Karen Harding (born 18 November 1991) is an English singer and songwriter from

Consett Consett is a town in County Durham, England, about south-west of Newcastle upon Tyne. It had a population of 27,394 in 2001 and an estimate of 25,812 in 2019. History Consett sits high on the edge of the Pennines. Its' name originates in the ...

, County Durham. Her first single, " Say Something", released in February 2015, entered the top 10 of the

UK Singles Chart The UK Singles Chart (currently titled Official Singles Chart, with the upper section more commonly known as the Official UK Top 40) is compiled by the Official Charts Company (OCC), on behalf of the British record industry, listing the top-s ...

Early life

Born to an English father and

Filipino Filipino may refer to: * Something from or related to the Philippines ** Filipino language, standardized variety of 'Tagalog', the national language and one of the official languages of the Philippines. ** Filipinos, people who are citizens of th ...

mother, Harding grew up in Consett and attended Moorside Community Technology College. She used to work at her parents' oriental food store and, in 2008, won a regional music competition called Music Means Life. One of her first recordings was a cover version of the anti-racism song "

Strange Fruit "Strange Fruit" is a song written and composed by Abel Meeropol (under his pseudonym Lewis Allan) and recorded by Billie Holiday in 1939. The lyrics were drawn from a poem by Meeropol published in 1937. The song protests the lynching of Black ...

", made famous by

Billie Holiday Billie Holiday (born Eleanora Fagan; April 7, 1915 – July 17, 1959) was an American jazz and swing music singer. Nicknamed "Lady Day" by her friend and music partner, Lester Young, Holiday had an innovative influence on jazz music and pop si ...

. She is a supporter of

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

Music career

In 2010, she competed on the television programme '' Eurovision: Your Country Needs You'', the national final deciding who would represent the United Kingdom in that year's Eurovision Song Contest. She was eliminated in the penultimate round after singing

Kylie Minogue Kylie Ann Minogue (; born 28 May 1968) is an Australian singer, songwriter and actress. She is the highest-selling female Australian artist of all time, having sold over 80 million records worldwide. She has been recognised for reinve ...

's "

What Do I Have to Do "What Do I Have to Do" is a song performed by Australian singer-songwriter Kylie Minogue from her third studio album, '' Rhythm of Love'' (1990). The song was written and produced by Stock, Aitken & Waterman. Originally, the song was planned to ...

". Harding was a contestant on the tenth series of the television singing competition ''

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 ...

'', but was eliminated at the boot camp stage during the controversial six-chair challenge. Following ''The X Factor'', Harding was approached by the producer

MNEK Uzoechi Osisioma "Uzo" Emenike (born 9 November 1994), professionally known by his stage name MNEK (, ), is a British singer, songwriter and record producer. He has been nominated for a Grammy and a Brit Awards, Brit Award, and has received the ...

, who had seen a video she uploaded onto the Internet of her covering

Disclosure Disclosure may refer to: Arts and media *Disclosure (The Gathering album), ''Disclosure'' (The Gathering album), 2012 *Disclosure (band), a UK-based garage/electronic duo *Disclosure (novel), ''Disclosure'' (novel), 1994 novel written by Michael ...

's "

Latch A latch or catch (called sneck in Northern England and Scotland) is a type of mechanical fastener that joins two (or more) objects or surfaces while allowing for their regular separation. A latch typically engages another piece of hardware on t ...

". She was subsequently signed by Disclosure's record label,

Method Records Disclosure is an English electronic music duo consisting of brothers Howard (born 11 May 1994) and Guy Lawrence (born 25 May 1991). They grew up in Reigate, Surrey. Their debut studio album, ''Settle'', released on 3 June 2013, by PMR Records, ...

. Her first single, the MNEK-produced "Say Something", was released in January 2015 by Method and

Capitol Records Capitol Records, LLC (known legally as Capitol Records, Inc. until 2007) is an American record label distributed by Universal Music Group through its Capitol Music Group imprint. It was founded as the first West Coast-based record label of note ...

and attracted notice from ''

Fact A fact is a datum about one or more aspects of a circumstance, which, if accepted as true and proven true, allows a logical conclusion to be reached on a true–false evaluation. Standard reference works are often used to check facts. Scient ...

'' magazine, ''MuuMuse'', ''

Noisey ''Vice'' (stylized in all caps) is a Canadian-American magazine focused on lifestyle, arts, culture, and news/politics. Founded in 1994 in Montreal as an alternative punk magazine, the founders later launched the youth media company Vice Media, ...

'' and ''

The Singles Jukebox ''Stylus Magazine'' was an American online music and film magazine, launched in 2002 and co-founded by Todd L. Burns. It featured long-form music journalism, four daily music reviews, movie reviews, podcasts, an MP3 blog, and a text blog. Addi ...

''. "Say Something" entered the

and peaked at number seven, with frequent airplay on

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, ...

and its sister station,

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 ...

. It spent 26 weeks on the official charts and achieved platinum status. Harding has worked with producers and songwriters such as

Tom Aspaul Thomas Paul Frederick Dutton, known professionally as Tom Aspaul is a British singer and songwriter from Wolverhampton. He released his debut album, '' Black Country Disco'' in 2020 to critical acclaim. His songwriting credits include Kylie Mi ...

