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Isobel Bizu Beardshaw
(born 28 April 1994), better known as Izzy Bizu, is an English-Ethiopian singer-songwriter
signed to
Epic Records
Epic Records is an American record label owned by Sony Music Entertainment, a subsidiary of Sony Corporation of America
Sony Corporation of America (SONAM, also known as SCA), is the American arm of the Japanese conglomerate Sony Group ...
.
Bizu has garnered mainstream radio support from
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
's
Annie Mac
Annie Mac (born 18 July 1978), is an Irish DJ, broadcaster and writer. She hosted a variety of shows on BBC Radio 1, including BBC Switch and ''Future Sounds''. She also DJed in various locations, including hosting her AMP (Annie Mac Presents) ...
and
Phil Taggart
Philip Taggart (born 10 June 1986) is a Northern Irish DJ and radio presenter on BBC Radio Ulster.
Early life
Philly Taggart was born in Derry but was raised in Drumragh, a townland on the outskirts of Omagh in County Tyrone. He attended the ...
and
BBC Radio 1Xtra
BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban music, including hip hop and R&B and is a sister station to Radio 1. Launching at 18:00 on 16 August 2002, it had been cod ...
's
Trevor Nelson
Trevor Ricardo Nelson, MBE (born 7 January 1964) is an English DJ and presenter.
Early life
Born in the London Borough of Hackney to a family of St Lucian heritage, Nelson attended Central Foundation Boys' Grammar School (now known as Central ...
.
She has supported
Coldplay
Coldplay are a British rock band formed in London in 1997. They consist of vocalist and pianist Chris Martin, guitarist Jonny Buckland, bassist Guy Berryman, drummer Will Champion and creative director Phil Harvey. They met at University Col ...
,
Sam Smith
Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. After rising to prominence in October 2012 by featuring on Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart, they ...
,
Rudimental
Rudimental are a British drum and bass band, signed to Asylum Records, Atlantic Records and Black Butter Records. The band consists of Piers Aggett, Kesi Dryden and Leon "Locksmith" Rolle.
They were nominated for a Mercury Prize in 2013, and ...
,
and
Foxes
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
on their latest UK tours.
In November 2015, Bizu was shortlisted for a
Brit Critics' Choice award
and longlisted for
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's
Sound of... 2016. She won the
BBC Music Introducing Award at the 2016 ceremony. On 25 June 2016, Bizu performed on the Park Stage at the
Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...
.
Biography
Izzy Bizu is from southwest
London
London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...
,
and attended
Stamford High School, Lincolnshire
Stamford High School is an independent school for girls in Stamford, Lincolnshire, England, situated on High Street, St Martin's. From September 2023, Stamford Endowed Schools (SES) will become co-educational.
Education
Stamford High School ...
. Her mother is
Ethiopian
Ethiopians are the native inhabitants of Ethiopia, as well as the global diaspora of Ethiopia. Ethiopians constitute several component ethnic groups, many of which are closely related to ethnic groups in neighboring Eritrea and other parts of ...
and her father is
English
English usually refers to:
* English language
* English people
English may also refer to:
Peoples, culture, and language
* ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England
** English national ide ...
. She grew up between Ethiopia and Bahrain, where her father worked, before moving to London as a teen.
She studied music tech in college, but dropped out shortly afterwards.
Career
2013: ''Coolbeanz''
After the girl group SoundGirl split, Bizu won an open mic night competition in February 2013 winning over the crowd, which included
Emeli Sande and
Naughty Boy
Shahid Khan ( ur, شاهد خان; born 1 January 1981), better known by his stage name Naughty Boy, is a British DJ, record producer, songwriter and musician. In 2012, Khan signed a three–year publishing deal with Sony ATV, as well as a rec ...
, who were in attendance.
She released her first independent EP, ''Coolbeanz'', in September 2013, which debuted at number 3 on the
iTunes
iTunes () is a software program that acts as a media player, media library, mobile device management utility, and the client app for the iTunes Store. Developed by Apple Inc., it is used to purchase, play, download, and organize digital mul ...
Soul and RnB Chart and has sold 50,000 copies. The EP’s lead single, "White Tiger", was also chosen as
Zane Lowe
Alexander Zane Reid Lowe (born 7 August 1973) is a New Zealand radio DJ, live DJ, record producer, and television presenter.
After an early career in music creation, production and DJing, he moved to the UK in 1997. He came to prominence thro ...
