Live At The Marquee - A Chancer's Guide To Ellie Goulding

Ellie Goulding plays Live At The Marquee tonight.

Elena "Ellie" Goulding was born on 30th December 1986 in Herefordshire, England. Ellie signed to Polydor Records in July 2009 and it wasn't long before she she became the second artist to both top the BBC's annual Sound of... poll and win the Critics' Choice Award at the Brit Awards in 2010 showing the star was destined for success.

Ellie's single "Starry Eyed", was released in 2010 which was followed up by a number one debut album "Lights". Other popular songs off this album were "Guns n Horses" and "The Writer". On the back of the album, Goulding was the opening act for acts such as Katy Perry, U2, John Mayer and Passion Pit.

Ellie was beginning to grow in popularity in the USA due to her featuring on the song "Fall into the Sky" from Zedd's debut album Clarity and on Calvin Harris's song "I Need Your Love". As momentum was picking up, she released her second album "Halcyon Days" in October 2012 which included huge singles such as "Anything Could Happen" and "Figure 8" which even charted before it was released. "Halcyon Days" was re-released in 2013 to include Goulding's first ever UK Number One, "Burn" as well as covers of The Waterboys' "How Long Will I Love You" which she performed at Prince William's wedding to Kate Middleton and Alt-J's "Tessellate".

On the 20th October 2014, she stated via Facebook that she will appear on the new Calvin Harris album, Motion, with a new song called "Outside". The song was released as Motion's fourth single.

In November 2014, Goulding announced that she was focusing on a third studio album.

In early 2015, Goulding released the song "Love Me like You Do" which was featured in the soundtrack to the movie adaptation of the hit novel Fifty Shades of Grey. The huge release kept goulding at number one in the UK Charts for four weeks.

Goulding has listed Björk, Joni Mitchell and Lauryn Hill as influences, as well as contemporaries such as Adele, Amy Winehouse, Florence and the Machine, Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Rihanna, stating that she is "blown away" by them. She also expressed admiration for rappers Kanye West, Drake and Nicki Minaj. Goulding's musical style has been compared to that of Kate Nash, Lykke Li and Tracey Thorn.

Goulding is a keen runner and is a brand ambassador for Nike, aiming to run six miles every day.

Goulding is close friends with American folk singer Lissie. The two toured the United Kingdom together in 2010. She is also good friends with New Zealand indie pop singer Lorde and American pop singers Katy Perry, Haim and Taylor Swift, even appearing in the music video of Swift's song "Bad Blood".

Ellie is in a relationship with McBusted's Dougie Poynter since February 2014. In a recent interview she claims she has found a life partner in Poynter with the couple even getting matching tattoos on their fingers.

Ellie previously played surprise Arthur's Day gigs in Cork, showing up in Sober Lane and The Crane Lane to perform for the Guinness one-day festival.

This will be Goulding's first performance at Live At The Marquee. Support comes from Blooms.