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Lady Sovereign extracted from Wikipedia, the Free Encyclopedia, distributed under the GNU Free Documentation License

Lady Sovereign
Lady Sovereign live at the Grog Shop, Cleveland Heights, OH - May, 2009
Background information
Birth name	Louise Amanda Harman
Born	19 December 1985 (1985-12-19) (age 23)
Origin	Wembley, London, England
Genre(s)	Grime, electro-hop
Occupation(s)	Rapper
Instrument(s)	Vocals
Years active	2003–present
Label(s)	Midget Records, Casual, Chocolate Industries
Website	www.ladysovereign.com

Louise Amanda Harman (born 19 December 1985),¹ known as Lady Sovereign, is an English rapper²³.

Contents 1 Early life 2 Career 2.1 Early singles and EPs 2.2 Def Jam and Public Warning 2.3 Jigsaw 3 Role in the music industry 4 Television and commercial appearances 5 Controversies 5.1 "Random Night" and aftermath 5.2 Studio B breakdown 5.3 Current label situation 6 Discography 6.1 Albums 6.2 EPs 6.3 Singles 6.3.1 Full singles 6.3.2 Promo singles 7 Notes 8 References 9 External links

Early life

Lady Sovereign was born Louise Amanda Harman to Nicola Wood and Colin Harman . She was raised in northwest London's Chalkhill Council Estate. She was influenced by her mother's Salt-N-Pepa albums and began writing her own raps at the age of 14. She began MCing ' in front of a mirror with a can of hairspray for a mic.' She was inspired by Ms. Dynamite : 'When I heard Ms. Dynamite's track 'Boooo!' in 2001 it inspired me. I hadn't heard a female mc before that..she's real... her presence..her image..the way she does everything..she opened so many doors for us girls. MC's are real, they write their own stuff, they rap about what they know, the stuff around them.'⁴

She began uploading some of her songs to various music Web sites. Around this time Harman adopted the Lady Sovereign moniker, a reference to the large sovereign ring she wore.² After dropping out of school she landed a job acting in an educational film about the life of an up-and-coming MC who also dropped out of Preston Manor High School at 16.

She convinced the film's producers that she could record a soundtrack for the film, the demos for which landed in the hands of record producer Medasyn. He partnered Sovereign with Frost P, Zuz Rock, and Shystie for a male vs. female MC freestyle contest, titled "The Battle". It was released in 2003 on Casual Records. Every artist that was featured on "The Battle" has gone on to be signed by a record label.

Career

Early singles and EPs

"The Battle" began a string of singles that would push Lady Sovereign into the spotlight. While "A Little Bit of Shhh!", "Random", "9 to 5", and "Bad arse Stripper" were selling well, free Internet-only freestyles like "Tango" and "Cheeky" were becoming just as popular. On 15 November 2005, Chocolate Industries released the Vertically Challenged EP, which collected most of her singles recorded to date. In April 2006 she released her second EP, Blah Blah in the UK. She released yet another EP, but was limited for US radios; Size Don't Matter!

Aside from her own records, 2005 saw Lady Sovereign appear as a guest or contributor on several projects. She began 2005 by appearing on the grime compilation Run the Road, both as a solo artist and with The Streets. When The Ordinary Boys released the single "Boys Will Be Boys", Lady Sovereign came back with a reply remix, featuring the music and chorus of the original, but with mostly her own vocals to the tune of "girls will be girls". In May 2006, she was featured on the Ordinary Boys single, "Nine2Five", a remixed version of her own "9 to 5", credited as "The Ordinary Boys vs Lady Sovereign." "Nine2Five" entered at #38 in the UK top 40 singles on downloads only, and jumped to #6 upon availability as a CD and 7" vinyl single during the week commencing 22 May 2006. This was her highest chart position to date.

