Jess Glynne Artistfacts

October 20, 1989
Jessica Hannah "Jess" Glynne grew up in London's Muswell Hill neighborhood, the child of music-loving parents. Her father owns a high-end estate agency in central London and her mother, Alexandra, is a former Atlantic A&R rep who quit when her daughter was born.
She honed her soulful raspy voice from an early age. "I was just obsessed with soul singers who had these big powerful voices," Glynne recalled to The Independent. "I used to listen to Aretha, Whitney, Mariah and try and imitate them, note for note and riff for riff."
Glynne's first sung in public during assemblies at Rhodes Avenue Primary School with her best friend. She recalled to MTV UK: "We used to sing 'Hero' by Mariah Carey; it was like my favourite song, we were obsessed with it. We'd do it as a duet and it's the first I remember performing. At secondary school I did a talent show and what did I sing? Hero [laughs]."
The secondary school that Glynne attended, Fortismere School, has seen several other famous musicians pass through its classrooms. Its other famous pupils include Ray and Dave Davies of The Kinks and Rod Stewart.
Glynne liked school as a kid, but not for academic reasons – it was the social life she enjoyed, "I talked out of turn a lot and got in quite a lot of trouble." she recalled to Billboard magazine.
The flame-haired songbird spent four years honing her singing and songwriting while working in a boutique, a fitness center, a hairdresser's and brand management for a drinks company, Glynne signed a contract with Atlantic Records in August 2013, enabling her to become a full time recording artist.
Around the time that Glynne signed with Atlantic, deep house producer Route 94 approached her about providing vocals for his song "My Love." The track was released in October 2013 and after Clean Bandit heard the tune they asked Glynne to feature on their song "Rather Be."

The Clean Bandit collaboration topped the UK singles chart in early 2014. It also attained top-five positions on charts across Europe and Oceania, and was a top ten hit on the US Billboard Hot 100.

The success of "Rather Be" helped "My Love" to gain exposure, and the song became Glynne's second UK #1.
I Cry When I Laugh, the title of Jess Glynne's debut album, was inspired by a personality quirk. "I do actually cry when I laugh it's a known fact about me, the minute I laugh I cry," she told HMV.com. "It's a fact about me."
Glynne came out as gay while promoting I Cry When I Laugh. She explained that several of the tracks on the album were inspired by a girl that broke her heart. The pair had dated but the girl split with Glynne shortly after she'd signed her recording contract with Atlantic.
Jess Glynne was scheduled to perform at the Isle of Wight Festival on June 15, 2019, but she canceled her set minutes before she was due on stage. The festival's boss, John Giddings, was furious and said that Glynne would "never be booked again."

"The situation with Isle of Wight was a combination of things," Glynne told Rolling Stone of her eleventh hour withdrawal. "The doctor told me my vocal cord had hemorrhaged and if I want to continue singing, I need to immediately go on vocal rest. I was really run down. I had just been on tour with Spice Girls and my body gave up on me that day. I hate canceling shows and letting people down, but in that situation, I had no choice."

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