Sophie Ellis-Bextor chats with #MostRequestedLive!

Sophie Ellis-Bextor joins #MostRequestedLive for an exclusive chat and answers your questions!

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
Hello. I am Sophie Specter andthis is my most requested live ask anything
with Chat. My current song iscalled Madonna Dance for and I thank iHeartRadio
and Romeo for having me on theshow. They have said I can skip
questions, but I'm quite gay.Actually, I think I'm just happy to
answer what we have for me.So, Jenna from Toronto, Ontario,

(00:22):
what was your favorite song to danceto growing up? Oh? So many
things, but I have a reallyvivid memory of dancing and performing the full
dance routine to Open Your Heart byMadonna, complete with the chair. I
was probably about seven or eight.The video features Madonna in a peep show,
and I remember being quite confused asto where my dad wasn't more impressed

(00:44):
with my dancing, because I thoughtI did it really well. Oh by
the way, if you hear anbackground noise, it's because my kids are
on Easter holidays. So this isas close to quiet it's going to get.
Alex from Sacramento, California, SoI'm going to your San Francisco concert
on the thirtieth of May. Ijust want to say hi, well hello

(01:06):
to you two. I can't wait. I'm super excited Firstly, it's my
first ever US run of dates,which is lovely. But I've also always
want to go to San Francis.It's gonna have never been and everybody tells
me all love it, So canyou let me know please some did vintage
shops because that's what I'm gonna tryand find. Larna from Nashville, Tennessee.
When do you know it's time torelease new music? What triggers your

(01:27):
mind that it's the right time.I like that question because actually it's true.
How do how does it work withthe cycle? I guess every artist
is different. For me, it'salways felt like a bit of a circular
thing. So I kind of releasea new album to the album and then
start getting like nice feelings of newmusic that a'mong the drums that is my

(01:52):
kids playing drums. I said tomy husband, can you look after the
small ones from to play drums?Sorry? If that's really I was like,
wow, songing's really weird having outsideit's my children, Yes, but
trigger is the right time. It'slike an itch that needs to be strapped.
It's actually making new music. It'sa nice feeling. A Sherry from

(02:15):
Seattle, Washington. Were you bornEllis Bexter. Did you pick the Bexter
up along the way? I likethat. My dad's the Bester. Just
picked me that up a long day. Also, I love the name Sherry.
Just coincident my children are say flippingnoisy. I was born Ellis Bexter,
so my mum is called Janet Ellis. My dad is Robin Bexter,

(02:37):
and so they combine their names forme, and then they actually separated not
that long after. So as faras I'm aware, I'm the only Ellis
Foxter out there. If anyone elseis an Elis Bexter, get in touch
to love to say Hi time fromMilwaukee, Wisconsin. Take us back a
few years. When did you firstget the call that somebody wanted to sign
you to a label? And whatlabor was it? So take us back

(03:01):
a few years twenty five, SoI'm about to turn forty five. Now
are housing a flipping ball? Andright I'm just filming something. Can you
stop bouncing the ball please? Okay, Jesse, just for a minute.
Thanks, I'm just recording some questionand answers for the Ask Anything Most Requested

(03:28):
Live show on iHeartRadio. I'm justfilming at now, don't come over above
us. No I can't. I'venearly finish. I won't be long.
No hand good, I'm glad yourhands be it. Ray shut the door,
thank you. Hey. This ismy life, people, This is
my life. I first signed arecord deal actually was quite dramatic. I

(03:53):
was in a band when I wassixteen, called the Audience, and we
would do gigs, not on schoolnights when I was at school. My
mum was quite strict about that.I was allowed to do the band,
but I wasn't allowed to We'll goout and do it on a school night.
And then we started getting interested onrecord labels, and then by the
time we got through six gigs,we had six offers from six labels.

(04:15):
So the guy in my band thatwrote all the songs, Billy, he
decided to use my eighteenth birthday asthe marker for when we decided who to
sign to. So as the clockstruck midnight on April to mark the start
of April or the tenth I turnedeighteen, and then we decided to sign.
First of we signed to Mercury,part of the Universal. So the

(04:38):
reason why eighteen was significant is becauseyou can sign a deal without having to
be heper coosignature with your parents whenyou get to eighteen. If I'd signed
before that, my parents would haveto co sign. So he used it
as a stating tactic, really,but it meant that it was quite an
exciting way to turn eighteen. AndI can really remember that night and all
the different labels were there and noneof them knew who was we're going to
sign to. So it's quite exciting. That excitement continued well for a good

(05:02):
year, and then it all startedto go a bit from the last drop
by the time I was twenty one, But that's another story. That's another
story time And from Casper, Wyoming, what aspect of your musical journey you
enjoyed the most so far? Oh, all of it. I love the
twists and turns and the roads.Actually I'm on. I'm up for the
whole thing. I like the adventure. I like not knowing what happens next.

