Julie Thompson
The United Kingdom has established a reputation over the past decades to deliver stunning vocalists and singer/songwriters in all possible genres, and Julie Thompson is no exception to this unwritten rule. The ability to write and sing atmospheric lyrics and warm vocals seems to be the perfect antidote for the UK’s sometimes cold, gloomy and rainy climate, as proven over the years especially in high profile dance releases.
Norwich born and bred Julie already knew she had music running through her veins at a young age. Upon reaching her 14th birthday, young Julie began singing, writing songs and playing the piano, and rapidly taught herself the art of singing and songwriting. To get a better shot at making a living from music, Julie moved to London to follow her dream of being a part of the exciting circus named ‘the music industry’.
After meeting up with London producer James Holden, who already had gained substantial fame for his instantly-recognizable ethereal progressive house style, this dream soon became reality. As Holden & Thompson they produced the instant classic ‘Nothing’ in 2003, released on Fatboy Slim’s imprint Loaded/Skint; hard evidence proving the UK had given birth to yet another fantastic top liner. ‘Nothing’ found its way onto an impressive pile of compilations like Global Underground (mixed by Deep Dish), Politics of Dancing (mixed by Paul van Dyk), Gatecrasher Immortal (mixed by Matt Hardwick), Spundae (mixed by Ferry Corsten), A State of Trance and many more.
A year later, Julie had the opportunity to write for British act Freestylers, who enjoyed worldwide fame with their chart hit ’Push Up’. For their artist album ‘Raw As F**k’, Julie delivered the top line and sung on the album tracks ‘Losing You’ and ‘Too Far’, resulting in a year and a half of studio-absence to tour with Freestylers around Europe and South East Asia. This tour, which took Julie to the biggest festivals such as Glastonbury and V Festival, was only briefly interrupted for Julie to produce the follow up to ‘Nothing’ with James Holden. Their second Holden & Thompson single, ‘Come To Me’, hit the streets in 2005, again released on Loaded.
In 2006, Julie teamed up with Alan Bremner and wrote ‘Last Goodbye’ under the ‘Attic’ alias, released on Audio Therapy, a label run by Dave Seaman. All doors which normally remain firmly closed for the latter of all aspiring and ambitious vocalists, suddenly opened up for Julie and it seemed that the sky was the only limit she could encounter. That same year, the last fictional door opened when the vocal qualities of Julie were spotted by the reigning 1 DJ on the planet that year, the renowned Tiësto, who approached her to collaborate. The result: the track ‘Do You Feel Me’ which became one of the tracks to reach Tiësto’s highly successful album ‘Elements Of Life’, released in 2007.
As an unexpected bonus, Julie was asked to join the Elements Of Life world tour to perform her amazing vocal skills live for an audience of hundreds of thousands. Whilst on tour, Julie teamed up with Tiësto again to write and record ‘Somewhere Inside’, under the ‘Allure ft. Julie Thompson’ guise. This track made it to the final, very strict selection of tracks for Tiësto’s In Search Of Sunrise Volume 6 and received a full single release on Black Hole Recordings in February 2008. The official release included a remix by Scottish talent Andy Duguid, a producer who was about to become an important and significant factor in the future career of Julie Thompson.
Not aiming to be stigmatized purely as a trance vocalist, Julie expanded her territory and collaborated with UK house producers Freemasons in 2007 on ‘You’re Not Alone Now’ for Freemasons’ album ‘Shakedown’. Whereas Julie’s vocals can be very sensitive and more than often gives the effect of translucence, or clubby as heard in the Freemasons collaboration, Julie definitely can rock electro style as well. Her versatility is perfectly shown on Andy Duguid’s album ‘Believe’ as she delivers her vocals to three album tracks in different degrees: the emotive progressive track ‘Falling’, the tender ballad ‘White Sands’ and the eighties-influenced electro rocker “My Number” as her alter ego Donna - Julie’s middle name -, which will give the ‘older’ listener an immediate craving for the mid eighties.
Whilst on the Elements Of Life tour, a little seed was planted in Julie’s head by her current label Black Hole Recordings that perhaps it was time to concentrate on making a solo album. The better part of 2008 and the first months in 2009, Julie devoted herself to writing amazing songs which would display her qualities not only as a lyricist and a vocalist, but especially as a matured, fully developed artist standing on her own two feet. Writing and singing for the upper class of artists, and the performances for an immense audience which followed, gave Julie the necessary experience to take the next leap into this new adventure as a solo artist. The whole album will be co-produced by the man who already got labeled ‘Producer Of The Year 2008’ by Tiësto, Andy Duguid.
Julie Thompson’s quote about her soon to be released debut album ‘Feeling For Corners’: “I wanted to write an album that was lyrically honest and song based. Each track was written at a piano. I was really pleased that Black Hole Recordings wanted to release it and that Andy Duguid agreed to produce it. The whole album was written at a time when lots of changes were taking place in my life and the album depicts my deepest thoughts and feelings of that specific period.”
“I chose to call it ‘Feeling For Corners’ as it was a time of letting go and trusting in what will be will be. I believe all we can do is keep putting one foot in front of the other and feeling for the next corner which, when we turn, usually takes our life in a new surprising direction. So as well as the darker moments in the album, there are also many lighter, uplifting ones that hopefully people can relate to.”
Julie Thompson surrounded herself with the best possible team imaginable: one of the most talented producers the scene has ever seen, a worldly acclaimed record label and the back-up of one of the biggest DJ stars on the planet. When combined with Julie’s impeccable voice and writing expertise, the circus called ‘music industry’ is definitely in for a treat! Read more on Last.fm. User-contributed text is available under the Creative Commons By-SA License; additional terms may apply.
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