• The 100 best pop albums of the Noughties

  Times Online - Found 8 hours ago 16. Felt Mountain - Goldfrapp (Mute, 2000) The ice-cool voice of Alison Goldfrapp and the lustrous arrangements of Will Gregory produce...

• Nowhere Boy

  Variety - Found Oct. 30, 2009 Wood short "Love You More."Sole tech misstep is the non-source orchestral soundtrack, credited to Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory, a largely... Sam Taylor-Wood is playing the men at their own game - Times Online Nowhere Boy to man: Taylor-Wood engaged to her young Lennon, 19 - Times Online Lennon film premiere - BBC Nowhere Boy at the London Film Festival - Times Online Explore All

• Goldfrapp honour over Lennon film

  BBC - Found Oct. 19, 2009 Lead singer Alison Goldfrapp said: 'It's a traditional score for a film.

• Goldfrapp score Lennon film

  BBC - Found Oct. 19, 2009 ... orchestral and I use my voice as part of the instrumentation to help drive the story along,' Lead singer Alison Goldfrapp told the Music Week.

• Goldfrapp record Lennon movie score

  Digital Spy - Found Oct. 8, 2009 Goldfrapp have written the score for forthcoming John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy. The electro duo, made up of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory, ...

• Goldfrapp records Lennon movie score

  Digital Spy - Found Oct. 8, 2009 Goldfrapp have written the score for forthcoming John Lennon biopic Nowhere Boy. The electro duo, made up of Alison Goldfrapp and Will Gregory, ...

• Freida sparkles at Paris Fashion Week

  India Today - Found Oct. 8, 2009 ... row with French actress Catherine Deneuve, Gossip Girl's Leighton Meester, singers Katy Perry and Alison Goldfrapp as well as British model...

• Louis Vuitton's Timely Show

  MaleFirst Mens Magazine - Found Oct. 8, 2009 ... with Catherine Deneuve, Freida Pinto, Leighton Meester, Sophie Dahl and fiance Jamie Cullum, Katy Perry, Alison Goldfrapp and Daisy Lowe all... Marc Jacobs' Louis Vuitton collection presented in Paris - People's Daily Online Louis Vuitton Shows Afros, Moccasins, and Williamsburg’s ... - New York Magazine Explore All

• Goldfrapp to score Sam Taylor Wood's Nowhere Boy

  Metro.co.uk - Found Oct. 20, 2009 Alison Goldfrapp told Music Week. 'It was a great opportunity because it's such a hard world to get into, doing music for film.' Goldfrapp...

• Jacobs strides out for Vuitton's Paris futurama

  The Independent - Found Oct. 7, 2009 ... and the by now pre-requisite celebrity contingent - Catherine Deneuve, Freida Pinto, Leighton Meester and Alison Goldfrapp all sat front row...

Alison Goldfrapp
Alison Goldfrapp performing at the Wireless Festival in June 2006
Background information
Born	13 May 1966 (1966-05-13) (age 43) Enfield, London
Origin	England
Genres	Electropop, Electronica, Synthpop, Ambient, Folktronica
Occupations	Singer, songwriter
Years active	1988–present
Labels	Mute Records
Associated acts	Goldfrapp
Website	www.goldfrapp.com

Alison Elizabeth Margaret Goldfrapp¹ (born 13 May 1966)² is an English singer and songwriter.

Early life

Goldfrapp was born in Enfield, England, the youngest of six children.³ Her father, Nick, was a former Army officer who worked for the Spastics Society and English Heritage. Her mother, Isabella, was a working class nurse.³ While growing up, Goldfrapp's family moved frequently, before settling in Alton, a small town in the county of Hampshire.

Career

1999–present: Goldfrapp

Alison Goldfrapp was introduced to composer Will Gregory in 1999 after he had listened to an early version of the song "Human". Gregory felt a connection with Goldfrapp and invited her to record a demo for the film soundtrack he was composing, to see if they could work together.⁴ The demo was never completed, but the recording session had been pleasant. Following several months of phone calls, they decided to form a musical band and began performing under Goldfrapp's last name.⁴

	"Satin Chic" Goldfrapp cited this song as her favourite on Supernature.
Problems listening to this file? See media help.