Def Jam and Public Warning

Lady Sovereign capped off 2005 by meeting with the American hip hop artist and CEO of the labels Def Jam Recordings and Roc-A-Fella Records, Jay-Z. This marked her foray into the American music scene. With Usher and L.A. Reid seated next to him, Jay-Z asked for one on-the-spot freestyle from Sovereign before offering her a contract with Def Jam. With the single "Hoodie", Lady Sovereign released her full-length debut, Public Warning, on Def Jam in 2006.² Lady Sovereign is the first non-American female to ever be signed to Def Jam.³⁵

On 31 October 2006, her debut album, Public Warning, was released, featuring "Random", "9 to 5", "Hoodie" and single, "Love Me or Hate Me," which was also released on the same day.⁶⁷ The music video for the single features Lady Sovereign mocking stereotypical ideals of femininity by satirizing popular dress and mannerisms. Some of the lyrics include I'm fat, I need a diet./No, in fact I'm just here lyin'./I ain't got the biggest breast-s-s,/but I write all the best disses. With the lyrics continuing in this satirical nature, Lady Sovereign continues to comment on and express her dissonance with female lifestyles in popular culture.⁸ She began an American tour on 23 October 2006 and soon after appeared on Late Show with David Letterman. In addition to her own tour, she appeared as the opening act for various artists, including The Streets and Gwen Stefani on her 2007 The Sweet Escape Tour.

On 17 October 2006 "Love Me or Hate Me" became the first video by a British artist to reach #1 on the United States (and original) version of MTV's Total Request Live.²³ "Love Me Or Hate Me" was released in the UK on 29 January 2007,⁹ with the album following on 5 February 2007.¹⁰

Lady Sovereign has recorded a cover of The Sex Pistols' "Pretty Vacant" for The O.C.'s new album, Music From The O.C. Mix 6 "Covering Our Tracks".²

Jigsaw

According to her MySpace bulletin a second album was due for release in Spring 2009. Plans for a tour are also mentioned.¹¹ After a final dispute with Island Records, it was revealed on her official webpage that she was going to release on her independent record label, "Midget Records", and that her second studio album was fully written and some songs were already recorded. She also said the album was going to be released in the United States and United Kingdom on April 7, 2009. On Monday, December 8, 2008, Lady Sovereign restated that her new album, titled Jigsaw, would be released on April 6, 2009. She also released a free single entitled "I Got You Dancing", making it available on her MySpace site and her official website.

Role in the music industry

Although she is not the only grime female MC, she is probably the most well-known. The grime scene in the United Kingdom is very male-dominated, already making it much more difficult for a female to establish herself as an authentic artist. ¹² There have been issues with Sovereign's authenticity because not only is she in the gender minority of the grime scene, but she is also one of few white female MCs.¹³ Despite this, she has found success in the UK and is already becoming established with American and British hip hop producers and artists like Jay-Z, Missy Elliott, Pharrell, Snoop Dogg and Basement Jaxx all wishing to work with her. ¹² She has been compared to American hip hop artist Eminem.¹³

Television and commercial appearances

Lady Sovereign has appeared on Soccer AM several times. She has appeared in a feature story on Cartoon Network and in an educational movie called X-ED which can be viewed on YouTube ¹⁴.

In late 2006, "Love Me or Hate Me" was played in a Verizon Wireless advertisement. It also appears on the soundtrack of the video game Need for Speed: Carbon, and is the theme music for the show The Bad Girls Club. "9 to 5" also appears on The Bad Girls Club, as well as on the soundtrack of the Xbox 360's version of EA Sports' [[FIFA World Cup 2006 video game, on the Ugly Betty soundtrack and features in the 2007 film St. Trinian's. "Random" appears on the Midnight Club 3: DUB Edition Remix soundtrack.

"Hoodie" was used for the Mario Party Nintendo DS commercial.

On 23 October 2006, Sovereign made an appearance on American talk show The Late Show with David Letterman. The lyrics "If you hate me, then fuck you" were changed to "if you hate me, then I hate you" for the show.

Lady Sovereign served as the host and spokesperson for Adult Swim and Chocolate Industries' Chocolate Swim.

