Little Boots

Victoria Hesketh was an early starter, learning to play piano at five, graduating to flute, harp and classical singing, joining a jazz orchestra, and writing her own songs by the time she was 13. Reading Cultural Studies at the University of Leeds, she formed an all-girl band Dead Disco, singing and playing synth, who released a single, The Treatment, in 2006 and decamped to Los Angeles to make an album. However, she fell out of love with their indie path and returned home to Blackpool to pursue a pop career, working out arrangements on keyboards in her bedroom. She adopted the stage name Little Boots in 2008 and attracted enough media interest to create huge anticipation for her debut album, Hands. Finally released in the summer of 2009, it included a duet with The Human League's Phil Oakey and won wide acclaim for its quirky charm and diverse material.