The pair began recording their debut album over a six-month period, beginning in September 1999, in a rented bungalow in the Wiltshire countryside.⁵ The recording process was difficult for Alison, who often found herself alone and disturbed by the mice and insects in the bungalow.⁵ The band's debut album Felt Mountain was released in 2000 and featured Goldfrapp's synthesized vocals over cinematic soundscapes⁶ The lyrics on Felt Mountain were written by Alison and are abstract obsessional tales inspired by films, her childhood, and the loneliness she felt while recording the album.⁵

Goldfrapp released their second album Black Cherry in 2003. The band recorded the album in a darkened studio in Bath, England. The studio's walls were covered in neon lights and Goldfrapp used them to write down her song ideas.⁷ The album focused more heavily on dance music and glam rock inspired synths than its predecessor.⁸ Black Cherry peaked at number nineteen on the UK albums chart⁹ and sold 52,000 copies in the US.¹⁰ Supernature, Goldfrapp's third album, was released in 2005. The album comprises pop and electronic-dance music prominently featured on Black Cherry, but focuses more on subtle hooks instead of the large choruses that made up its predecessor. It has sold one million copies worldwide¹¹ and received a Grammy nomination.¹² Seventh Tree, Goldfrapp's fourth album, was released in 2008 and debuted at number two on the UK albums chart.⁹ The album is a departure from the pop and electronic-dance music featured on Supernature, and features ambient and downtempo music. The band were inspired by an acoustic radio session they had performed, which led the duo to incorporate acoustic guitars into their music to create "warm" and "delicate" sounds.¹³

Lyrics and musical style

Alison Goldfrapp draws inspiration from a range of artists and musical genres. As a teenager she listened to Kate Bush, T.Rex, Donna Summer and Iggy Pop and discovered Serge Gainsbourg while working in Belgium.¹⁴ While traveling through Europe in the early 1990s, she also began listening to Polish disco music and cabaret music from the Weimar Republic.¹⁴ Other media, including film, have had an impact on Goldfrapp who cites Roman Polanski's psychological thriller Cul-de-Sac, the cult film The Wicker Man, and the James Bond franchise as influences.¹⁵¹⁶ She also draws inspiration from surrealism and nature, all of which appear in Goldfrapp's album artwork, which Alison designs in collaboration with Big Active.⁵

Goldfrapp wearing a horse tail while performing in October 2003.

Goldfrapp believes that "music is a visual experience" and therefore visualizes her lyrics before writing them. While writing, Goldfrapp uses her vocals to create melodies and drumbeats.¹⁷ Her songwriting is characterized by its use of animals to describe human emotions and status.¹⁸

Public image

Goldfrapp is often identified by her unique appearance. She first modified her image in 2003, from a sophisticated Marlene Dietrich inspired look to that of a New Wave diva.¹⁹ The reinvented image included false eyelashes, customized T-shirts, military uniforms and fishnet stockings.²⁰ While touring in 2004, sections of the group's stage show featured Goldfrapp in a white dress wearing a horse tail and dancers with deer heads, which were inspired by her interest in animals and mythology.²¹

In 2008, Goldfrapp again reinvented her image, this time as an androgynous circus performer. The artwork for Goldfrapp's album Seventh Tree featured her dressed as a clown because it is an "iconic image" with "so many different connotations."²² For the album she choose to tone down her overtly sexual image because she felt that it was taking over the music. Her new image, inspired by paganism, featured her dressed in white or natural-coloured flowing gowns with loose, curly blond hair.²³²⁴

References

External links

• Official website
• Alison Goldfrapp at Discogs
• Goldfrapp at Allmusic
• Alison Goldfrapp at the Internet Movie Database