC) are an Australian Rock music, rock band formed in Sydney in 1973 by Scottish-born brothers Malcolm Young, Malcolm and Angus Young. Their music has been variously described as hard rock, blues rock, and Heavy metal ...

(she has the phrase "dirty deeds" tattooed on her biceps), and

Earl Scruggs Earl Eugene Scruggs (January 6, 1924 – March 28, 2012) was an American musician noted for popularizing a three-finger banjo picking style, now called "Scruggs style", which is a defining characteristic of bluegrass music. His three-fin ...

. Her interest in the

and bluegrass of Hank Williams and Earl Scruggs inspired her to learn the banjo. During her teenage years, she attended Buck's Rock camp in Connecticut, where she starred successfully in a number of musicals. King spent her teenage years in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

, but she has also lived in Los Angeles,

Philadelphia Philadelphia, often called Philly, is the largest city in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, the sixth-largest city in the U.S., the second-largest city in both the Northeast megalopolis and Mid-Atlantic regions after New York City. Sinc ...

, and

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Danish Realm, Kingdom of Denmark ...

. Upon graduating from Elisabeth Irwin High School/Little Red School House, she moved to Philadelphia to enroll at University of the Arts, studying painting and film. During these college years, she had an artistic epiphany seeing a live show where the band onstage used a

banjo The banjo is a stringed instrument with a thin membrane stretched over a frame or cavity to form a resonator. The membrane is typically circular, and usually made of plastic, or occasionally animal skin. Early forms of the instrument were fashi ...

purely for accompaniment purposes, eschewing the bluegrass and country musical vocabulary traditionally associated with the instrument. King then began to use the banjo as a compositional tool. After college, she briefly lived in Copenhagen and Los Angeles, before moving back to New York where she currently resides in Bushwick, Brooklyn.

Career

1999–2013: Career beginnings

In 1999, she debuted as an actress in her father's film '' Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo''. In 2005, at age 16, she started gigging around New York City, using a fake ID to gain entry to the local nightclubs. King immersed herself in the local songwriting scene and honed her performance skills by busking around town. King was then signed by newly appointed RCA Chairman Peter Edge. Her debut single "Good To Be A Man", was released on March 13, 2012, as a digital download and also as a 7" vinyl single. On June 12, 2012, the four-song '' The Elle King EP'' was released on RCA. The EP was recorded in New York and was produced by Andy Baldwin and

Chris DeStefano Christopher Michael DeStefano is a Grammy Award-winning American singer/songwriter, record producer, and multi-instrumentalist currently living in Nashville. As a songwriter, he has multiple #1 songs with artists Carrie Underwood ( “Good Girl ...

, with King herself producing a track. The EP's lead track, "Playing for Keeps", was chosen as the theme song for VH1's ''Mob Wives Chicago'' series that premiered on June 10, 2012, on VH1. King was spotlighted as an "Artist to Watch in 2012" by ''

Esquire Magazine ''Esquire'' is an American men's magazine. Currently published in the United States by Hearst Communications, it also has more than 20 international editions. Founded in 1933, it flourished during the Great Depression and World War II under t ...

'' and made television appearances on ''VH1 Big Morning Buzz Live'' and the ''

Late Show with David Letterman The ''Late Show with David Letterman'' is an American late-night talk show hosted by David Letterman on CBS, the first iteration of the The Late Show (franchise), ''Late Show'' franchise. The show debuted on August 30, 1993, and was produced by ...

''. King has played

Austin, Texas Austin is the capital city of the U.S. state of Texas, as well as the county seat, seat and largest city of Travis County, Texas, Travis County, with portions extending into Hays County, Texas, Hays and Williamson County, Texas, Williamson co ...

, at the

South by Southwest South by Southwest, abbreviated as SXSW and colloquially referred to as South By, is an annual conglomeration of parallel film, interactive media, and music festivals and Convention (meeting), conferences organized jointly that take place in m ...

Festival, as well as the

Hammersmith Apollo The Hammersmith Apollo, currently called the Eventim Apollo for sponsorship reasons, and formerly known as the Hammersmith Odeon, is a live entertainment performance venue, originally built as a cinema called the Gaumont Palace. Located in Ham ...

. She has also taped her own PBS ''Arts In Context'' special for KLRU Austin at the

Austin City Limits ''Austin City Limits'' is an American live music television program recorded and produced by Austin PBS. The show helped Austin become widely known in the United States as the "Live Music Capital of the World", and is the only television show t ...

recording studio. She toured with Of Monsters and Men,

and Michael Kiwanuka and has opened for

Dashboard Confessional Dashboard Confessional is an American rock band from Boca Raton, Florida, led by singer Chris Carrabba. The name of the band is derived from the songThe Sharp Hint of New Tears off their debut album, '' The Swiss Army Romance''. History Early ...

