• 2005-

  Romy Madley CroftGuitar, vocals2005-

  Oliver SimBass, vocals2005-

  Jamie SmithBeats, production2006-

  Baria QureshiKeys, guitar2005-2009
• The xx's two singers, Romy Madley Croft and Oliver Sim, met in preschool in a London suburb when they were only 3 years old. "They had music classes, and I remember sharing a xylophone in that music class," Sim recalled to NPR.
• Croft and Sim first met the band's producer and beatmaker Jamie Smith at 11, when they started at the Elliott School in Putney, South London. The same educational establishment also spawned Hot Chip, Burial and Four Tet.
• After several years of making music individually, the trio formed the xx in their final school year along with keyboardist Baria Qureshi. In late 2009, Baria Qureshi left the group.
• They won the Mercury Prize for their self-titled first album, which has sold nearly 1.7 million copies worldwide.
• Oliver Sim and Romy Madley Croft are both gay. Madley Croft told The Guardian about her relationship with British designer (and band stylist) Hannah Marshall:
  
  "When we first got together Hannah was always so much better in social situations than me. I felt so shy. But through being with her I feel so much more at ease. I've noticed that's happened in a different way with me than it has with the boys. And I know it's because I've been with someone."
• Oliver Sim was one of the faces of Dior's spring/summer 2016 campaign along with actor Alain-Fabien Delon, model Victor Nylander, and artist Rinus Van de Velde.
• Jamie Smith and Romy Croft shared a love of skateboarding from the age of 12. Croft told Q Magazine: "It became a consuming passion. We'd go to the Southbank (a place in London where there is a space for skateboarding on the underpass) at eight in the morning."

Comments

More Songfacts:

Ballroom BlitzSweet

Sweet's hit "Ballroom Blitz" was inspired by an incident in 1973 when the band were performing in Scotland and driven offstage by a barrage of bottles.

Blame GameKanye West

Chris Rock appears on the Kanye West track "Blame Game."

TendernessGeneral Public

"Tenderness" by General Public was partly inspired by the outbreak of AIDS, which at the time was thought to be contagious.

Midnight Train To GeorgiaGladys Knight & the Pips

"Midnight Train To Georgia" was originally "Midnight Plane To Houston," but was changed to sound more R&B.

Suddenly I SeeKT Tunstall

KT Tunstall's "Suddenly I See" was inspired by Robert Mapplethorpe's photograph of Patti Smith on the cover of her album Horses.

Maggie MayRod Stewart

Rod Stewart wrote "Maggie May" about the woman who deflowered him when he was 16.

Editor's Picks

Greg Lake of Emerson, Lake & PalmerSongwriter Interviews

Greg talks about writing songs of "universal truth" for King Crimson and ELP, and tells us about his most memorable stage moment (it involves fireworks).

Emmylou HarrisSongwriter Interviews

She thinks of herself as a "song interpreter," but back in the '80s another country star convinced Emmylou to take a crack at songwriting.

Ed Roland of Collective SoulSongwriter Interviews

The stories behind "Shine," "December," "The World I Know" and other Collective Soul hits.

Vanessa CarltonSongwriter Interviews

The "A Thousand Miles" singer on what she thinks of her song being used in White Chicks and how she captured a song from a dream.

Let Me Be Your Teddy Bear: Teddy Bears and Teddy Boys in SongsSong Writing

Elvis, Little Richard and Cheryl Cole have all sung about Teddy Bears, but there is also a terrifying Teddy song from 1932 and a touching trucker Teddy tune from 1976.

Howard JonesSongwriter Interviews

Howard explains his positive songwriting method and how uplifting songs can carry a deeper message.