Holly Lapsley Fletcher (born 7 August 1996), known by the stage name Låpsley, is an English singer, songwriter, musician and producer.
Her debut album ''
Long Way Home'' was released on 4 March 2016.
Early life
Låpsley was born in
York
York is a cathedral city with Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers Ouse and Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many historic buildings and other structures, such as a ...
. Her middle name, Lapsley, is her mother's maiden name. She changed "Lapsley" to "Låpsley" by adding the Scandinavian character
Å, partly due to her perceived
ties with Scandinavia through her Scottish heritage, as well as how it looked when written. She grew up in
Southport, Merseyside
Southport is a seaside town in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton in Merseyside, England. At the 2001 census, it had a population of 90,336, making it the eleventh most populous settlement in North West England.
Southport lies on the Irish ...
, where she attended
Greenbank High School
Greenbank High School is an all-girls secondary academy school located in Hillside, Southport, Merseyside, England.
School details
Greenbank currently holds The NACE (National Able Children in Education) Challenge Award, Artsmark Gold, British ...
and
Formby High School
Formby High School is an English secondary school with academy status located in the town of Formby, Merseyside. The local primary schools Freshfield, Redgate and Trinity St Peters act as feeder schools to Formby High.
History and administrat ...
for
sixth form
In the education systems of England, Northern Ireland, Wales, Jamaica, Trinidad and Tobago and some other Commonwealth countries, sixth form represents the final two years of secondary education, ages 16 to 18. Pupils typically prepare for A-l ...
.
Career
2013–present
Having been a member of several bands in the Merseyside area, Låpsley won the "One to Watch" prize at Merseyside's GIT (Getintothis) Award in April 2014, following over half a million listens of her solo bedroom-recorded ''Monday EP'' on
SoundCloud
SoundCloud is an online audio distribution platform and music sharing website that enables its users to upload, promote, and share audio. Founded in 2007 by Alexander Ljung and Eric Wahlforss, SoundCloud is one of the largest music streaming se ...
.
She played the
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 ...
stage at
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 June 2014, having been championed by
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, ...
DJ's
Huw Stephens
Huw Meredydd Stephens (born 25 May 1981) is a Welsh radio and television presenter, currently broadcasting on BBC Radio Wales, BBC Radio Cymru and BBC Radio 6 Music.
Stephens founded the Sŵn music festival with John Rostron and the yearly s ...
and
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 ...
. Her track ''Painter (Valentine)'' was playlisted by BBC Radio 1 in September 2014 and received daytime airplay.
Låpsley signed with
XL Recordings
XL Recordings is a British independent record label founded in 1989 by Tim Palmer and Nick Halkes. It has been ran and co-owned by Richard Russell since 1996. It forms part of the Beggars Group.
Although only releasing an average of six album ...
in October 2014. On 30 November 2014, Låpsley was revealed as one of acts on the BBC
Sound of...2015 long list. Her ''Understudy'' EP was released on 5 January 2015.
Her debut album, ''
Long Way Home'', was released on 4 March 2016.
She performed at
Lollapalooza
Lollapalooza (Lolla) is an annual American four-day music festival held in Grant Park in Chicago. It originally started as a touring event in 1991 but several years later made Chicago the permanent location for the annual music festival. Musi ...
in July 2016.
In April 2016, she was picked as
Elvis Duran
Elvis Duran (born Barry Brian Cope; August 5, 1964) is an American radio personality. He is the host of the daily morning radio program ''Elvis Duran and the Morning Show'' in New York on Z100 and in syndication on Premiere Networks.
Before h ...
's
Artist of the Month and was featured on
NBC
The National Broadcasting Company (NBC) is an Television in the United States, American English-language Commercial broadcasting, commercial television network, broadcast television and radio network. The flagship property of the NBC Enterta ...
's ''
Today
Today (archaically to-day) may refer to:
* Day of the present, the time that is perceived directly, often called ''now''
* Current era, present
* The current calendar date
Arts, entertainment, and media Films
* ''Today'' (1930 film), a 1930 A ...
'' show hosted by
Kathie Lee Gifford
Kathryn Lee Gifford (née Epstein; born August 16, 1953) is an American television presenter, singer, songwriter, actress and author. From 1985 to 2000, she and Regis Philbin hosted the talk show ''Live! with Regis and Kathie Lee''. Gifford is a ...
and
Hoda Kotb
Hoda Kotb ( ; arz, هدى قطب, ''Hudā Quṭb''; ; born August 9, 1964) is an American broadcast journalist, television personality, and author. She is a main co-anchor of the NBC News morning show ''Today'' and co-host of its entertainment ...
, broadcast nationally, where she performed live her single "Love Is Blind". In 2016, the track "8896" by Låpsley was included in the sound track of ''
American Honey
"American Honey" is a song written by Cary Barlowe, Hillary Lindsey and Shane Stevens, and recorded by American country music group Lady Antebellum. It was released on January 11, 2010, as the second single from their second album '' Need You Now ...
'', directed by Andrea Arnold. In the same year, track "Falling Short" was included in season one of Harlan Coben's ''
The Five (TV series)
''The Five'' also known as '' Harlan Coben’s The Five'', is a British mystery thriller miniseries created by crime author Harlan Coben and written primarily by Danny Brocklehurst. Tom Cullen, O. T. Fagbenle, Lee Ingleby and Sarah Solemani ...
'', during the final scene of episode 4, directed by Mark Tonderai.
Personal life
Låpsley enjoys yachting and owns a boat called Theodore.
On 28 June 2020, she came out as bisexual in an Instagram post. In exchanges on Instagram, Låpsley has stated that she is studying Politics, Philosophy and Economics (
PPE) at
Goldsmiths University
Goldsmiths, University of London, officially the Goldsmiths' College, is a constituent research university of the University of London in England. It was originally founded in 1891 as The Goldsmiths' Technical and Recreative Institute by the Wo ...
.
Discography
Albums
Extended plays
Singles
Music videos
Awards and nominations
Notes
References
External links
Official website
{{Authority control
1996 births
Living people
English electronic musicians
English women singer-songwriters
Musicians from Southport
English women in electronic music
XL Recordings artists
21st-century English women singers
21st-century English singers
Bisexual musicians
Bisexual women
British LGBT singers
LGBT songwriters
Art pop musicians
20th-century LGBT people
21st-century LGBT people