Dropkick Murphys Dropkick Murphys are an American Celtic punk band formed in Quincy, Massachusetts in 1996. Singer and bassist Ken Casey has been the band's only constant member. Other current members include drummer Matt Kelly (1997– ), singer Al Barr (199 ...

Dry the River Dry the River were an English alternative rock band, formed in the Stratford district of East London in 2009. History They played their first headline show at the Luminaire in Kilburn, London, in April 2010. Since this time, the band have t ...

and

Ed Sheeran Edward Christopher Sheeran (; born 17 February 1991) is an English singer-songwriter. Born in Halifax, West Yorkshire and raised in Framlingham, Suffolk, he began writing songs around the age of eleven. In early 2011, Sheeran independently r ...

2014–present: ''Love Stuff'' and ''Shake the Spirit''

Elle King Boston Calling 2016 (27272896451)

In September 2014, King released " Ex's & Oh's", which serves as the lead single off her debut album. She released the album, ''

'' on February 17, 2015. She performed "Ex's & Oh's" the next day on ''

The Today Show ''Today'' (also called ''The Today Show'' or informally, ''NBC News Today'') is an American news and talk morning television show that airs weekdays from 7:00 a.m. to 11:00 a.m. on NBC. The program debuted on January 14, 1952. It was ...

'' to promote it. The song reached number 10 on the ''Billboard'' Hot 100, becoming King's first top ten single in the United States. "Ex's & Oh's" received two nominations at the 58th Grammy Awards:

Best Rock Performance The Grammy Award for Best Rock Performance is an award presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards. According to the 54th Grammy Awards description guide it is designed for s ...

and

Best Rock Song The Grammy Award for Best Rock Song is an honor presented at the Grammy Awards, a ceremony that was established in 1958 and originally called the Gramophone Awards, to recording artists for quality songs in the rock music genre. Honors in several ...

. In July 2015, King supported

Modest Mouse Modest Mouse is an American rock band formed in 1992 in Issaquah, Washington, and currently based in Portland, Oregon. The founding members are lead singer/guitarist Isaac Brock, drummer Jeremiah Green, and bassist Eric Judy. Strongly influenced ...

on their UK tour. " Under the Influence" and " America's Sweetheart" were later released as singles for rock radio and mainstream radio, respectively. In 2016, her single "Good Girls" featured on the ''

Ghostbusters ''Ghostbusters'' is a 1984 American supernatural comedy film directed and produced by Ivan Reitman, and written by Dan Aykroyd and Harold Ramis. It stars Bill Murray, Aykroyd, and Ramis as Peter Venkman, Ray Stantz, and Egon Spengler, thr ...

'' soundtrack and played over the movie's credits. In 2016, she teamed up with country singer

Dierks Bentley Frederick Dierks Bentley (; born November 20, 1975) is an American country music singer and songwriter. In 2003, he signed to Capitol Nashville and released his eponymous debut album. Both it and its follow-up, 2005's ''Modern Day Drifter'', ar ...

for the song " Different for Girls". They performed this song at the 50th CMA Awards on November 2, 2016, when she and Bentley won the award for Musical Event of the Year. On March 6, 2017, she premiered a new single "Wild Love" featuring a sparse electronic production, marking a slight departure from her previous style in music. King released her second studio album, ''

Shake the Spirit ''Shake the Spirit'' is the second studio album by American singer Elle King, released on October 19, 2018 by RCA Records. It was recorded in Denton, Texas. Commercially, ''Shake the Spirit'' peaked at No. 9 on the US Top Rock Albums (Billboard (m ...

'', on October 19, 2018, which she made with her band the Brethren. On August 3, 2019, she was featured singing on a version of Lindsey Stirling's "The Upside". Throughout 2019, King served as a guest co-host on the MTV series '' Catfish: The TV Show'' opposite lead host

Nev Schulman Yaniv "Nev" Schulman ( ; born September 26, 1984) is an American TV host and producer. He is best known for the 2010 documentary film ''Catfish'' and the follow up TV series '' Catfish: The TV Show'' on MTV of which he is the host and executive ...

Musical style and influences

According to ''The Guardian'', King's musical style is "steeped in every genre of vintage

Americana Americana may refer to: *Americana (music), a genre or style of American music *Americana (culture), artifacts of the culture of the United States Film, radio and television * ''Americana'' (1992 TV series), a documentary series presented by J ...