CocknBullKid Anita Blay is a British-Ghanaian singer and songwriter, formerly known by the stage name CocknBullKid (previously thecocknbullkid). She released her debut single in 2008 and her debut album, ''Adulthood'', in 2011. Blay currently writes for othe ...

Mark J. Feist Mark J. Feist (born in Melbourne) is a multi-platinum producer/songwriter who has contributed to the sale of over 25 million records worldwide. Feist currently resides in Los Angeles. Early age Mark Feist began expressing himself musically a ...

Rodney Jerkins Rodney Roy Jerkins (born July 29, 1977), also known by his stage name Darkchild, is an American record producer, rapper, and songwriter. He has collaborated with a broad range of popular artists. Jerkins has won multiple Grammy Awards. Among hi ...

Jimmy Napes James Napier (born 18 September 1984), known professionally as Jimmy Napes, is an English songwriter and record producer. He has won a number of awards, including an Academy Award, a Golden Globe Award, 3 Grammy Awards, and 2 Ivor Novello Awar ...

and Richard Stannard. She is featured on the house duo Arches' single "New Love", released in April 2015, and on Blonde's single "Feel Good (It's Alright)", released in August 2015. Harding played at several festivals during mid-2015, including

Birmingham Pride Birmingham Pride is a weekend-long LGBTQ+ festival held annually in the Gay Village, Hurst Street, Birmingham, England, over the Spring Bank Holiday weekend. Birmingham Pride is the UK's largest two-day gay pride festival. It usually features ...

, Ibiza Rocks, Lovebox,

Manchester Pride Manchester Pride is a leading charity that campaigns for LGBTQ+ equality across the United Kingdom, predominantly in Greater Manchester. The Charity offers dialogue, training, research and policy analysis, advocacy and outreach activities focus ...

and

Parklife ''Parklife'' is the third studio album by the English rock band Blur, released on 25 April 1994 on Food Records. After disappointing sales for their previous album ''Modern Life Is Rubbish'' (1993), ''Parklife'' returned Blur to prominence in ...

. Harding's influences include female solo artists such as

Mariah Carey Mariah Carey (; born March 27, 1969) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and record producer. Referred to as the " Songbird Supreme", she is noted for her five-octave vocal range, melismatic singing style and signature use of the whi ...

Whitney Houston Whitney Elizabeth Houston (August 9, 1963 – February 11, 2012) was an American singer and actress. Nicknamed "The Voice", she is one of the bestselling music artists of all time, with sales of over 200 million records worldwide. Houston in ...

Janet Jackson Janet Damita Jo Jackson (born May 16, 1966) is an American singer, songwriter, actress, and dancer. She is noted for her innovative, socially conscious and sexually provocative records, as well as elaborate stage shows. Her sound and choreog ...

and

Lisa Stansfield Lisa Jane Stansfield (born 11 April 1966) is an English singer, songwriter, and actress. Her career began in 1980 when she won the singing competition ''Search for a Star''. After appearances in various television shows and releasing her first ...

, as well as dance and

garage A garage is a covered structure built for the purpose of parking, storing, protecting, maintaining, and/or repairing vehicles. Specific applications include: *Garage (residential), a building or part of a building for storing one or more vehicle ...

acts

Artful Dodger Jack Dawkins, better known as the Artful Dodger, is a character in Charles Dickens's 1838 novel '' Oliver Twist''. The Dodger is a pickpocket, so called for his skill and cunning in that occupation. He is the leader of the gang of child criminals ...

Craig David Craig Ashley David (born 5 May 1981) is a British singer and songwriter who rose to fame in 1999, featuring on the single "Re-Rewind (The Crowd Say Bo Selecta), Re-Rewind" by Artful Dodger (UK band), Artful Dodger. David's debut studio album, ' ...

and

Madison Avenue Madison Avenue is a north-south avenue in the borough of Manhattan in New York City, United States, that carries northbound one-way traffic. It runs from Madison Square (at 23rd Street) to meet the southbound Harlem River Drive at 142nd Stre ...

. She has also cited

house music House is a music genre characterized by a repetitive Four on the floor (music), four-on-the-floor beat and a typical tempo of 120 beats per minute. It was created by Disc jockey, DJs and music producers from Chicago metropolitan area, Chicago' ...

of the 1990s as an influence. In May 2016, Harding was selected to perform the English national anthem at the

2016 FA Cup Final The 2016 FA Cup Final was an association football match between Crystal Palace and Manchester United on 21 May 2016 at Wembley Stadium in London, England, organised by the Football Association (FA). It marked the 135th final of the Football ...

. However, she missed her cue, and only managed to join in with the crowd for the last few lines.

Discography

Extended plays

Singles

As lead artist

As featured artist

Guest appearances

Songwriting credits

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Harding, Karen 1991 births Living people Capitol Records artists English dance musicians English house musicians English people of Filipino descent British contemporary R&B singers Musicians from County Durham People from Consett The X Factor (British TV series) contestants Filipino British musicians 21st-century English women singers 21st-century English singers