Ellie Goulding

With her lilting timbre and ethereal stage presence, Ellie Goulding became a celebrated artist the contemporary pop scene in the 2010s. Born in Hereford, England in 1986, Goulding began playing the clarinet at age nine and the guitar at age 14. It was when she while she was performing in a talent showcase at the University of Kent that she was spotted by Jamie Lillywhite of Turn First Artists, who soon became her manager. Goulding quickly signed with Polydor Records, releasing her first single "Under the Sheets" in 2009. Her debut album Lights came the following year to immensely positive reviews celebrating her angelic tone and throaty vibrato as well as her intensely lyrical songwriting. Just a few months later, she followed it with the EP Run Into the Light, before repackaging Lights later the same year as Bright Lights with six extra tracks. Goulding would release her sophomore album, Halcyon in 2012, which would get a similar treatment to her previous record, repackaged as Halcyon Days with ten extra tracks the following year. In 2014, Goulding contributed the song "Love Me Like You Do" to the soundtrack of the film "Fifty Shades of Grey." Her next studio album, Delirium would come in 2015. The record's heavier pop and R&B influences earned it tremendous praise from critics and listeners alike.