Imogen Heap Artistfacts

December 9, 1977
Imogen Heap's parents separated when she was 12. Her mother was an art therapist and her father was a construction rock retailer. At 13, she began to teach herself music and eventually learned how to play the guitar and drums.
Heap's first major break came in 1996. Her manager got her a gig at the Prince's Trust Concert at Hyde Park in London, England. Heap played four of her own songs in between sets by Eric Clapton and The Who.
Her career almost ended after her label Almo Sounds was sold to Universal. While working on her second solo album, Heap was given a deadline to deliver the rest of the songs. After handing over the tunes, Heap was told they "lacked hit potential" and she was dropped from the label. Heap started up a new duo called Frou Frou and decided to move on with new music.
In 2011, Imogen Heap tweeted what she was working on a new song with DJ and mega-producer Deadmau5. The track was titled "Telemisscommunications" and can be found on Deadmau5's disc, Album Title Goes Here.
Imogen Heap recorded a song called "Can't Take It In" for the soundtrack to the Disney movie The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe after a version by Dido was deemed unfitting for the film. Heap also wrote a song for the sequel The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian, but it was cut from the movie because it was too dark.
Heap recorded a cover version of Leonard Cohen's "Hallelujah" for the season three finale of The O.C. She also wrote the track "Not Now But Soon" for the soundtrack to NBC's hit show Heroes.
In 2009, Imogen Heap asked fans to audition for a cello spot on her North American tour. Heap provided sheet music for her song "Aha!" and decided that on each night of her tour, she would pick a person in that city to join her onstage to perform the song.
She was Twitter power user early on, and in 2009 she crowd-sourced her bio on the platform, taking submissions from fans. She got 1500 responses; those whose contributions made the final copy were send autographed copies of her album Ellipse.