Bizarre Creation's Project Gotham Racing 4 video game on the Xbox 360 features the song "Blah Blah" by Lady Soverign.

EA's Fight Night Round 4 video game features Lady Soverign's "Bang Bang" track.

Controversies

"Random Night" and aftermath

In 2006, a San Francisco based fan named Zach Slow made an online plea to raise $10,000 for a "random" night with Lady Sovereign. The effort garnered wide media coverage, and was successful in both raising the required funds and securing the agreement of the artist to attend.¹⁵ The aftermath was acrimonious, with both sides exchanging insults in the San Francisco Chronicle. ¹⁶¹⁷

Andrew Bancroft, a local MC known as "Jelly Donut", originally involved with the "random night" endeavour, attended a 7 January 2007 show in San Francisco dressed in a donut costume and attempted to disrupt the performance. Lady Sovereign threw a drink on him, and spat at him. Security escorted Jelly Donut out of the concert.¹⁸

Studio B breakdown

In May 2007, while performing at Studio B in Brooklyn, New York, Lady Sovereign told the crowd she was experiencing money problems and battling depression before exiting the stage.¹⁹ However, in a later performance at Avalon in Los Angeles, she completed her set without incident.²⁰ She later said that it was simply a bad day.

Current label situation

At the end of 2008 Lady Sovereign was dropped by both Island and Def Jam record labels cited upon removal off Def Jams artist website. Lady Sovereign is currently signed to EMI diversion label 'Midget Records²¹ with her new releases being made exclusive to digital downloads on iTunes.

Discography

Lady Sovereign discography

Releases
↙Studio albums	2
↙Extended plays	3
↙Singles	9
↙Music videos	12
↙Promo Singles	4
↙Tours	2

Albums

Year	Album	Peak chart positions2223			Sales
		UK	AUS	US
2006	Public Warning Released: October 31, 2006 Formats: CD, digital download	58	97	48	Worldwide: 300, 000+24
2009	Jigsaw Released: April 6, 2009 Formats: CD, digital download	Ineligible to chart			Worldwide: 10,000+

EPs

Year	Title
2005	Vertically Challenged
2006	Blah Blah
	Size Don't Matter (Promo EP)

Singles

Full singles

Year	Title	Chart positions				Album
		UK	FIN	AUS	U.S.
2004	"Ch Ching (Cheque 1 2)"	—	—	—	—	Vertically Challenged
2005	"Random"	73	—	—	—	Vertically Challenged Public Warning
	"9 to 5"	33	—	—	—	Public Warning
	"Hoodie"	44	—	—	—
2006	"Nine2Five" (vs. The Ordinary Boys)	6	—	—	—	How to Get Everything You Ever Wanted in Ten Easy Steps
	"Love Me or Hate Me"	26	10	48	66	Public Warning
2007	"Those Were the Days"	88	—	—	—
2008	"I Got You Dancing"	Ineligible to chart				Jigsaw
2009	"So Human"	38	—	36	—

Promo singles

Year	Title
2004	"The Battle" (Featuring Frost P, Shystie & Zuz Rock)
2005	"A Little Bit of Shhh"
2006	"Blah Blah" (featuring Kalie Burgess)
2009	"So Human" Finland Release

Notes

• "Lady Sovereign making splash across Atlantic" by Brian Garrity, Reuters UK, 21 October 2006, retrieved 22 October 2006.

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to: Lady Sovereign

• Official website
• Lady Sovereign at the Internet Movie Database

v â€¢ d â€¢ e Lady Sovereign Studio albums Public Warning Â· Jigsaw EPs Vertically Challenged Â· Blah Blah Â· Size Don't Matter! Singles "Ch Ching (Cheque 1 2)" Â· "Random" Â· "9 to 5" Â· "Hoodie" Â· "Love Me or Hate Me (Fuck You!!!!)" Â· "Those Were the Days" Â· "I Got You Dancing" Â· "So Human"