Background and career
Florence Leontine Mary Welch (born 28 August 1986) is an English singer. She is the lead vocalist and primary songwriter of the indie rock band Florence and the Machine. The band's debut studio album, Lungs (2009), topped the UK Albums Chart and won the Brit Award for Best British Album. Their next five albums also achieved chart success. In 2018, Welch released a book titled Useless Magic, a collection of lyrics and poems written by her, along with illustrations.
Florence Leontine Mary Welch was born on 28 August 1986 in Camberwell, London, England, to Nick Russell Welch, an advertising executive and Evelyn Welch (née Samuels), an academic originally from the United States. Through her mother, Welch has both British and American citizenship. Her maternal grandfather was lawyer and coal magnate John S. Samuels III. Florence was raised as a Catholic. Welch is the niece of satirist Craig Brown via Brown's wife and Welch's aunt, Frances Welch, and granddaughter of Colin Welch, former deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph and former Daily Mail parliamentary sketchwriter. Welch's maternal uncle is actor and filmmaker John Stockwell. She has a younger sister, Grace, who inspired Welch's song of the same name. Welch also has a younger brother named J.J. Welch's parents divorced when she was 13, and her mother eventually married their next-door neighbour, Peter Openshaw. As a result of the marriage, Welch has three step-siblings: Maddie, Sam, and John. Through her father, Welch also has a stepbrother named Nick. When Welch was 14, her maternal grandmother, who had bipolar disorder, died from suicide by jumping from her New York apartment. During her youth, Welch was encouraged by her Scottish paternal grandmother, Cybil (née Russell), to pursue her performing and singing talents. Welch's deceased grandmothers inspired numerous songs on Florence and the Machine's debut album Lungs (2009). In her youth, Welch also sang at family weddings and funerals. Aged ten, she performed the song of Yum-Yum ("The sun whose rays are all ablaze") from The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan at Colin Welch's memorial service. In Florence and the Machine's 2018 single "Hunger", she opened up for the first time about an eating disorder she had as a teenager. She has also spoken of being a highly imaginative and fearful child. Welch was educated at Thomas's London Day School, Battersea and went on to study at Alleyn's School, South East London, where she did well academically. However, Welch often got in trouble in school for impromptu singing and for singing too loudly in the school's choir. While in middle school, Welch and two of her friends started a "witch's coven", creating spellbooks and attempting to cast spells on classmates. Despite an early love of reading and literature, she was diagnosed with dyslexia, owing to problems with spelling, alongside dyspraxia, a developmental coordination disorder that does not affect her reading ability, but caused issues with organisation. Music and books gave her a reprieve from what she felt made her different from others. After leaving secondary school and spending some time working at a pub, Welch studied illustration at Camberwell College of Arts, before dropping out to focus on her music.
According to Welch, the band name "Florence + the Machine" had "started off as a private joke that got out of hand. I made music with my friend, who we called Isabella Machine [Isabella Summers], to which I was Florence Robot. When I was about an hour away from my first gig, I still didn't have a name, so I thought 'Okay, I'll be Florence Robot Is A Machine', before realizing that name was so long it'd drive me mad". In 2006, Welch's performances with Isabella Summers in small London venues under the joint name Florence Robot & Isa Machine began to attract notice. In 2007, Welch recorded with a band named Ashok, who released an album titled Plans on the Filthy Lucre/About Records label. The album included the earliest version of her later hit "Kiss with a Fist", which at this point was titled "Happy Slap". Florence and the Machine released their debut studio album Lungs in the United Kingdom on 6 July 2009. The album was officially launched with a set at the Rivoli Ballroom in Brockley, south-east London. It peaked at number one in the UK and number two in Ireland. As of 6 August 2009, the album had sold over 100,000 copies in the UK and by 10 August it had been at number two for five consecutive weeks. After its 25 July 2009 release for download in the United States, the album debuted at number seventeen on the Billboard Heatseekers Albums chart, ultimately peaking at number one. The album was released physically in the US on 20 October by Universal Republic. The album was produced by James Ford, Paul Epworth, Steve Mackey, and Charlie Hugall. Welch contributed vocals to David Byrne and Fatboy Slim's 2010 album Here Lies Love, an album about Imelda Marcos. As of January 2011, Welch was working with Drake on material slated for his upcoming album. On 27 February 2011, Welch replaced pregnant Dido and sang her portion of Best Original Song nominee "If I Rise" (from 127 Hours) with A. R. Rahman at the 83rd Academy Awards.