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I find the bits where things aren'tworking as well as you hope reassuringly,
I know that they will. Thingswill get better. And when things
are going a bit super sonic andeverything's a bit fast, I find I
take comfort in the fact that thingswill slow down, so somewhere in the
roller coaster of it. I'm havinga very nice time. Thanks Grace from
Memphis to see. How did Murderand dance Floor come together? So Murder

(05:49):
and dance Floor its parents are meand a talented singer songwriter called Greg who
is part of the New Radicals actually, and Greg and I Greg Alexander.
He'd started the kernel of the songBirder on the dance Floor, and he

(06:10):
very generously said that if I couldfinish the song off, then I could
take it on and have it,you know, release it. And that's
what happens. We met around thattime, that was two thousand and one,
and then we ended up working toother quite a lot. Actually,
Greg and I we wrote quite afew of my singles together, and another
guy called Matt Roe, and yeah, lots of happy memories actually, and
a lot of people that I metaround that time that I still work with,

(06:31):
which is a happy thing. EmManuel from Torino, Italy, Oh,
I mean Italy right now, andI know, I just wanted to
thank you for your concert in Milan, Italy. You the Queen of disco,
Richard Pablo, your support holiday sidewinand they're fantastic now more than a
question. Is my prayer to youcome back in Italy soon. Well,
Emanuel, I'm sure you didn't meanon holiday, but I am actually here

(06:54):
for our Easter break because I loveItaly. And thanks for the name checking
the band and Jackson my brother,he plays drums. Richard is my husband,
Pablo's a good friend. Holiday Sidewindersupported me on four tours now,
she's brilliant and Malam was just excellent. We're always happy to come here.
What joy. You're very lucky tohave been living in such a porgeous country.

(07:16):
I thought someone was about to comein again. Tanya from Windsor,
Ontario. Can you say the nameof your song in a sinister voice murder
on the dance floor. I probablywasn't that sinister. I think I'm quite
sinister, and I could be quitescary when my tip kids tell me I'm
not Lena from Munich, Germany.Being influenced by great female artists before you.

(07:38):
Who are your favorites from growing up? Oh? So many. I
loved everyone from Madonna to Buorke PJ. Harvey to Belinda Carlyle, Betty Boo,
Kathy Dennis. Just oh. Iwas obsessed with music. From a
really really small age. I rememberwatching Tony Bazor sing Hey Mickey when I
was only about three or four.It's one of my earliest memories. And

(08:01):
I just loved performers and the intensityand the excitement and sometimes the oddness.
Tony Basil performed Hey Mickey in quitea weird way. I really liked it.
I think I've been called again,Avery from Chicago, Illinois. What
perfume do you use? Nice question? Avery? So for about twenty years

(08:22):
I used exactly the same one allthe time, which was Salmon Rose by
Argent Propocateur. And now that I'ma grown up. Now that I'm a
grown up, I've decided to havemore than one for different days. So
I've got another one that's a diptique, one that I just think is gorgeous.
It's called or Fiance. Oh dear, I think we're okay. Mallory

(08:48):
from Henderson, Nevada. Where didyou play your first gig as Sofia Aspecster.
Well, I've always been Sofia asBester, So hard to answer it
if I've not been too literal.But if I take it more build as
my own name, that would havebeen oh a really terrible gig I did
in two thousand and one after I'dsigned to Pollodor, So I was just

(09:09):
making it would make my first soloalbum. So I had songs like Murder
and take Me Home and music getsthe best of Me. And I did
this showcase gig and I said itwas terrible, not because I think I
was particularly awful myself. I wasprobably like, all right, but it
was my first ever solo gig.I was nervous. I'd never performed without
my band with me, and Ididn't realize but the label had basically invited

(09:33):
everybody along to this gig, includinglots of critics, and I had some
very harsh reviews, and that felthorrible. I felt I was like twenty
one. I was just feeling myway about how I wanted to perform and
it was just savage. But hey, it's all right. It gets the
tougher skin and all that. Dawnfrom Cleveland, Ohio. Do you have
a closet at home just for performanceclothes or do mix your personal clothes in

(09:56):
with them? I mix them.They're all in together, equins and next
to jeans. It's a complete mess. In fact, Dawn, if you've
got some spare time and your fancyhelping me with the wardro clear out.
Please come over because I can reallydo this and help. It's a bit
of a disaster, but at thesame time it's quite fun. You never
know what you're gonna pull out ofa rail. Oh, I've actually nearly
finished brilliant Nicola from Miami, Florida. Can you describe your go to childhood

(10:18):
dance movie Grease? There we Go? Thank you so much for asking me
all these amazing questions. I've lovedit. It's a little bit quieter andy,
isn't it. Thank you for watchingmight ask anything chat? Thank you
to Romeo, Thank you to iHeartRadio. So I say my current song is
called Murder on Nantslong. It isenjoy and sorry about all the erroneous noise,

(10:39):
but it has been nice being shutin the room from you. And
after I've finished recording, I mightpretend that this is going on a bit
longer, just so I can enjoythe pizza. Quiet. Thank you,