Background and career
Louise Elizabeth Redknapp (née Nurding; born 4 November 1974), known mononymously as Louise, is an English singer, dancer and media personality. She was a member of Eternal, an R&B girl group which debuted in 1993 with their quadruple-platinum studio album Always & Forever. In 1995, she departed from the group for a solo career. Aside from music, Redknapp has presented several television shows and was a judge on the UK version of So You Think You Can Dance. She was married to the English former footballer Jamie Redknapp. In 2016, Redknapp reached the final in the fourteenth series of BBC One's Strictly Come Dancing. Her memoir, entitled You've Got This: And Other Things I Wish I Had Known, was released in 2021. Redknapp has released five studio albums: Naked (1996), Woman in Me (1997), Elbow Beach (2000) and, following a 17-year hiatus from recording, Heavy Love (2020). Redknapp's Greatest Hits was released on 2 June 2023 and contains reimagined versions of her past singles plus five new songs. Her fifth studio album, Confessions, was released in May 2025; a preceding single, "Confession", was released in February 2025. To date Louise has sold over 15 million records worldwide.
Redknapp was born Louise Elizabeth Nurding in Lewisham, London. Her father was a builder and her mother worked at Gatwick Airport. Redknapp and her two younger brothers grew up in Eltham, London, and Oxted, Surrey. She describes herself as having come from a single-parent family with her mother. At the age of 11, Redknapp won a scholarship to the Italia Conti Academy of Theatre Arts in London, where she met her future Eternal colleague Kéllé Bryan on her first day.
While out clubbing at the age of 15, Redknapp met the music manager Oliver Smallman of First Avenue Management, who was forming an all-girl group. She subsequently introduced Denis to Kéllé Bryan. Kéllé and Redknapp, together with sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett, formed the band Eternal in 1992. The group performed R&B, and recorded a number of hits during the 1990s. Eternal's debut single "Stay" entered the UK charts at number sixteen and climbed to number four. Redknapp left the group in 1995 to pursue a solo career, amid unsubstantiated rumours that she was forced to leave because a radio station in the United States dedicated to black music would not promote the racially mixed group. Redknapp said that she left because she was miserable and homesick.
In late 1995, Redknapp signed a record deal with First Avenue management and EMI Records. Now professionally known simply as "Louise", her debut solo single was the orchestral ballad "Light of My Life" (which reached number eight on the UK charts). Her second solo release, "In Walked Love" (previously a hit from the self-titled 1992 album by the dance/pop group Exposé), fared less well and missed the UK top ten. However, Redknapp's third single, "Naked", turned things around and became her biggest hit to date, peaking at number five in the UK. Redknapp's debut solo album, also entitled Naked, was subsequently released in 1996 on the back of the single's success. The album received lukewarm reviews, but nevertheless peaked at number seven on the UK Albums Chart. It was later certified Platinum by the BPI for over 400,000 copies sold in the UK alone and over a million copies worldwide. Two further singles were released: "Undivided Love" (UK No. 5) and "One Kiss from Heaven" (UK No. 9). In 1997, Redknapp returned with the single "Arms Around the World", which reached number four in the UK. Her second solo album, Woman in Me, peaked at number five in the UK and went on to gain platinum status in the UK and sold over a million units worldwide. The album also made an impact across Europe, charting in a number of countries. To support and celebrate the success of the album, Redknapp embarked on a UK-wide 'sell-out' arena tour of over twenty dates, including Wembley Arena. "Let's Go Round Again" (a cover of a song by the Average White Band) was the second single released from the album, which reached number ten. She was voted "Sexiest Woman in the World" by the readers of SKY Magazine in 1997.
In 2002, Redknapp signed with Positive Records (a division of Universal Music) to record her fourth solo album. The album, titled Lil' Lou was due for release in 2004 alongside the double A-side "Pandora's Kiss"/"Don't Give Up", which peaked at number five and raised money for Tickled Pink/Breast Cancer Care. Redknapp submitted "about 10 or 12 tracks" for the album to the label. However, due to the singer becoming pregnant with her son Charley, the album was never released. Later, on 15 September 2023, Louise released the Lil' Lou extended play, which featured five previously unreleased songs originally recorded for the unreleased album. The EP debuted and peaked at number 73 on the UK Albums Downloads Chart one week later. In the July 2004 edition of FHM magazine, Redknapp was named the "Sexiest Woman of the Decade".
On 1 February 2018, Warner/Chappell UK confirmed Redknapp had signed a deal with them to release new material later in the year. On 10 November 2022, Redknapp released the single "Super Magic". In an interview with Fault magazine, Redknapp shared, "I wanted to make music I loved rather than just ticking a box for what worked in the industry. I think I’ve forever had to fight to prove myself [...] I’m still fighting to prove myself. I feel that the hardest hurdle is to keep on knocking down those doors to prove myself." "Super Magic" is Redknapp's first release under BMG. It debuted at number 89 on the UK Official Singles Downloads Chart Top 100 on 18 November 2022. On 12 January 2023, Redknapp announced that her Greatest Hits collection, spanning thirty years in the music industry, would be released in June 2023. The compilation will contain five new songs, including a cover of Janet Jackson's 1997 single "Together Again". In the same month, Louise revealed she had been cast as Teen Angel in the summer 2023 production of Grease. Louise released reimagined versions of her singles "Just A Step From Heaven" and "Naked" as promotional singles from her Greatest Hits compilation. Her single "High Hopes" was released on 27 April 2023. On 1 June 2023, Louise performed in concert at the Shepherd's Bush Empire; Michelle Gayle appeared as a guest and former Eternal bandmate Kéllé Bryan made a surprise appearance on stage to perform 1994 single "Crazy". Louise's compilation album Greatest Hits was released on 2 June 2023. On 25 September 2023, it was reported that Redknapp and her former bandmate Kéllé Bryan had pulled out of a purported Eternal reunion tour scheduled for 2024 after a row occurred because their former bandmates, sisters Easther and Vernie Bennett, purportedly refused to play at LGBTQ and Pride events over objections that the trans community had "hijacked" Pride.
