Sophie Ellis-Bextor believes losing her record deal saved her from a worse fate. The “Murder on the Dancefloor” singer became known as a teenager with the pop band theaudience. After the group disbanded in 1999, Sophie had to say goodbye to her label at the tender age of 20. Today, at 45, she looks back on this challenging phase with remarkable gratitude.
A look back at the difficult times
“The things that meant a lot to me in my late teens – my band and my boyfriend – I lost both early on,” she explains in an interview with Big Issue magazine. The Brit describes how quickly her life took a turn: “When the band broke up and I was dropped by the label, everything happened very quickly.” That probably stopped me from becoming a completely terrible person. If I had enjoyed consistent success, I would probably be a completely different person today.”
Sophie found the time afterwards “quite humiliating”. They didn't know what direction they should take next and were afraid that the best years of their lives were already behind them. “It was terrible when the band broke up.” “I felt terrible,” she admits. “I thought I had already experienced the best moments of my career and had no plan B in place.” While my friends were enjoying university life, I already felt too old to follow them.”