The band's second studio album, Ceremonials, was released on 31 October 2011. In the album, Florence's "obsession with drowning" is represented through the use of repeated water imagery. It debuted at number one on the UK Albums Chart and number six on the US Billboard 200. On 12 January 2012, Florence and the Machine were nominated for two Brit Awards, with the awards ceremony taking place on 21 February 2012 at the O2 Arena, London. On 26 April 2012, the band released "Breath of Life", a song which was recorded as the official theme song for the fantasy film Snow White and the Huntsman. On 5 July 2012, a remix of "Spectrum" by Scottish musician Calvin Harris was released as the fourth single from Ceremonials, becoming the band's first UK number-one hit. Welch expressed excitement about putting new material together for a third album once the band finished touring at the end of September 2012. Welch led a tribute to Amy Winehouse by performing Winehouse's song "Back to Black" and the Annie Lennox-classic "Walking on Broken Glass" during the VH1 Divas Celebrates Soul concert held in December 2011. The group performed in Times Square on 31 December 2011 for the 40th annual Dick Clark's New Year's Rockin' Eve special. In October 2012, Welch was featured on Scottish singer-songwriter and producer Calvin Harris' song "Sweet Nothing", which debuted at number one on the UK Singles Chart, marking Welch's second number one. The song was taken from Harris' third studio album 18 Months and is the fifth single from the album. "Sweet Nothing" also peaked at number one in Ireland and number two in Australia and New Zealand. "Sweet Nothing" was certified Platinum in Australia. "Sweet Nothing" received a nomination for Best Dance Recording at the 56th Annual Grammy Awards. On 29 November 2012, Welch joined the Rolling Stones at the O2 Arena in London to sing "Gimme Shelter". Her performance with Mick Jagger was described as "sexy" and "electrifying."
In February 2015, Florence and the Machine announced their third album, How Big, How Blue, How Beautiful, which was released on 1 June 2015. The album reached #1 in many markets including the US, the UK, Australia, and Canada. The record spawned two top 40 UK hits, and earned three Grammy nominations.During June 2015, Dave Grohl of the Foo Fighters broke his leg on stage prior to his band's upcoming Glastonbury Festival headline performance, causing Florence and the Machine to be the headline band. They headlined the festival for the first time on 26 June 2015. In September 2016, during an interview with Heat Radio, American singer Lady Gaga revealed that she and Florence had recorded a song together. The track, titled "Hey Girl", was later featured on Gaga's fifth album Joanne. Footage of their studio session was featured in Gaga's Netflix documentary Gaga: Five Foot Two (2017). In March 2017, Welch appeared in Song to Song directed by Terrence Malick. In May 2017, Welch contributed a song titled "To Be Human" to the Wonder Woman soundtrack. Co-written with Rick Nowels, the song is performed on the film's soundtrack by Sia and Labrinth. On 12 April 2018, Florence and the Machine released a song titled "Sky Full of Song" and an accompanying music video on YouTube, directed by AG Rojas. The song was released for Record Store Day on 21 April, which supports brick and mortar record stores; a limited edition 7" vinyl was also released. Also in 2018 "Hunger" was released. Florence and the Machine's fourth studio album High as Hope was released on 29 June 2018. On 22 May 2018, Florence Welch performed a duet with Mick Jagger, at London Stadium, during the Rolling Stones' No Filter Tour. They sang "Wild Horses". In July 2018, Welch published her first book Useless Magic: Lyrics and Poetry. The book showcases her lyrics and poetry, alongside corresponding artwork from the time of her first album Lungs to her 2018 release High as Hope. On 28 April 2021, Welch announced that she would contribute music and lyrics to a musical adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby, with producer Thomas Bartlett co-writing the adaptation's music and book written by Martyna Majok, with Rebecca Frecknall directing. The musical, titled Gatsby: An American Myth, premiered on 5 June 2024 at the American Repertory Theater, directed by Tony Award-winning director Rachel Chavkin.
In January 2022, it was confirmed that the band would be headlining a few summer festivals which led to many theorizing that Welch's fifth studio album could possibly be released during the first semester of 2022. By the end of February, some selected fans started receiving medieval-styled tarot cards, the cards had the words "King" and "Florence + the Machine – Chapter 1" written on them. On 23 February 2022, Welch released a single, "King", and an accompanying music video, directed by Autumn de Wilde. On 7 March 2022, the second single was released alongside a music video, also directed by de Wilde, titled "Heaven Is Here". On 9 March 2022, Welch announced through her Instagram page that the band's fifth studio album would be titled Dance Fever and would have 14 songs, in her words "A fairytale in 14 songs". On 10 March 2022, the third single was released called "My Love" which also featured a music video directed by Autumn de Wilde. The single premiered on BBC Radio 1's morning show "Breakfast with Greg James" where Welch was the special guest and announced that the release date of their upcoming album Dance Fever was 13 May 2022. On 14 October 2022, Dance Fever (Live at Madison Square Garden) was released. The album was recorded over two nights at MSG on 16 and 17 September 2022. In August and October 2024 respectively, Welch performed "Florida!!!" with Taylor Swift on The Eras Tour's last stop in London and on the tour's stops in Miami. On 11 September 2024, Florence + the Machine performed with the Jules Buckley Orchestra at Royal Albert Hall for the BBC Proms 2024 Series. The performance was released as the album titled Symphony of Lungs on 25 October 2024. In 2025, Welch collaborated with the music project Everything Is Recorded (headed by Richard Russell) on the track "Never Felt Better", which also features the singer Sampha. On 19 August 2025, Welch announced her 6th album, Everybody Scream, which released on 31 October 2025.