– sassy rock’n’roll, vampy R&B,

sadness and a little

." King's music was classified as

blues rock Blues rock is a fusion music genre that combines elements of blues and rock music. It is mostly an electric ensemble-style music with instrumentation similar to electric blues and rock (electric guitar, electric bass guitar, and drums, sometimes w ...

by ''Nylon'', and as

alternative country Alternative country, or alternative country rock (sometimes alt-country, insurgent country, Americana, or y'allternative), is a loosely defined subgenre of country music and/or country rock that includes acts that differ significantly in style ...

by ''Alternative Nation''. According to King, "I say that I sing a little bit of

country blues Country blues (also folk blues, rural blues, backwoods blues, or downhome blues) is one of the earliest forms of blues music. The mainly solo vocal with acoustic fingerstyle guitar accompaniment developed in the rural Southern United States in t ...

, ..it kind of changes from song to song, whatever I’m listening to or feeling. Sometimes it’s really country, sometimes it’s soulful, sometimes it’s, like, wrist-slitting

folk music Folk music is a music genre that includes traditional folk music and the contemporary genre that evolved from the former during the 20th-century folk revival. Some types of folk music may be called world music. Traditional folk music has b ...

; sad songs." She cited

, Al Green,

and

as her musical influences.

Personal life

King started dating Andrew Ferguson in January 2016. The couple met in a hotel lobby in London and got engaged twelve days later on a sailing trip around the

San Francisco Bay San Francisco Bay is a large tidal estuary in the U.S. state of California, and gives its name to the San Francisco Bay Area. It is dominated by the big cities of San Francisco, San Jose, and Oakland. San Francisco Bay drains water from a ...

. They married on February 14, 2016, and confirmed their intent to divorce on May 15, 2017. On April 23, 2017, Ferguson was arrested and charged with felony domestic violence after allegedly grabbing King by the throat and threatening to kill her, though this charge was later dropped. King and Ferguson briefly reconciled in late 2017. As of October 2018, King is in a new relationship. In 2021, it was revealed she was pregnant with her first child with tattoo artist Dan Tooker. On September 1, 2021, she welcomed a baby boy. King has several tattoos, and worked at a tattoo company called East Side Ink.

Discography

Studio albums * ''

'' (2015) * ''

'' (2018) * ''

Come Get Your Wife ''Come Get Your Wife'' is the third studio album by American singer-songwriter and musician Elle King, released on January 27, 2023, via RCA Records. Co-produced by King and Ross Copperman, it is King's first album since 2018's '' Shake the Spirit ...

'' (2023)

Filmography

Film

Television

Concert tours

Headlining

* Love Stuff Tour (2015–present) * Shake The Spirit Tour (April 2019 – present)

Opening act

– The Swiss Army Romance (2010) * Of Monsters and Men – My Head Is an Animal Tour (2011) *

– California 37 Tour (2012) *

– Home Again Tour (2012) *

– Signed and Sealed in Blood Tour (2013) *

– + Tour (2013) *

– Alarms in the Heart Tour (2014) *

– Chaos and the Calm Tour (2015) *

– Strangers to Ourselves Tour (2015) *

Maroon 5 Maroon 5 is an American pop rock band from Los Angeles, California. It currently consists of lead vocalist Adam Levine, keyboardist and rhythm guitarist Jesse Carmichael, lead guitarist James Valentine (musician), James Valentine, drummer Matt ...

–

Maroon V Tour The Maroon V Tour (also known as M5 On the Road Tour) was the tenth headlining concert tour by American band Maroon 5 in support of their fifth studio album '' V'' (2014) (pronounced: "five"). The tour began on February 16, 2015, in Dallas and c ...

(2016) *

Dixie Chicks The Chicks (previously known as Dixie Chicks) are an American country music band from Dallas, Texas. Since 1995, the band has consisted of Natalie Maines (lead vocals, guitar) and sisters Martie Maguire (vocals, fiddle, mandolin, guitar) and E ...

–

DCX MMXVI World Tour The DCX MMXVI World Tour was the fifth headlining concert tour from American country music trio Dixie Chicks. It started on April 16, 2016, in Antwerp, Belgium and finished on April 18, 2017, in London, Ontario, Canada. This tour is the first t ...

(2016) *

– Roadside Bars and Pink Guitars Tour (2019) *

– Love Alive Tour (2019) *

Chris Stapleton Christopher Alvin Stapleton (born April 15, 1978) is an American singer-songwriter, guitarist, and record producer. He was born in Lexington, Kentucky, and grew up in Staffordsville, Kentucky. In 2001, Stapleton moved to Nashville, Tennessee, to ...

- Chris Stapleton's All-American Road Show (2022)

Awards and nominations

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:King, Elle 1989 births Living people American alternative country singers American musicians of Filipino descent American people of Jewish descent Blues rock musicians Musicians from Los Angeles RCA Records artists Singers from Ohio Songwriters from California Songwriters from Ohio University of the Arts (Philadelphia) alumni 21st-century American singers 21st-century American women singers Little Red School House alumni People from Bushwick, Brooklyn