’s ‘Next Hype’. In October 2013, she supported
Sam Smith
Samuel Frederick Smith (born 19 May 1992) is an English singer and songwriter. After rising to prominence in October 2012 by featuring on Disclosure's breakthrough single "Latch", which peaked at number eleven on the UK Singles Chart, they ...
on his UK tour,
and in November
Jamie Cullum
Jamie Cullum (born 20 August 1979) is an English jazz-pop singer, songwriter and radio presenter. Although primarily a vocalist and pianist, he also accompanies himself on other instruments, including guitar and drums. He has recorded nine stu ...
handpicked her to open for him at
The Roundhouse
The Roundhouse is a performing arts and concert venue situated at the Grade II* listed former railway engine shed in Chalk Farm, London, England. The building was erected in 1846–1847 by the London & North Western Railway as a roundhouse, ...
in London.
2014–16: ''A Moment of Madness''
In January 2014, Bizu entered
Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...
's Emerging Talent Competition and made it to the final 8 of the competition, performing at the live finals of the event at Pilton Working Men's Club in April 2014. Bizu was named runner-up, winning £2,500 from the
PRS Foundation and a slot at that year's Glastonbury Festival.
In June 2014, Bizu was also selected by
BBC Introducing
BBC Music ''Introducing'' is BBC Radio's platform supporting unsigned, undiscovered, and under-the-radar UK music talent. It gives artists the opportunity to be played on Local BBC Radio and nationally on BBC Radio 1, 1Xtra, Radio 2, Radio 3, 6 ...
to perform at the
Glastonbury Festival
Glastonbury Festival (formally Glastonbury Festival of Contemporary Performing Arts and known colloquially as Glasto) is a five-day festival of contemporary performing arts that takes place in Pilton, Somerset, England. In addition to contemp ...
. In July 2014, she signed to Epic Records UK.
A year later, she released the first singles from her debut album, "Adam & Eve" and "Diamond", which enjoyed support from
BBC Radio 1
BBC Radio 1 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It specialises in modern popular music and current chart hits throughout the day. The station provides alternative genres at night, including electronica, dance, ...
,
Radio 2 and
1Xtra
BBC Radio 1Xtra is a British digital radio in the United Kingdom, digital radio station owned and operated by the BBC. It broadcasts black music and urban contemporary, urban music, including Hip hop music, hip hop and Contemporary R&B, R&B an ...
,
and performed at
Glastonbury
Glastonbury (, ) is a town and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated at a dry point on the low-lying Somerset Levels, south of Bristol. The town, which is in the Mendip district, had a population of 8,932 in the 2011 census. Glastonbury ...
for the second time.
In September 2015, following the release of her single "Give Me Love", she also made her TV debut on ''
Later... with Jools Holland''. Bizu supported both
Rudimental
Rudimental are a British drum and bass band, signed to Asylum Records, Atlantic Records and Black Butter Records. The band consists of Piers Aggett, Kesi Dryden and Leon "Locksmith" Rolle.
They were nominated for a Mercury Prize in 2013, and ...
and
Foxes
Foxes are small to medium-sized, omnivorous mammals belonging to several genera of the family Canidae. They have a flattened skull, upright, triangular ears, a pointed, slightly upturned snout, and a long bushy tail (or ''brush'').
Twelve sp ...
on their UK headline tours. In November 2015, Bizu was shortlisted for a
Brit Critics' Choice award.
In January 2016 Bizu's song 'White Tiger' featured on the advert for
National Citizen Service (NCS) and in March 2016 she performed at NCS Yes Live alongside Tinie Tempah and Jess Glynne. Her debut album, ''
A Moment of Madness'', was released on 2 September 2016. In April 2016, Bizu recorded (with the
BBC Concert Orchestra
The BBC Concert Orchestra is a British concert orchestra based in London, one of the British Broadcasting Corporation's five radio orchestras. With around fifty players, it is the only one of the five BBC orchestras which is not a full-scale symp ...
) an uptempo, updated version of the
Edith Piaf
Edith is a feminine given name derived from the Old English words ēad, meaning 'riches or blessed', and is in common usage in this form in English, German, many Scandinavian languages and Dutch. Its French form is Édith. Contractions and vari ...
1957 hit "
La Foule
"" (; "Let no one know my suffering"), also known as "" (; "Love of my loves") is a song originally composed by that has been recorded by numerous Spanish language artists such as Alberto Castillo, Julio Iglesias and María Dolores Pradera. Howe ...
" as the theme music for the
BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC
Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board exam. ...
...
's coverage of the