In 1999, Sophie Ellis-Bextor thought it was all over. Just the year before, she’d been voted one of the sexiest people in rock by Melody Maker and her indie band Theaudience had released a strong, spiky first album. But after bosses at Mercury Records rejected the demos for their second, the band were axed by the label. “I was like, ‘Wow, I’m 20 and done and dusted. I’m already a has-been,’” the singer tells me.
It was all about to change. A few months later, Ellis-Bextor was asked to sing on a house record, Spiller’s “Groovejet (If This Ain’t Love)”. She was surprised. A little insulted, even. “I was like, ‘Do they know me? This is not me,’” she says. A couple of weeks went by, and she forgot about it. Then, while tidying her flat, she found the CD on the floor. She played it again and decided to give it a shot. “Then it came out and it was extraordinary… because it all just went whoomph!” she says, grey eyes glittering and her hands flying upwards.
