Happy Birthday Ellie
Ellie Goulding turns 33 today and honestly, there’s so many reasons to celebrate this singer! In Goulding’s early years as a pop star, she quickly aligned herself with the EDM-pop movement, which was a clever move as that’s how the song, ‘Lights’ was born. This tune took the world by storm and skyrocketed her into fame. It also drew more attention to her other club-friendly, neon-bright dance-pop songs.
Goulding’s always been very involved with music. At 9, she already showed her affinity for learning how to play instruments, when she began playing the clarinet. And at 14, she tried her hand at the guitar. Her song-writing abilities also surfaced quite early as she began penning down lyrics at 15. Alright, these are truly signs of a prodigy! But apart from her music, here’s some lesser known facts about the Brit singer:
Run Ellie, Run!
Ellie Goulding ran the Nike Women’s Half Marathon. She’s a devout runner who often squeezes in a jog while on the road. She even rescheduled a few of her Halycon Days tour dates to run the 13.1 mile course, along with 15,000 ladies and a few gents. Perhaps what’s even more interesting is the fact that Ellie hasn’t always been this athletic while growing up. In fact, she suffered from asthma as a child, but still enjoyed the occasional cross-country races at school. But she’s clearly come quite far, as these days, not only does she run, but she loves to surf too!
A Wedding Singer Like No Other!
Ellie Goulding sang at the Royal Wedding Reception in Buckingham Palace! Yup, you read that right! The starry eyed singer performed in front of Kate Middleton, Prince William and their guests. At the time, the singer said hearing him describe her set as “brilliant” was one of her career highlights.
And yet, the game-changing offer from the Palace still came as a surprise,
‘I knew they liked my songs, but I didn’t walk away from meeting William thinking it might lead to a gig at Buckingham Palace,’ recalls Ellie.
‘I wasn’t told to stay quiet, but I thought it best to keep things under my hat,” she added.
he gig, needless to say, was a huge success. William and Kate were entertained by a mixture of Ellie’s own material and cover versions, including The Killers’ Mr Brightside, Stevie Wonder’s Superstition and Elton John’s Your Song.
The Odd Hobby…
While Ellie’s a strict vegetarian, she has a rather odd hobby — collecting stuffed animals. You’re right,it doesn’t add up.
The singer herself admitted that she was a “walking contradiction” for keeping taxidermy creatures including deer, a crow and a rabbit in her London flat. She explained that doing this reminded her of where she grew up in Herefordshire.
She said, “I still live in a tiny little flat above a pub and I’ve still got my old friends. I’ve got a bit of art but I’ve got some weird stuff in my flat. I’ve got taxidermy, I’ve got animals… deer and all sorts. But weirdly, I’m a vegetarian and I don’t eat meat.”
Hmmm, well I guess everyone’s got to have a hobby!
Fame or No Fame?
Ellie confessed in an interview that at one point of time, she gave up on her dream of of becoming a singer due to how she looked. “I came to the conclusion that I wouldn’t be a pop star. I wasn’t that pretty, I was fairly average. There was definitely a time when I ran too much and didn’t eat enough and for a while I worried a lot about how glamorous I looked on stage. But as soon as I stopped being preoccupied with those things, things started really developing in my career. It sounds cheesy, but if you think awesome, you’ll be awesome,” she explained.
We’re so glad that she was able to bounce back and perhaps this is actually some pretty good advice for all those rookie artists out there! Anyway, we’ll always love you, Ellie, even though you keep stuffed animals at home!
