Grace Chatto (born 10 December 1985) is an English musician and singer who is the

cellist The cello ( ; plural ''celli'' or ''cellos'') or violoncello ( ; ) is a bowed (sometimes plucked and occasionally hit) string instrument of the violin family. Its four strings are usually tuned in perfect fifths: from low to high, C2, G2, D3 ...

backing vocalist A backing vocalist is a singer who provides vocal harmony with the lead vocalist or other backing vocalists. A backing vocalist may also sing alone as a lead-in to the main vocalist's entry or to sing a counter-melody. Backing vocalists are us ...

and occasional main vocalist, for the

electronic music Electronic music is a genre of music that employs electronic musical instruments, digital instruments, or circuitry-based music technology in its creation. It includes both music made using electronic and electromechanical means ( electroac ...

band

Clean Bandit Clean Bandit are an English electronic music group, formed in Cambridge in 2008. They have had four number 1 hits and ten top 10 hits on the UK Singles Chart. They direct and produce their own music videos, many of which have been nominated for ...

Education

Chatto attended Latymer School and

Westminster School (God Gives the Increase) , established = Earliest records date from the 14th century, refounded in 1560 , type = Public school Independent day and boarding school , religion = Church of England , head_label = Hea ...

, as well as the

Royal Academy of Music The Royal Academy of Music (RAM) in London, England, is the oldest conservatoire in the UK, founded in 1822 by John Fane and Nicolas-Charles Bochsa. It received its royal charter in 1830 from King George IV with the support of the first Duke of ...

. She studied Modern Languages at

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

, where she met founding band members Jack Patterson and Neil Amin-Smith, with whom she played in a string quartet. Chatto speaks Russian fluently.

Awards and achievements

Clean Bandit's 2010 single "

Mozart's House "Mozart's House" is a song by the English electronic music group Clean Bandit. It was released on 29 March 2013 as the second single from their first studio album, ''New Eyes'' (2014). The song peaked at number 17 on the UK Singles Chart. It in ...

" reached number 17 on 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 ...

when re-released in 2013. Chatto held a position teaching cello at a school when it was first released, and her appearance in the music video – in which she appeared in her underwear with a violin obstructing her chest – prompted her to be fired after a parent complained. In January 2014, they scored their first UK chart topping single with "

Rather Be "Rather Be" is a song by English electronic music group Clean Bandit, featuring vocals by Jess Glynne. It was released on 5 December 2013 as the fourth single from the group's debut studio album, ''New Eyes'' (2014). It also appears on the delu ...

", a collaboration with

Jess Glynne Jessica Hannah Glynne (born 20 October 1989) is an English singer and songwriter. After signing with Atlantic Records, she rose to prominence in 2014 as a featured artist on the singles "Rather Be" by Clean Bandit and " My Love" by Route 94, bot ...

, featuring elements of both classical and

dance music Dance music is music composed specifically to facilitate or accompany dancing. It can be either a whole musical piece or part of a larger musical arrangement. In terms of performance, the major categories are live dance music and recorded danc ...

. The song also reached number 10 on the US ''Billboard'' Hot 100. Together with the other members of Clean Bandit, Jack Patterson and Luke Patterson, she has won a

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 ...

for Best Dance Recording 2015 for the track "Rather Be" and was nominated for two

Brit Awards The BRIT Awards (often simply called the BRITs) are the British Phonographic Industry's annual popular music awards. The name was originally a shortened form of "British", "Britain", or "Britannia" (in the early days the awards were sponsored ...

in 2015 and 2017. Chatto directed the video for Clean Bandit's 2016 single " Rockabye", which features rapper

Sean Paul Sean Paul Ryan Francis Henriques OD (born 9 January 1973) is a Jamaican rapper and singer who is regarded as one of dancehall's most prolific artists. Paul's singles "Get Busy" and "Temperature" topped the ''Billboard'' Hot 100 chart in the ...

and singer

Anne-Marie Anne-Marie Rose Nicholson (born 7 April 1991) is an English singer. She has attained charting singles on the UK Singles Chart, including Clean Bandit's "Rockabye (song), Rockabye", which peaked at number one, as well as "Alarm (Anne-Marie song ...

, and became their second number-one hit in the UK, becoming the Christmas number one single for 2016 in its seventh consecutive week at number-one. Chatto also directed the video for Clean Bandit's single

Symphony A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

in March 2017, which contained an entire orchestra, with Clean Bandit members playing amongst them with

Zara Larsson Zara Maria Larsson (, ; born 16 December 1997) is a Swedish pop singer. In 2008, at the age of 10, she won the second season of the talent show '' Talang'', the Swedish version of the ''Got Talent'' format. Since then she has received recogni ...

on lead vocals.

Other projects

Grace Chatto at Clean Bandit concert in Rome

Chatto and Jack Patterson formed their own film production company, Cleanfilm, to make music videos for themselves and other artists. Chatto has produced and directed videos with Jack Patterson since the band's inception. Chatto, with her father, formed a band of singing cellists called the

Massive Violins The Massive Violins are a musical ensemble of singing cellists. They play music from a variety of musical genres, all using the cello and voice. History Founded in 2010, the Massive Violins have performed concerts in venues across the UK and ...

, with whom she still performs. On 13 November 2020, Chatto was featured on "

Stop Crying Your Heart Out "Stop Crying Your Heart Out" is a song by the English rock band Oasis. The song was written by Noel Gallagher and produced by Oasis. It was released in the United Kingdom on 17 June 2002 as the second single from the band's fifth studio album, ...

" as part of the BBC Radio 2's Allstars' Children in Need charity single. The single debuted at number 7 on the Official UK Singles Chart and number 1 on both the Official UK Singles Sales Chart and the Official UK Singles Download Chart.

References

1985 births People educated at Latymer Upper School Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge English cellists People educated at Westminster School, London English electronic musicians English women singers English songwriters English women in electronic music Grammy Award winners Living people Musicians from London Chatto family {{authority control