Florence Welch
Florence Leontine Mary Welch[1] (born 28 August 1986)[2][3] is an English-American singer and songwriter. 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 four 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 Welch
Florence Leontine Mary Welch
28 August 1986
Camberwell, London, England
- Singer
- songwriter
2006–present
Family and early life[edit]
Florence Leontine Mary Welch was born on 28 August 1986 in Camberwell to Nick Russell Welch, an advertising executive[4] and Evelyn Welch (née Samuels), an American born in Boston and raised in New York City,[4] who was educated at Harvard University and the Warburg Institute, University of London.[5][6] Evelyn is vice chancellor of the University of Bristol.[7] Through her mother, Welch has both British and American citizenship.[8]
Welch is the niece of satirist Craig Brown[4] via Brown's wife and Welch's aunt, Frances Welch,[9] and granddaughter of Colin Welch, former deputy editor of The Daily Telegraph and former Daily Mail parliamentary sketchwriter.[9] Welch's maternal uncle is actor and filmmaker John Stockwell.[10] She also has a younger sister, Grace, who inspired Welch's song by the same name.[11]
During her youth, Welch was encouraged by her Scottish paternal grandmother, Cybil Welch (née Russell),[9][12] to pursue her performing and singing talents.[13] Welch's deceased grandmothers inspired numerous songs on Florence and the Machine's debut album Lungs (2009).[14] In her youth, Welch also sang at family weddings and funerals.[15] Aged ten, she performed the song of Yum-Yum from The Mikado by Gilbert and Sullivan at Colin Welch's memorial service.[16]
Welch's parents divorced when she was thirteen, and her mother eventually married their next-door neighbour, Professor Peter Openshaw. Around this time, her maternal grandmother, who had bipolar disorder, died from suicide.[17]
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. "I learned ways to manage that terror–drink, drugs, controlling food..."[18]
Welch was educated at Thomas's London Day School, Battersea[19] and went on to study at Alleyn's School, South East London, where she did well academically.[1] However, Welch often got in trouble in school for impromptu singing and for singing too loudly in the school's choir.[1]
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 organization.[20][21] Music and books gave her a reprieve from what she felt made her different from others. "I used reading as a form of escape. I was shy and sensitive, and so reading gave me a safe space."[22]
After leaving secondary school and "just bumming around Camberwell where I lived, working at a bar and thought that I should start doing something with life", Welch studied illustration at Camberwell College of Arts before dropping out to focus on her music.[1] Initially she had intended to take a year out from her studies to "see where the music would go and then it started going somewhere so [she] never went back".[23]
Personal life[edit]
Welch considers herself an introvert, and is passionate about reading and literature. She has held many events with her fan-run book club, Between Two Books. "It's a huge generalization to say that all readers are introverts; I'm sure there's a lot of extroverted bookworms out there, but, for me, it's nice to know people of similar inclinations can actually come together in a social way and talk about something that is inherently solitary."[92]
Although many of her songs contain Christian themes and elements, Welch has said she does not follow any particular religion. "I went to Catholic school, and the first songs I remember liking were hymns. I find it's nice to mix the mundane and the magical, the irrelevant with the huge themes. Sex, love, death, marriage, guilt—mix that with seeing a huge sky or going for a walk or turning the page of a book. Living is dealing with the everyday and the notion that you're going to die."[93]
Welch has been open about her struggles with anxiety and depression, as well as with alcohol. Many of her songs reflect these issues.[94] In 2019, she discussed her panic attacks in an interview with Sinéad Burke. She explained, "My hands go tingly, my lips go tingly. I sort of think that it's very serious and I'm about to die and I have to lie on the floor and breathe...I know I'm having a panic attack, really. But I also really want someone to take me to hospital."[95]
In 2015, Welch broke her foot after leaping off the stage at the Coachella Festival.[96] She revealed that she used to drink alcohol before every performance, telling Billboard: "I'm quite shy, really—that's probably why I used to drink a lot. But I don't any more. When I finally took time off to make this new record, I had time to strengthen. And when I was coming back into the fray, I really didn't want to lose that. I thought I could go dive-bomb back into it, but look what happened. I dived into it and literally broke myself."[15]
In 2022, Welch was awarded and accepted an honorary fellowship from University of the Arts London.[97][98]
On 28 August 2023, Welch posted a statement to her personal Instagram account.[99] It included an apology for the cancellation of the band’s 25 August and 26 August performances in Zurich and Paris: "I'm so sorry that I had to cancel the last couple of shows. My feet are fine, I had to have emergency surgery for reasons I don't really feel strong enough to go into yet, but it saved my life."[100]
Political views[edit]
In 2016, Welch voiced her support for Remain during the United Kingdoms EU Membership referendum.[101] Welch is also a vocal advocate for LGBTQ+ rights and regularly waves the rainbow flag at her concerts, particularly during her song "Spectrum (Say My Name)".[102][103]
In 2018, she tweeted her support for the removal of the Eighth Amendment of the Constitution of Ireland.[104] The removal passed and legalised abortion access within the country.
During her 2019 North American tour, Welch expressed her support for women's rights during concerts in Las Vegas, Nevada, Chicago, Raleigh, North Carolina and Columbia, Maryland. She encouraged her audience to donate to the ACLU instead of buying concert merchandise.[105]
In March 2022, Florence expressed her support for Ukraine during the Russo-Ukrainian War. The Florence + the Machine video for "Heaven Is Here" was recently filmed in Kyiv, the capital of Ukraine. Welch wrote: "Two of the dancers in this video are currently sheltering. To my brave and beautiful sisters Maryne and Anastasiia. I love you. I wish I could put my arms around you. Strength." She also shared an article about the ways to help Ukraine.[106][107] In September 2022, it was announced that proceeds from a Florence + the Machine zine would be donated to the charitable foundation Future for Ukraine.[108] The zine features photographs taken in November 2021 in Kyiv while shooting music videos for Dance Fever.[109]